
Class . 
Book 



COPYRtCHT DEPOSIT 



T li E 



Young Folks 



STORY OF TfiE WORLD 



J!^ 



CONNECTED HISTORY 



OF 



The Nations of the Earth. 



By LOU, V, CHAPIN, M, A, 

Author of -'THE ADVANCE GUARD OE CIVILIZATION, Etc., Etc 



ILLUSTRATED WITH 

-1-ORIGlNAL PEN DRAWINGS+- __ 

By will E, CHAPIN. /4^>^'''^f%. 

PUHLISHED BY ^*«« ^ »»»w_^ ,.-^ 

C3-EOE.C3-E IF. CE^J^lVi:, / 7/-' ' 

Book, Map and Atlas Publisher, 

140 Willia))! Street, ^r^-^ij Denrlnvn Street. 

NEW YORK. '"••• CHICAGO, ILL. 

address the nearest officl. 
i8q4- 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the (Office of 

the Librarian, at Washinsrton. 1). C. 

nv 

CEORGE K. CRAM, 

1894. 



Ill 



INTRODUCTION. 



Perhaps, dear reader, you regard history as a mere collection of facts, dealing 
with battles, sieges and campaigns, which all occurred so long before your time that 
you have no possible concern in them. You may even look upon the recent history 
of your own nation as pertaining rather to the generations that are past, or as being 
matters upon which idle and curious individuals waste time and thought, but that 
have no potency in the world of to-day. i S^ 

Never was there a more mistaken idea. There is no "dead past" to those who 
comprehend aright the progress of our world. Every nation that grew into power, 
flourished, and passed away, is represented in you and me, and we in turn are but 
symbols and eponyms of the unknown future. To us, and to all of the people who 
are yet to be born, the past has bequeathed a deathless heritage. 

This priceless gift, gathered up by the past for the hope and joy of the present 
and future, is the great deeds and noble thoughts of nations, for they, like individuals, 
should have their span of life measured by these, rather than by the months or years 
that they existed upon the earth. 

This world of ours teems with knowledge, but there is nothing from which we 
can draw more real wisdom, than from the study of history, and no subject presented 
to the human mind has so many varied sides nor so absorbing an interest. 

Now, by history, I do not mean the tiresome details of chronology, nor the 
wearisome matter that may be considered as dry bones of fact. If you do not enjoy 
these, who can blame you? This is a refined and enlightened age, and the artistic 
and vital were never more appreciated than now. Truth, in its best sense has been 
exalted over fact, and the living, beautiful and imperishable must be created from 
the ashes of the past, if it is to be esteemed with anything more than the regard paid 
by antiquarians to that which the general public neither knows nor cares about. 

Fact and truth, in a historical sense, are of course nearly related, but the seed of 
the highest truth may lie in a legend or tradition created by the poet or a story-teller, 
while the most undeniable fact may have in it no spiritual truth, no impulse to quicken 
the mind, enlighten the soul and make men truly wise. 

There are millions of facts that have no real bearing upon historical truth in the 
story of a nation. They are trivial, even though considered so important by the old 
historians that all who came after them religiously copied them in writing history. 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

To be sure these records of fact should be kept as works of reference, and they 
will always be so preserved, but the age of twenty-volume histories has gone by, and 
the historian of to-day who would reach the public, and especially that portion of the 
public that is to become the nation-builders — the youth — must tell his story in a few 
words, and must have some rational excuse for telling it at all. 

That "the noblest study of mankind is man" is not the empty vaporing of a 
poet. The individuals compose the nations, and the biography of individuals is the 
history of the world. Their great deeds raised nations to power, their mistakes 
wrecked empires, and from them all we may draw lessons of incalculable value. 

No man can be accounted truly educated who has not a general knowledge of 
the world's history. No man can be truly enlightened who is not able to trace the 
development of his kind ever from a lower to a higher plane, and above all, no man 
can have that deeply reverent attitude toward the God who created our earth and all 
of its creatures, which is the natural relation of a soul toward its Maker, unless he is 
able to^ec in his own existence the outworking of the immutable laws that since the 
beginning of time have ruled the universe. 

Through all the ages one increasing purpose runs like a thread of flame, lighting 
up dark and bloody pages in the world's story, showing to all men, God in the humblest 
and highest places, manifesting Himself as unchanging, teaching men over and over 
the folly of trying to disarrange the rules of cause and effect, and endeavoring to 
stem with the puny strength of mortal hands and wills the resistless current of the 
Divine. 

The human mind, and especially that of youth, craves novelty, excitement and 
change. This craving is not only natural, but should be satisfied like any other 
healthy appetite, and if it is denied, the starved mind suffers, and the whole moral 
nature is viciously affected. 

It is this very craving that drives young men to low resorts, and young women to 
gossip, and the reading of salacious stories; it makes boys gloat over the impossible 
tales of robbers and cowboys, and girls so fascinated with the romantic adven- 
tures of silly heroines in the paper-back novels which are fast taking the place of 
true literature, and are not only evil, as everything false in conception must be, but like 
highly seasoned dainties, unfit the system for the digestion of truly nourishing food. 

These novels and so-called romances purport to be individual history, but their 
heroes and heroines are but "make-believe," and the reader has always present in his 
mind the idea that it is but a sham world and sham creations that he is contemplating. 

Of course there is fiction so grand, noble and true in conception, that it performs 
a distinct part in mental and moral education, and poems which the world could ill 
spare from its store of real wisdom and beauty, but to understand them aright the 
reader must be able to comprehend the fountain from which they flowed. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The source of all art, architecture and music is history. There the orator finds 
his inspiration to eloquence, the preacher his great themes, the evangelist his authority, 
the legislator his laws. The poet draws from the same inexhaustible well the beautiful 
visions that he clothes with language, and the dramatist the characters that he parades 
upon the stage. 

\ History is the foundation of all states and political systems, and if literature is — 
and we know it is the most imperishable of all the arts, — history is the source of all 
literature, and the foundation, reaching down deep into the mold of centuries, and 
resting upon the solid rock of Divine will, upon which the structure of society is 
reared. \ 

Unless we can read history as the story of man, tracing the narrative link within 
link from the remotest past, and finding a kinship and sympathy with our race, drawing 
from it a desire to aid in its elevation by making ourselves worthy of our inheritance 
of the vanished ages, we read it in vain. 

The thrilling of the heart when we read the deeds that have been done for 
freedom, the kindling of the eye, the flush upon the cheek of youth over some stirring 
story of the old days, index the reception by the soul of the lesson held by such 
recitals. There is, then, no need of explanation or commentary, no appropriateness 
in learned discussions of authorities. 

In the following pages we have made no attempt to play the schoolmaster, but 
rather to sit quietly down with our readers and tell the story of the past so simply 
that it would be a pleasure to the narrator and the audience. Link by link we have 
endeavored to form the chain, rejecting all not necessary to the general view, and 
omitting nothing which, in our opinion, would stimulate in the mind of the young a 
desire to delve deeper into the rich mine from which these treasures have been dug. 

In a work of this scope it is neither possible nor profitable to go very deeply into 
the details of changes in constitution, foreign or domestic difficulties, wars, cam- 
paigns and battles. Bloodshed and crime have been as lightly touched upon as 
circumstances permit, and only mentioned at all when some lesson is to be conveyed. 

Neither have we attempted to preach a sermon, nor uphold any theories, but from 
the best authorities we have gained the facts presented, clothed them with our own 
thought, tried to establish a confidence with the reader, and insure his interest. 

The text is supplemented by illustrations which form in themselves a history of 
man's development in the various arts and industries. These pictorial commentaries 
can not fail to interest, Qven were the text wholly absent, for they bring before us the 
men and women of all times, their manners, customs, occupation, costumes and 
dwellings, and show us how all the civivilization of to-day grew through the centuries, 
developed little by little until it became what it now is. 



-^^j INTRODUCTION. 

In claiming that never before has a work of this scope been performed in sucii a 
manner as to make it available to the ordinary student, we claim also that no work 
has ever been undertaken with a more earnest desire to popularize the subject. 
There have, of course, been illustrated histories published, but none which comprise 
in one volume the history of the world, illustrated with original drawings like those 
of the present book. 

These drawings are all taken from authentic sources, and are careful studies in 
detail of every kind. Their sequence is sometimes interrupted to fulfill the needs of 
the text, but the intelligent student will readily follow them, and by their contem- 
plation learn, in a way that is never forgotten, more than could be told in volumes of 
mere description of the subjects. 

It is on that account that such descriptions are omitted wherever possible, and 
any curiosity which the reader may have, can be more fully satisfied by a single glance 
at the illustrations than by pages of verbal description. 

Dates, too, have been omitted where their use is not absolutely necessary as a 
landmark to guide the student in following the line of the narrative, for in the 
thousands of many-volumed reference books to be found in public and private 
libraries there are repositories of dates — or to be a little irreverent, dried dates — 
upon which any one may feed who has such an unnatural appetite. We could not 
convince ourselves that it was necessary to include them in our story of nations, 
any more than it is necessary for them to be retained in the memory of the reader. 

In fact, carrying dates about in the memory is more often performed by people 
as a mental gymnastic accomplishment, than from an idea that they have any rightful 
place in their store of useful knowledge. Only epoch-making events should be 
associated in the mind with their dates, and such events are comparatively few in 
history. These we have appropriately mentioned, and these alone. 

It is with the not unreasonable hope that this volume will supply a need often - 
expressed by those whose school days lie far behind them, for a comprehensive repre- 
sentation of the world's history which will serve all ordinary uses, and that those still 
in training in the schools of our land preparing for that broader school of life may 
derive inspiration from its pages, that we send it forth. 

The Author. 



vn 



Table of Contents. 



Egypt, - - - -i6 

Ethiopia, 32 

Assyria, ... . -40 

Media, 49 

Babylonia, - - - -58 

Persia, - - - - -^ 71 

Asia Minor and Neighboring Kingdoms, - 88 

India, - ^ 98 

China and Japan, - 103 

Carthage, ii- 

Greece, - - -1:25 

Rome, 193 

France, - - - 267 

England, 358 

'GER^L■\NY, - 447 

Scotland and Ireland, 4qS 

Scandinavia, - - 548 

Russia, - - - 574 

Spain, 612 

Modern European Kingdoms: 

Netherlands, 664 

Austria, - - 682 

Turkey, -...-- 690 

Italy, - 699 

America, 733 

British America, - -- 

Spanish America, - ..■. 



Vlll 



List of Full Page Illustrations. 



Acropolis of Athens Restored m6 

I )ef cat of Dari us l)y the jMacedoniaiis 'So 

The Gauls in Rome 21J 

Antony Offering the Diadem to Caesar... 241 

The Roman Korum 257 

\era Cruz 27c> 

Charl cmajine I )estroying the Sacred Oak 280 

Coronation of Charlemagne - "">j 

I'raying for the Success of the Crusaders . -3^2 

Children's Crusade - 31 3 

I51ind Doge Dandola Leading the Venetian Crusade 324 

A Tournament in France During the Fifteenth Century ---327 

Napoleon Quelling the Mob 348 

Napoleon Announcing to Josephine His Intention to Divorce Her 352 

Napoleon I 350 

The Retreat From Moscow _ 353 

Naiiok'on Signs His Abdication .354 

Bluchcr's Forced March to WaterlcMi 355 

The Castle of Krak 387 

Richard Coucr de I, ion in Battle 3Q0 

Joan of Arc Wounded 409 

The Murder of the I'rinces in the Tower 413 

Henry \III 415 

The Trial of Q^'i^c" Catherine 417 

F^xecution of Charles I., King of F.ngland 432 

H cnry I V. at Canossa 455 

German \'ictory Feast After Battle 45g 

Death of the Last of the Hohenstaufens 465 

Arnold \'on Wink dried Making Way for Liberty at Senipach 469 

The First I'mof Ma<le by Guttenberg and Faust 474 

|ohn Hunyadi and John Cajiristanos m Battle Agamst the Turks 475 

Druid I'riests Offering Sacrifice 500 

Lief F.ricson Discovering America 552 

Marauding Fxpedition of Northmen 560 

Queen Margaret, the Semiramis of the North 570 

Peter the Great at the Battle of Pottawa 5(W 

Crossing the Berezena 606 

The Ci<l and Donna Xiniena 63<> 

Tounpiemede presiding at the Holy Iixpiisition 643 

Hoabdil Surrendering Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella 649 

The Saracen Fleet Destroyed by the Doge of Venice 705 

Columbus and the Egg • 739 

Landing of Columbus 743 

Natural Forest, Hispaniola 755 

Trial by Weight of a Young Girl Accused of Witchcraft 781 

Commodore Perry's Victory on Lake Erie 817 

Admiral Farragut 829 

Tomb of General Philip H. Sheridan 840 

Review of Union Armies at Washington, at the Close of the Civil War 846 

Jesuit Mission -- -905 

M cxican Garden 908 

Havana 9"2 

I )e Soto Discovering the Mississippi 9'6 

La Carcei, Chi-Chen, M exico 920 

Palace of the Nuns, Chi-Chen, Mexico - 922 

A Mexican Floating Garden — 924 

-Avenue of Palms in South America 929 

Hacienda of Lauramarca 934 

Rio Maniri • 939 

Magellan Passing Through the Straits 944 



List of Illustrations. 



KGYPT. 

Combined Crown of L'p[)(jr ;ui(l 

Lower ]'-Kypt 15 

Reaping with Sickle - 15 

Plowing 16 

Shadoof - iC) 

Head-dress of Young Nobleman 16 
Restoration of Egyptian Temi)le 

Facade - if> 

Egyptian with Hoe 17 

Egyptian Chair 17 

Papyrus Plant 17 

Rosetta Stone 17 

Head-Rest "7 

Part of the Rosetta Stone from 

which Hieroglyjihics were first 

<ieci|>hered iH 

Costume of Common Man and 

Woman iS 

Costume of Priest 18 

Musical Instruments --- ilS 

Mummy in Case with Cover Uj 

i5attle Standards 19 

Ancient Nile Barge ii; 

Cleopatra as Priestess of Isis.-- ic; 

Sandals 20 

Dahaibeyeh or Modern Nile lioat 20 

Costume of King 20 

Musician's I.ute 21 

Costume of Queen 21 

Threshing Sled 21 

Dwellings 21 

Transporting Stone 22 

The Temple of Isis _ 22 

Egyptian Brick with Cartouche 

of riiolhniL-s HI 22 

Palm Capital 22 

Plaster Mill. 23 

Sedan Chair 23 

Lotus Capitals 23 

Water Carrier 24 

Slaves at Work Constructing 

Public Buildmgs 2.) 

Head-dress and Ornaments 24 

Egyptian Lady and Donkey 25 

Temple of Denderah 25 

Egy[)tian Dancing C,\r\ 25 

Perfume Ladle 26 

Arms and Armor 26 

Lotus Flower and Leaf 26 

Costume of Body-guard 26 

Procession of Sacred Bull Apis- 27 

Wine-Press 27 

Toilet Articles 27 

War Chariot 27 



Sacred Uranus 28 

Water Mill 28 

Women Drawing Water 28 

Steward Serving Meals 28 

Wigs and Head dresses 28 

Interior of Palace 29 

Rameses the Great- - 21; 

Egyptians in Battle with luliio- 

pians - 29 

Sowing by Hand - - 30 

The Pyramid Field at Cizeh 30 

Fan-bearer 30 

Crinding Corn 31 

Meuzzin Calling to Prayer. 31 

i:tiiioima. 

Dwellings...'. 32 

Bellow'S and Pottery 33 

Three Ty]ies of Ethiopians 33 

Ethiopian Queen -. 33 

Musical Instruments 34 

ICxecution 34 

Arms and Armor 34 

Warrior . -. 34 

Agricultural Implements 35 

Costume of Nobleman 35 

Hunting Rhinoceros 35 

C;iIALI>.KA. 

Restoration of Ancient Temple. 36 

(■fathering Dates 36 

Clepsydra 37 

Ancient Sun-dial ^,7 

Warrior 37 

Chaldx'an Writing onlJricks..- 37 

Bronze Arrows and Spear-Heads 38 

I'lint and Stone Imi)lements 38 

Woman of the Nobility- 38 

liracelets and Rings. 39 

Ancient Lamp and Cylinder 39 

Ancient Pottery - 39 

Dish-Cover Tomb 39 

Jar Coffin of the Chaldxans 39 

ASSYRIA. 

Costume of Priest 40 

Assyrian Dwellmg 41 

Costume of Connnon People.-- 41 

Assyrian Sandal 41 

Sandal 42 

Palace of Asshur-Izzur-Pal 42 

Plow and See<ler 42 

Assyrian Slinger - 43 

Assyrian Royal Tent: 43 

Interior of Royal Palace 43 

War Vessel 44 

Transporting Stone on Inflated 



Skin-raft 44 

Archer and Attendant 44 

Sandal 45 

liattle Standard 45 

Assyrian King 46 

Assyrian Mounted Soldier 46 

Assyrian Harjier 47 

King's Armor-bearer 47 

Ferchar, the (iuardian S|iirit... 48 

MKOIA. 

Money in Bags 50 

Costume of King 50 

Threshing with Flail 51 

A Leathern Water I'.oille . 52 

Mounted Soldier 53 

Costume of Scythians 54 

DancingGirl 55 

Foot Soldier 56 

National Costume 56 

JJABY LOMA. 

King 58 

Costume of Young Noble 59 

Camel Sedan Chair 59 

Babylonian Soldier 60 

War Chariot, with Scythes 60 

liabylonian Method of Inflicting 

Death Penalty 61 

Babylonian Captives 61 

Musician 62 

Fire Altars 62 

Babylonian Representation of 

Baal - 63 

Brick with Stamp 64 

Woman Grinding Corn 65 

Coins with Figure of Baal 65 

Arms and Armor 66 

Babylonian Musician.- 67 

The Capture of Babylon l)y 

Cyrus .. 68 

King Hunting Lion ... 69 

Threshing Wagon .. yo 

PKIISI.V. 

Persian Woman of the Harem.. 72 

Persian Dwellmg 73 

Persian Soldier 74 

King Cyrus 75 

Tomb of Cyrus at Pasagarda-.. 76 
Cambyses Killing the Sacred 

Bull Apis 77 

Persian King on Throne 78 

Persian War Vessel 79 

Single Volute Capital 80 

Palace of Darius at Persepolis.. 81 
Bull-Headed Capital 82 



X 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Tomb of Darius 83 

Elephantsin Battle 8; 

Caltrop-- 85 

Modem Costume of Persian 86 

Costume of Warrior About 1700- 87 
Ormazd 87 

ASIA MINOR. 

Costume of Phoenician Woman. 88 

Costume of Phoenician Man 8g 

Concjuest of Tyre by the Baby- 
lonians 89 

Eastern Hand Mill qo 

Phoenician Glass I5ottle go 

Phoenician Galley qi 

Phoenician Dwelling 91 

Phoenician Tomb 92 

Jewish Warrior of David's Reign 92 

Philistine Warrior 93 

Jewish Inkstand 93 

Woman of Cyprus 93 

Tomb with Rolling-stone 94 

Ancient Jews 94 

V'olumen and Scrivinum 94 

Jewish Shepherd 94 

Jewish Court-Yard Scene 95 

Jewish Priest 95 

Stoning to Death Among the 

Jews 95 

Jewish High Priests and Levites 96 

Jewish Warriors and King 96 

Woman of Bethlehem 96 

Jewish Mother and Child 97 

Jewish Dwelling and Tent 97 

INDIA. 

Palanquin 99 

Hindoo Girl 99 

Serpent-Charmer 100 

Parsee Cemetery 100 

Hindoo Picotah. loi 

Water-Bearing Ox- 101 

Tiger Hunting in India 102 

HindiH) Dwelling 102 

CHINA AND JAPAN. 

Chinese Coolie 103 

Chinese Merchant 103 

Chinese Boy -I03 

Chinese Woman 103 

Japanese Man's Shoe 104 

Shoe of Japanese Woman 104 

Japanese Dancing Girl 104 

Chinese Dwelling 105 

Chinese Prayer-Wheel 105 

Chinese Wedding Procession 106 

Chinese Street Sou[)-seller 106 

Chinese Cab 106 

Chinese Funeral Procession 107 

Public Letter-Writer 107 

Chinese Punishment for Theft. .107 

Chinese War Junk 108 

Japanese Jinrikisha 108 

Japanese Two-Sworded Noble in 
Court Dress 109 



Japanese Peasant in Winter 

Dress of Straw log 

Great Wall of China.. -.109 

Japanese Barber - 109 

Japanese Warrior. .110 

Chinese Execution no 

Chinese Plow no 

Chinese Warriors ..ni 

Sampau ni 

C.VKTHAGE. 

Woman of Carthage 112 

Hannibal Crossing the Rhone. .n3 
Storming of the Byrsa, Car- 
thage n 5 

Restoration of the Harbor and 

Town of Utica nS 

The Stratagem of Hannibal 122 

GKEFX'K. 

Grecian Helmet 126 

Pandean Pipes 126 

Grecian Dwelling 126 

Grecian Head-dress 127 

Demeter or Ceres 127 

The Chiton 128 

\'enus of Milo 128 

Ideal Hunt of Homer 129 

Laocoon 129 

Zeus, the Supreme God 130 

Greek Two-Wheeled Plow 130 

Hermes 131 

Ares or Mars 131 

Artemis or Diana 132 

Grecian Shoe 132 

Greek Warrior 1 33 

Grecian Head-dress 133 

The Hiamiation 134 

The Combined Chiton and Chal- 

m y s 134 

Greek Peasants 1 35 

Doric Capital --'35 

Grecian Boot 1 36 

Forty-oared Greek Boat 136 

Doric Architecture 137 

Interior of the Temple of 

Jupiter 138 

Olymwian Games 139 

X'ictors in the Olympian Games. 140 

Ionic Capital.. 141 

Pluto 142 

Here, or Juno 143 

Athens, or Minerva 144 

The Sacrifice to the Minatour...i45 

The Pythian Oracle. uS 

The Piraeus of Athens 150 

Bacchus 151 

Costume of Grecian Generals.. 153 

Costume of Grecian Ladies 154 

Apollo 155 

Pericles 163 

Socrates 165 

Alcibiades 166 



Return of Xenophon and the 

Ten Thousand 169 

Aristotle 175 

Aristotle and Alexander 176 

Defeat of the Thracians by the 

Macedonians 179 

Alexander at Perseopolis 181 

Diogenes ..183 

Pharos of Alexandria ..185 

ROME. 

Etruscan Cinerary L'rn. 195 

Oath of the Horatii 200 

Soldier in Marching Order 202 

Roman Dwelling 203 

Brutus Condemns His Sons to 

Death .205 

Roman Ladies and Slave 207 

Neptune, the God of the Sea... 208 

Shoe of Patrician 210 

Shoe of Plebeian 211 

Acropolis of .-Xthens 146 

Woman with Distaff 214 

Regulus Returns to Cartha- 
ginian Captivity .217 

Lictors 220 

Roman Legionaries 221 

Roman Warrior's Costume 224 

Roman Lady at Toilet 227 

Roman Triumph 230 

Julius Ca;sar 232 

Roman Balista 234 

Marc Antony 237 

Sedan Chair 239 

C;esar as Dictator 243 

Lictor, Emperor and Noble 246 

Triumphal Statue of Augustus.. 249 

Roman Catapult 251 

The Emperor Claudius and His 
Wife. Tiberius and Livia .-.252 

Nero 253 

Bringing the Seven-armed Can- 

delebra from Jerusalem 254 

Female -Acrobat 255 

Marcus Aurelius 256 

Constantine the Great Going into 

Battle 258 

Disc-Thrower 259 

Constantine the Great 260 

Costume of Roman Matron 261 

Tablets and Stylus 265 

Roman Chair 266 

FRANCE. 

Costume of Ancient Gaul 268 

Early Gallic Hut 272 

Franciscan Monk and Nun 275 

Costume of Frankish King and 

Queen --279 

The God Thor 287 

Knight of Charlemagne's Court. 289 

Norman Ladies _. 294 

The Acolade 297 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



XI 



Knight and Squire of First Cru- 
sade - -- 2qg 

Godfrey de Bouillon 300 

Middle Ages --301 

Duke and Knight Templar 303 

Shepherd of Lannes 304 

French Head-dresses. -286- -2g2 
309-.311 

Knight Templars --315 

Birds-eye-\'iew of the City and 

Island of Rhodes 318 

French Lady and Gentleman 

XIV. Century 322 

Scene During the Night of St. 

Bartholomew __ __ 331 

Cardinal Richelieu .333 

Costume of Nobleman in 1640--334 

Royal Costume 1625 335 

French Nobility in Court Cos- 
tume 336 

French Abbe -^^7 

Louis XIV. in his old Age. . --338 

Louis XV. and Guard 339 

Nobleman and Officer Time of 

Louis XVI - 339 

Storming of the Bast ile. 340 

Members of the Commune 340 

Costumeof French Citizens 1800.341 

Louis XVI--- --342 

Execution of Louis XVI 343 

Marie Antoinette -344 

Robespierre .344 

Marat -..345 

Charlotte Corday 345 

The Fete of Reason 346 

Louis XVII. in the Temple 347 

Hussar, Cavalryman and Soldier 

1796 347 

French Soldiers 349 

Costume of Citizens 1794 349 

French Generals - - 35 1 

Josephine, Empress of France.. 351 

Marshal Murat .356 

LaFayette in His Youth 356 

ENGLAND. 

Benedictine Monk and Nun 362 

Alfred's Mother Teaching Him 

Saxon Songs 364 

Alfred the Great in His Study. -365 

Riding with Pillion 367 

Statue of William the Con- 
queror - 379 

Duke, Page and Nobleman of 

XIV. Century 402 

The Black Prince ---403 

English Duchess and Lady, XIV. 

Century - 404 

The Tower of London - .406 

Knight Templar 411 

Queen Elizabeth -419 

Queen Elizabeth in her Palan- 
quin... 420 

Mary Stuart ..421 



William Shakespeare 425 

Charles I 427 

English Farm Laborer 428 

The Whipping Post 429 

Cromwell's Round Heads .430 

The Battle of Marston Moor 434 

Oliver Cromwell 435 

Punishment for Drunkenness. . .437 
Seaman and Powder-Monkev, 

1812 '.438 

Costume of Englishman, X\TI1. 

Century.. 439 

Sir Arthur Wellesley. Duke of 

Wellington 439 

George III 440 

Nobleman XVIII. Century 441 

Bombartlment of Canton by the 

English 442 

James Watt Discovering the 

Power of Steam. _ 444 

Richard Arkwright, the Inventor 

of the "Spinning Jenny." 444 

William E. Gladstone 445 

GER3IANY;, 

Arniinius Defeating \'arus 448 

German Duke and Ladies 450 

Italian Scholars and German 

Burgesses .451 

The Huns in Germany.. 453 

Family of German Knight 457 

Roman Pontiff and German Em- 
peror 460 

Emperor Frederick Asking the 

Aid of Henry the Lion 461 

Death of Frederick Barba- 

rossa 463 

Dominican Monk and Nun 466 

WomBn and Ox at Plow 467 

Superior of Order of "Knights 

of the Sword." .468 

German Landsknecht, XII. 

Century ---471 

John Huss Before the Council of 

Constance 472 

Modern Ocean Steamer 473 

German Citizens, XVI. Century. 476 

Martin Luther 477 

Luther's House at Wittenberg. .478 
Knight and Lady, X\'. Century. 478 

Burgundians. .479 

John Calvin 4S0 

Modern Man-of-War ..481 

Major and Lieutenant 482 

Albert III. Leading Against the 

Suabians .483 

German Citizens and Peasants, 

XVI. Century .484 

The Great Elector .-.485 

German Drummer and Color 

Sergeant, XVI. Century. 486 

Francis Joseph 487 

Prince Eugene 487 

Knight and Lady. XVI. Century. 488 



Frederick the Great 489 

Andreas Hofer Being Led to 

Execution.. 490 

Uniform of the Infantry of the 

Guard, 1891 491 

Prussian Soldi ers 492 

Emperor William 1 493 

Congress of Berlin, 1878 494 

Prince Frederick Charles of 

Prussia- -. 495 

Emperor William .496 

Uniform of Lancer, 1891 497 

SCOTLAND, 

Castle of Edinburg 508 

Druids and Druid Priestesses.. - 51 r 

Scotch National Costume .-513 

Scotch Piper 515 

Scotch Maiden Spinning .524 

The Pillory - - - 53' 

Mary Stuart and Francis II 532 

City of Edinburg 534 

Elizabeth Signing the Death- 

Warrantof Mary Stuart... ..535 
Mary Stuart Receives the Death- 
Sentence 536 

IRELAND. 

An Irish Cottage 539 

Irish National Costume 540 

Irish Peasant Woman 541 

The Stocks. 542 

Sir Walter Raleigh 546 

Daniel O'Connell 547 

SCANDINAVIA. 

Viking Ship ---551 

Bridal Costume of Norwegian 
Peasants 555 

Swedish National Costume 565 

Swedish Interior. 567 

Gustavus Ailolphus 568 

Old Swedisii Leathern Cannon. .569 
Charles XII. Borne on a Litter 

at Pultowa 571 

King Charles of Sweden.. 573 

RUSSIA. 

Byzantme Basket Capital 576 

Peasants in Costume 577 

Bridal Costume 578 

Bishop in Casula 579 

Byzantine Emperor. 581 

Byzantine V/arrior .583 

Byzantine Emperor and Princess584 
Byzantine Deacon, Beacon and 

Levite 585 

The Mongolian Hordes Crossing 

the Volga.. 588 

Boyars and Czar --501 

Lapland Sleigh 592 

Ivan the Terrible --593 

Bridal Costume 594 

Russian Dwelling 595 

R ussian Cossack 596 



Xll 



LIST OF ILLUSTRA riOXS. 



A Boyar Lady 597 

Catherine II 600 

Czar Alexander III -601 

Count Xich Sam in Battle 

Against the Turks 604 

General \'(>n Tatlebein 609 

SPAIN. 

Spaniard Drinking 614 

Spanish Postillion 620 

Prophet Mohammed 622 

Gibraltar 624 

Saracenic Coal-of-Arms 626 

Punishment for Capital OffenseS-62S 

Interior of the Alhambra 629 

The Alhambra 631 

Charles V. in San Juste 663 

Gala Costume 638 

Garden of the Alcazar 639 

Seamen of the Time of Colum- 
bus --.641 

The Escurial 644 

Old Roman Bridge at Cordova. -646 

Spanish Gypsies 648 

The Duke of Alva Deposes the 
Duchess of Parma 657 

3Ioi>i:kx i:i Hopi: an 
KiN(;i><>->is. 

NETHEKLNXDS. 

Dutch Peasants 666 

Plemish Costumes 669 

Swiss Peasants --673 

Hessian Soldier 679 

Old Dutch Candle and Snuffers. 6S0 

AUSTRIA. 

Austrian General 684 

The Battle of Warsaw 686 

TUKKKY. 

Turkish Costume 691 

Constantinople 692 

Omar the Great Enters Jerusa- 
lem 694 

Turkish Soldier 696 

Turkish Woman of the Harem.. 6(;8 

ITALY. 

Arrival of the Huns in Italy. ...700 

Early Italian Costume. 702 

Knight and Stiuire 704 

Doge and Dogeressa 707 

Street Scene in \enice 708 

The City of Genoa 710 

The City of Florence 712 

Galileo Before the Council of 

Genoa 714 

Savanarola 716 

Dante 718 

Palermo, Sicily 720 

Capuchin Monk 722 

The Execution of Savanarola. .72^ 

The Papal Keys 725 

Landing of Gapbaldi in Italy. ..726 
Leon Gambeita 728 



Costume of XVI. Century 73c 

Victor Emanuel 732 

AMERICA. 

Indian Tepee 735 

Esquimaux of the Arctic Re- 

pions. 737 

Christopher Columbus 740 

Columbus on the Road to X'alo- 

dilid 742 

The Fleet of Columbus at Sea. 744 
Columbus' First Sight of Land .746 

Columbus in Chains 750 

Showing an Eclipse to the 

Indians 760 

Indian Babies and Cradle 762 

Indian Kindling Fire ---764 

Indian Woman Using Suspended 

Pestle 770 

Captain John Smith 771 

Pocohontas 772 

Plymouth Rock 774 

Birch-Bark Canoe 775 

William Penn 777 

Cabot Leaves Labrador 779 

1 )ug-out Canoe 783 

Block House .785 

Benjamin Franklin 787 

Pequod Indian Wigwam 790 

George Washington 793 

Signing the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence 794 

Washington Crossing the Dela- 
ware 796 

The Americans Retreat into 

Jersey 798 

The Only Coin Milled with the 

Likeness of Washington 803 

Washington on the Banks of the 

Hudson 805 

Long House of Irociuois Indians.. 806 

Thomas Jefferson 807 

Seaman of 1812 808 

Fort Dearborn 809 

James Madison 810 

Tecumseh at the Battle of Fort 

Meigs -' 811 

Indian Chief Arousing the War- 
riors 813 

William Henry Harrison 8ll 

Say to Proctor that if He Entered 
the Fort it Would be Over our 

Bodies 815 

John Bull Train 818 

The Punishment for Slander by 

the Ducking Stool 819 

Andrew Jackson 820 

Burning of Washington 822 

Street Scene in Mobile -823 

St. Charles Street, New Orleans. --824 

J. C. Fremont 825 

Wintield Scott in 1865 826 

A. Lincoln. 827 

Johti Brown 828 



Henry Clay 83 1 

Jefferson Davis -833 

Fort Sumter- 834 

Bull Run — Stand of the Union 
Troops at the Henry House, 3 

P- m - - 835 

General Ulysses S. Grant 836 

Albert Sydney Johnston 837 

J. T. (Stonewall) Jackson 837 

Ambrose E. Burnside 838 

Joseph Hooker 838 

George G. Meade 839 

Robert E. Lee 839 

Sheridan's Ride to Winchester. . . .841 

Philip H. Sheridan 842 

William T. Sherman 842 

Surrender of General Lee 843 

The Capture of Booth 844 

George H. Thomas 845 

Wdham H. Seward 845 

Andrew Johnson 847 

Charles Sumner 847 

iames Buchanan 847 
)aniel Webster 848 

Admiral Farragut 848 

An August Morning with Admiral 

Farragut 849 

Horace Greeley 850 

Ralph Waldo Emerson 850 

Custer's Last Fight 851 

William Lloyd Garrison 852 

Prof. Samuel .Morse 852 

The Death of Sitting Bull 853 

Washington Irving 854 

James A. Garfield 854 

CANADA. 

Indian Village 857 

An Indian War Dance 859 

An Indian Conjurer 860 

Tribal Council 862 

Jesuit Priest Preaching to an 

Indian 868 

The Death of General Wolfe 877 

Retreat of the British from Con- 
cord and Lexington 881 

SPANISH AMERICA, 

Hernando Cortes 885 

Pueblo \'ase 886 

A Pueblo Community 887 

Cliff-Dweller's Village 888 

Pueblo Water Jar 88<> 

Scene in Central America 890 

In the Harbor of Havana, Moro 

Castle in the Distance 893 

Old .Mexican Mission 894 

Cortes on the Dam of Mexico 895 

Aztec Totem Pole 896 

Montezuma 897 

Entry of French Troops into the 

City of Mexico 898 

The Citv of Mexico 899 

The Lake-Dwellers 901 

The Massacre of Cholula 902 

The City of \era Cruz 903 

In the Harbor of \'era Cruz 906 

Caraccas, Venezuela 909 

Lmia, Peru 9" 

The City of Durango, Mexico 914 

Burial of an Aztec Indian .918 

Amazonian Indian Killing an Alli- 
gator 9-7 

The Death of Maximilian 941 



■=>»^ 




.'?^.-- 









^:pi'*3fc 





MEDITERRANEAN SEA. 



y '^-'- "'•' 






-rrr- 




t 



3$^ 




mV!^ 




F YOU look upon the map of Africa you will see 

in the eastern part of that Grand Division the 

_j^^ country of Egypt, extending from the Mediter- 

"'*■ '""^'^M ranean Sea to the Tropic of Cancer, and from the 

w^^ Red Sea and Suez Canal on the east, to the Libyan 

Desert on the west. Clustered about Egypt on the south, 

'""' ^ are several small countries that are of little importance, and 

in fact Egypt itself has no great part in the business of the world, 

and no great influence upon the people of our times, but long 

ago it was a mighty empire, and in the Nile Valley, which is 

nowhere wider than thirty-five miles, and whose average width 

is about fifteen miles, a wonderful 

people lived of whom we will tell you 

something. 

Small as is the country of Egypt, 
there is no where in the world, in the 
same space, such contrasts of soil and 
'"^climate, and no land has played a 
more important part in history. 
''/// The Nile river overflows its 

Combined Crown or bauks everyyear, and spreading far 
'over its valley, covers all the land 
where, in that portion of the year 
when the river flows quietly 
along in the usual channel, great 
Tf^^^' fields of wheat, millet, rye, let- 
■ '' • tuce, onions and other vegetables 
are planted; but these floods, 
instead of being a cause of an- 
noyance to the people, have 
always been the source of their 
wealth, for when the waters re- 
tire they leave behind them 

covering the overflowed lands, a rich, slimy mud, in which every- 
Reaping with sickle. thing that is planted grows with but little labor. 




Upper and Lower Egypt. 





i6 



EGYPT. 




Plowing. 



In Egypt the rain never falls, but the sun shines 

the year round. The fields produce great crops, 

nevertheless, for when the waters of the Nile recede, 

^^ every cistern and reservoir is full, and from these and 

j_:^ the river-banks, ditches are cut, carrying the water 

*" where it is needed. 

The climate is mild and warm, and with many 
kmds of grain and fruit growing, with little further 
work than merely planting them, there is not the 
struggle for life going en that there is in countries 
less favored by nature. 
Near to these most fertile fields of the world, barren ranges of brown sand-hills 
lie as a sort of advance-guard of the desert, and between them and the bleak, rugged 
mountains that form, as it were, a wall between the living beauty of the Nile valley 
'and the dead waste that stretches across northern Africa, are 
strips of fair and blooming lowlands, where the date palms lift 
their slender stems and graceful plume-like heads into the clear 
air, where grapes and pomegranates ripen against the white- 
washed walls of the low one-story houses and naked brown chil- 
dren play in gardens bright with roses and poppies. 

Fields of golden grain wave in the sunshine and vegetables 
of all kinds that the people of the country use grow luxuriantly. 
These valleys, too, are "Gifts of the Nile," as the whole land of 
Egypt has been called for ages, for the river spreads to the very 
foot of the sand-hills as though it would invade even the desert 
itself. 

The desert! Picture to yourself a stretch of brown 

sand reaching so far away that the eye tires in following 

it to the line where the blue sky seems to arch down 

,!5!^ to meet it. Not a tree, shrub or blade of grass 

Shadoof or swape. any wherc, but here and there a great heap of sand, 

or a huge fantastic brown rock, to break the sameness of the 

view. 

No living thing is seen upon this waterless ocean, but now 
and then, toiling slowly along, a caravan of camels, and camels 
have often been called the "ships of the desert." Perhaps a 
tawny lion may be seen, stalking majestically across it to his den 
in the hills, or a troop of Arabs on their swift horses galloping 
away to their tents in some green oasis, for there are certain 

green and beautiful spots 
that form fair islands in 
the desert-waste, and up- 
on these grass and trees 
grow and water gushes 
up from the ground. 

Some of these oases 

V ; ;^ Y^^C^are large enough to sup- 

rillift'-|j|..^port many people, and 

''^" ^' '"^ tliere the Arab pitches 

his tent, and may build 
















tri*. ^^>^ 




KestoraUon of Egyptian Temple Facade. 



EGYPT 



17 




even towns or cities; but most of them are small, and all are separa- 
';ed from the world by the shiftinij sands that are sometimes carried 
by the winds in whirling columns like water-spouts, overwhelming 
and burying everything in their path. 

Thousands of years before the star over the manger in Beth- 
lehem led the wise men of the East to the feet of the infant Jesus, 
the strip of land bordering the Nile, and the fertile valleys near 
the edge of the desert, were the home of a great nation, who were 
die wisest and most highly civilized people in the world, and in 
those valleys are still to be seen ruins of their palaces, tombs and 
temples. 

England is larger than was ancient Egypt, but at least six mill- FOTptum wun Hoe, 

ions of people lived in this small country which really comprised only the 
Nile valley. Although the Egyptians of ancient times lived so long ago, we 
know what manner of people they were, how they looked, and in what 
employment the}' passed their time; because they recorded upon the walls of 
the tombs of their dead everything of importance that was contained in the 
history of the deceased individual, and painted upon them scenes from his 
daily life, which showed him at his work or pleasure, surrounded by his 
friends, or performing his religious ceremonies. 

Perhaps you may think tombs and temples strange places for recording 
such things, but the Egyptian tombs and temples were built to last as long 
as time itself, and were so strong and massive that many of them, 
erected probably forty centuries ago, are still standing much as 
they were when first built, and look as though they might stand 
forty centuries longer. 

No doubt the ancient Egyptians were anxious that the people 
who should come after them, as well as the people of their own 
times, should not forget the great deeds of their kings, and so upon 
the pillars of their temples, upon huge columns called monoliths 
or obelisks, set in public places, they carved and painted the story 
of their victories, for the common people could easily understand 
the pictures, while only the priests could read and write. 

This ancient Egyptian writing looks very strange, and I have 
seen school-boy drawings that are very much like it, but every one y 
of the queer birds and animals is a word, a sentence, or the seal of ^^^ 
a king, and the priests who wrote them knew what they all meant, 
although there were so many figures to be learned that it 
took a long time to be able to read and write, but they did learn it after 
close study, and painted with a brush these strange letters on temples and 
tombs, wrote them with a reed pen on papyrus, or engraved them with a 
sharp piece of wood or ivory on wax. 

Did you ever see any real papyrus, the great-great-grandfather of the 
paper that we use? It has a yellowish color and is easily broken, although 
rolls of it have been found in tombs thousands of years old. 

Papyrus is made from the fibre of a plant that grew wild in some 
parts of Egypt, and was carefully cultivated in fields also. It is a sort of 
reed whose roots are good for food, whose outer stringy bark was used 
for making very good, strong rope, that would not rot in the water, and 
whose inner stem was composed of a great many thin, nearly transparent 
skin-like lavers. 




Chair. 




Ig^W^l^^^ 



Piipyrus Plant. 




Head RcBi. 



I8 



EGYPT. 






These laj'ers were care- 
fully separated with a needle 
made for the purpose, and 
laid side by side until they 
formed a sheet the width 
convenient for use. Over 
these another layer was 
placed at right angles, and 



J!I 





Coetuinc of (uuitnoti Mnn nntl 
Woman. 



'^m'S^mrWimmi.i'^^^lll'^^t^rrArd-i^i.'i^nw^^^ then thev were covered all 

£ri(r OEMtlDyivlt:£.^l^'i:r .^ia«?.:a^><^VS.<;-?;^l)l1r-»^ with a Kuid of paste 

and put under great pres- 

Partof the IJosetta Su»ne from which Hieroglyphics were first Deciphered. British Museum. ... , , 

sure, dried, and a good paper 
was the result. 

In writing a book the Egyptians attached a great many papyrus 
sheets to each other lengthwise, and when the book was completed 
these were simply rolled up and tied. 

For ages there was no one in the world who could read this ancient 
I'^gyptian picture-writing or hieroglyphics, as it is called, but nearly a 
hundred years ago an accident led to its being found out. Napoleon, 
the Emperor of the French, had invaded Egypt, and sent one of his 
engineers to build a fort at the Rosetta mouth of the Nile. 

In excavating for a foundation, the engineer found a stone about 
three feet long upon which several sentences were written in two kinds 
of hieroglyphics and in the Greek language. 

Of course Napoleon was curious to know what these sentences 
were, and set several scholars to work upon them to find out what was written 
on this Rosetta stone, as it was called. Knowing what the Greek sentences 
meant, they suspected that the hieroglyphics were the same words. After 
patient labor, they picked out the hieroglyphic alphabet and then were able to 
read what was written upon the walls of the tombs, palaces, pillars and temples, 
which, as I have told you, are scattered all through Egypt, and so by a lucky 
accident, new light was let in upon history, and we are able to know, through 
the labors of the great scholars of our time, the morals and religion of the 
Egyptians. 

The}' believed in the e.xistence of the soul 
after death, but that it lived thousands of years 
in the bodies of different animals, and then came 
back to the human body again. Of course it was 
necessary that the soul should find its own body 
ready for it, or I suppose it would wander around 
for other thousands of years, so the corpses of the 
dead were skillfully embalmed that they might 
never decay. 

This process of 
embalming was per- 
formed by the priests, 
who knew all that 
was known of med- 
icine ami surger)',and 
they accompanied it 
MusicaiiustrumcDts. ' iTM '& With soleiiin ceremo- 





EGYPT. 



19 



nies. It took seventy clays to complete the embalming, and when 
it was done the corpse was wrapped tightly in bandages wet with 
chemicals, as many being put on as were thought necessary. 

he mummy, as it is called, was then put into a case just 
large enough to fit it, and the embalmers covered the case all over 
with a net-work of porcelain beads, plastered it with a sort of stuc- 
co, and afterwards painted upon it figures of the gods, goddesses or 
sacred beasts and birds. 

Before the mummy was laid away in the tomo, wnether in 
life the person had been the king of the country or a despised 
swineherd, a rich man, or a strange beggar embalmed at public 
expense, the "Judges of the Dead" met, and any one who had a 
complaint of any kiml to make did so, and if he could prove that 
the dead had been wicked or unjust in life, and was not fit to live 
again, the body was not given burial, but was thrown out in some 
place to be broken to pieces or kept in the house of a relative. 

The reason for this peculiar and rather unjust custom, for 
of course there are usually two sides to every story of wrong, 
was said to be in the religion of the Egyptians, for they believed 
that the souls of the dead were tried by the gods, and if they 
were found wanting they had to spend their thousands of years 
of earthly life in unclean animals, such as pigs or monkeys. 

Many of the ancient people, especially those living in warm 
countries, burned the bodies of their 
dead, but the Egyptian priests had 
equally good reasons against burning 
and burying corpses, and therefore 
not only religion, but prudence as 
well, also suggested the embalming, 
which they taught the people was a 
religious duty. 

To burn dead bodies requires a 
large quantity of wood, and in all 
Egypt there was no wood except 
that of the fruit trees, and no other 
fuel except oil. 

If they buried the dead without embalmmg them, even though 
they were put deep down in caverns under the ground, their decay 
would cause poisonous gases to find their way into the air, and that 
in such a hot country, would breed disease among the living 

And, again, the yearly overflow of the Nile would wash the dead 
from their graves to cause pestilence, so the wisdom of embalming 
the dead and placing them in rock-hewn tombs, out of the reach of 
the Nile, or in the solid masonry of pyramids, may be easily seen. 

These priests of ancient Egypt knew many things beside literature 
and medicine. They were the only learned people in 'the country, 
and were probably the only classthat had a very clear idea about the 
gods, for Egypt had a god for every week, month and day in the year, 
with some to spare for weddings and extraordinary occasions. 

Perhaps the priests who made up the scheme of the Egyptian 
religion, or were all-powerful when the worship of the gods, that had 




Mummy lu Case with Cover. 




Battle Standards. 




^^•5^^^^ 




Ancient Nile Barge. 







CleufKitra ;i.s Pr 



20 



EGYPT. 




Sandals, 



been added one by one, became common, thought it too great a 
tax on a priest to worship more than one god; at any rate, each 
priest had to choose a certain god to serve, and then belong to a 
certain temple. 

It would be tiresome to relate, and nearly impossible to re- 
member, the names of all these gods, but you can easily understand 
the whole idea of the Egyptian religion if you will keep in mind the 
fact that they believed the earth and air, fire, water, and the differ- 
ent forces of nature were gods. 








CostuiUL- I'f King, 



1 ^ ^ 



Dahalbeyeh, or Mo*Jern Nile Boat. 

First of all, the many gods that were favorites with the people were Osiris 
and his wife Isis. Now without the Nile all of Egypt would have been a 
desert, and as Osiris represented water and Isis earth, it was not unnatural 
that the ignorant Egyptians, not understanding whj' the river should rise ?t a 
certain time every year, should see in it something divine, and should sing 
praises to the water that made the earth fruitful, offer it sacrifices and think 
it a god. 

Ilorus, another of their gods, was really the mild, moist air of Egypt, and 
Typhon was the fire of the summer heat, which dried up the waters of the 
river so that the grain could be planted. Nepthj's was the desert, and Anubis 
the fertility born of the Nile when joined to the desert. Nepthys was supposed 
to be the sister of Typhon. Phrah or Ra, the sun-god, was another of the chief 



EGYPT. 



21 




Musician witla Lute. 



>t 




gods of Egypt, anti from him the name Pharaoh, which the Egyptians 
gave to their rulers, was taken. Nearly all of the Eastern nations 
worshipped the sun, and as it is the source of light and heat and 
without it nothing could live or grow, it is not strange that the 
Egyptians should give to their kings, the religious as well as political 
head of the nation, the name of Pharaoh. 

Just when Egyptian history began nobody knows, but it was prob- 
ably long before hieroglyphic writing was common, or building 
became one of the arts practiced by the people. 

The Egyptians had a tradition that the gods were their first 
rulers, and perhaps it is true that they were ruled by men, no doubt foreigners, 
who were so much farther advanced in civilization than they themselves were, 
that they thought them gods. 

Learned men have compared the ancient languages, styles of buildinsr, and l?'irj^^\ 
customs of Egypt with those of other countries, and are convinced that Egyptian 'K0^^, 
civilization, like that of every other country of which anything is known, did not j^ 
begin in the country itself, but was brought to it by people who conquered the 
wild roving tribes, and taught them to till the soil, make pottery and construct 
buildings. 

The conquerors of the Nile valley are believed to be Cushites, who, it is 
thought, were the first nation to become civilized, but if you should ask me 
who were the people that were conquered, I can only say native Africans, ^vho *^"""'"''°'*^™*° 
are supposed to be the children of Ham, although Cush was a son of Ham, and 
the founder of the Cushite nation. 

These Cushites are thought to have 
had a splendid civilization in their home 
in Central Arabia long before Egypt be 
came even a kingdom, and that they 
sent out colonies to different countries and 
invaded neighboring nations. 

Written history in Egypt dates back 
3,coo years before Christ was born, when 
Menes, the first native king, founded the 
city of Memphis near the delta A ( mouth) 

of the Nile river. Menes was the first of a dynasty or line of kings, eight in number, 
of whom little is known except their names, and that they established the worship 
of the gods. 

I have said that 
Menes founded 
the city of Mem- 
phis, so you see 
the Egyptians 
must have long 
known how to 
build edifices of 
stone for Mem- 1^^^^ 
phis was a great 




Threshing Sled. 



■^*^U 




22 



EGYPT. 




Trail in.irTtn'T Ston--^ 



and oeautiful city, and in the old tombs near Memphis 
there have been found vases and jars of baked and glazed 
day, such as we use in these days, glass vessels, and hier- 
oglyphic writing, and the mummies are wrapped in linen 
as fine as silk. So even as long ago as the days of Menes, 
the Egyptians knew how to do many things as well, or 
even better, than we do at present. 

Menes began during his reign to conquer surrounding 
M nations, and for hundreds of years the kings who 
came after him followctl- his example, carrying 
into Egypt as slaves thousands of the inhabitants 
of the conquered countries. 

After several centuries there were so very 
many slaves in Egypt that the king, who now 




The Tempi.-, .f 1m-- 




considered them his rightful property, began to make use of them in 
building public works, digging the many canals and constructing the cele- 



<i j^ *brated pyramids, which have been the wonder of past ages, as they are 
^'.likely to be of those that are to come. 
Egyptian Brick with Cartouche Throughout all of Lowcr Egypt, as that part of the country liordering 
of Timthmes III. ^^^^ Mediterranean is called, there are many of these great buildings, 
each of them requiring the work of thousands of slaves for years in their construction. 
The pyramids are all a long distance from any place where stone 
could have been obtained, and the huge blocks, each weighing many 
tons, prepared in a way that showed the Egyptians to be acquainted 
with mathematics as well as architecture, were no doubt carried upon 
sledges for a long distance, and both in transporting and jnitting them 
in place must have required a vast amount of labor. 

The pyramids are built of solid masonry, and their bases cover from 
six to thirteen acres in extent. In the center of one side an opening is 
cut and a passage leads down into chambers cut out of the masonry for 

PalMl tiipltal. 




EGYPT. 



23 



royal sepulchres. In some of the pyramids 
the passageway leads not only through the 
masonry, but down deep under the earth to 
the natural rock. 

The monoliths ana obelisks, which 1 have 
already told you were erected by the kings 
and painted or carved from top to bottom 
with hieroglyphic writing and pictures, were 
made of huge blocks of syenite, a kind of 
sandstone quarried in Syene, a city of southern 
Egypt, now called Assouan. 

Where colors are used in these paintings 
they are still remarkably bright, for the dry. 




Plaster Jim. 




//^/V|i|,>! 



pure air of Egypt has little effect upon them, 
and they were not painted directly upon the stone 
itself, but upon the stucco, with which the stone 
had been coated, to prevent the pigment sinking 
into the pores. 

Each king seems to have vied with those 
who had preceded him in the number and 
magnificence of the monuments he built. How 
many unhappy slaves must have perished in the 
building of these! If the old quarries, mines 
and rocky hillsides of Egypt could reveal their 
secrets they might tell sad tales, for the blood 




24 



EGYPT. 




Water Carrier. 

too hard to be borne. In 
people, with the exception of the priests 
and officers, were little better off than 
the slaves, and drudgery, blows, extortion, 
and every manner of wrong was heaped 
upon them by their rulers until their spirit 
was broken and the strength of the nation 



and tears of myriads of human beings were shed to gratify 
the vanity of kings whose very names are forgotten, but 
the work of the despised slaves remains to mock the 
vanished greatness of masters who imagined that their 
renown would echo throu"-h all time, and their glory 
astonish all nations. 

To keep hundreds of thousands of slaves at work 
required a large number of guards, taskmasters and 
overseers, and as the army was thus employed, the soldiers 
became lazy, idle fellows, the military spirit declined, and 
with it the patriotic feeling of the great masses of the 
people who were so heavily taxed to supply material for 
the kings' palaces, temples, tombs and other buildings, 
and food for the kings' slaves, that life seemed almost 
fact the whole ^tw^iM^ M 





Head Dress and Ornaments. 



Slaves at Work Cjuotracuiic; I'uSjLc l;ujiaii.„'!,. 

sapped. WMien Memphis began to decline Thebes, a city in 
southern Egypt, had grown into such power that during the 
reign of the twelfth dynasty of kings, it became the capital of 
southern Egypt. The palaces, temples, obelisks, statues and 
other public works of "the hundred gated Thebes" must have 
been wonderful in the days of her glory, for even now in 
their ruins tliey are considered the most marvelous of human 
structures. 

Twenty-three miles in length and seven miles in width. 
upon both banks of the Nile, Thebes was probably as large 
a city as is Chicago or New York, and carried on a commerce 
with the whole known world. Her priests were celebrated 



EGYPT. 



25 



for their learning, and her artists executed the most perfect speci- 
mens of Egyptian art. 

Egypt at this time was divided into five kingdoms, but the 
Pharaohs of Thebes outshone all the others of Egypt in the brill- 
iancy of their conquests and grandeur of their public works. 

One of the Theban kings constructed the famous labyrinth, ' 
a royal tomb with 3,000 rooms, the 1,500 above ground being of '* 
solid stone, entirely covered with sculpture, and the 1,500 below 
ground being the sepulchres tor the Theban kings and sacred 
crocodiles. The roof of this gigantic building was like the wall, 
of stone, and "every court was surrounded with a colonnade of 
white stones exquisitely fitted together.' 

It was when Thebes was thus 
glorious that northern Egypt 
was overrun by a horde of 
half-naked barbarians, called 
Hyskos or Shepherd Kings, 
who pillaged the temples, 
burned cities, murdered peo- 
ple, and finally made them- 
selves master of the whole 
Lower Nile country, ruling the 
inhabitants with ten-fold 
greater cruelty than had their 
own oppressive Pharaohs. 

Nearly three hundred years 
the Hyskos maintained them- 
selves in the sacred places of 
Egypt, and Thebes herself 
was taken and sacked and her 
priests enslaved. 

This dreadful three hundred 
years is a blank in Egyptian 
history, for no records were 
made during the time, and 
many that had been made 
before were destroyed. We 
do not even know for a cer- 
tainty who the Shepherd 
Kings were, although they 
were either wandering Ber- 
bers from the desert, or Hitti- 
tes from Syria. It was in the 

year 1600 B. C, that Amosis, Tempkotrxm. m 

king of Thebes, who held his crown by paying a large sum every year to 
the Shepherd Kings, roused the Egyptian people to throw off the yoke 
of the barbarians, and drive them from the country. When this was 
done Amosis united the five kingdoms into one, with Thebes as its 
capital, and began the new empire which lasted a thousand years. 

The spirit that had made the Egyptians a great people revived, and 
encouraged by their success in driving out the Shepherd Kings, they 




Egyptian Lady and Donkey. 




Dancing Girl. 



26 



EGYPT. 




Perfume Ladle. 




Ann^ and Arinur. 



gradually extended their conquests into foreign countries, and 
at the head of great armies their Pharaohs invaded Ethiopia, 
Arabia and Syria, and even planted their sacred standards beyond 
the Euphrates. 

It was in the early period of the new emp.re that horses 
and war chariots were first used in the Egyptian army, and 
mounted soldiers became as formidable to the enemies of 
the empire as the Egyptian bowmen had always been. 

No doubt the return of the victorious host to the capital 
after an expedition against a foe, was a splendid sight that 
thrilled the hearts of those who witnessed it, as all such 
sights do even yet, for although war is terrible, there is 
■ something in the uniforms, glittering weapons and swaying 
'. banners that makes the pulses leap and the eyes brighten, of 
those who see in them the visible symbol of order and gov- 
ernment, the spirit that risks life at the call of the state, the 
courage that fears nothing. 

P'irst of all rode the cavalry, each horse's bridle gaily 

decked with gold and gems, and the riders with helmets 

shining and lances flashing in the sunlight, while the people 

shouted and cast flowers and palm branches before them, and the white-robed priests 

with lotus flowers in their hands, chanted praises to the gods. 

After the cavalry came the king in his golden chariot, drawn by snow-white horses, 
whose harness and trappings glittered with jewels. Surrounding the 
king's chariot were the flower of the army, horse and foot, and before 
and liehind walked the priests, carrying the sacred banners. 

Beside the charioteer, in his armor of mail, stood the king, his royal 
robes falling to his feet, his jeweled collar reaching half-way to his waist, 
and his helmet bearing the symbol of Ra. 

With his hand grasping the sceptre, and his eyes looking neither to 
the right or left, he was borne forward, while as he passed, the people 
were silent, prostrate upon their faces, to do him homage. 

Following the king's body-guard, came thousands upon thousands of 

foot soldiers, each troop armed with maces, lances and shields, while 

u.tu*Fioweran.iL(!ij. over them floated the banner of their especial deity, and before them 

driven by cords fastened about their elbows, were long lines of captives taken 

in battle. 

The priests carrying the scrolls upon which were recorded the names of 
those who had slain enemies in battle, marched with the several troops, for 
when an Egyptian soldier killed an enemy he cut off a hand or foot to carry 
to the priest-scribe, who credited him with it on the scroll, and set down his 
\name so that when the treasure was divided each soldier might be rewarded 
according to the number he had slain, the bloody trophies of their valor being 
kept in baskets and counted in the presence of the king. 

Next came numerous low two-wheeled war chariots, in which were two 
warriors, one as driver and one as fighter, and last of all the vans loaded 
with booty, under guard of soldiers, and the baggage, scaling ladders and 
stores of the army. 

Rameses the Great, whom the Greeks called Sessotris, was one of the most 
famous kings of the new empire, and by far the greatest warrior of ancient Egypt. 
The old historians tell us •'hat Rameses grc"' ud '^ his father's palace at Thebes, 





Costume c-if noilyciiaiil. 



EGYPT 



^7 



and as playmates and com- 
panions he had all the other 
boys in the kingdom who 
were born on the same day 
that he was, for his father 
determinetl to educate Ram- 
eses and these lads together 
so that when he grew up he 
would have true friends who 
would be bound to him by 
the close ties of earl}' affec- 
tion. 

These lads were all treat- 
ed exactly alike, and the 
young king fared no better 
than the humblest born of 

them all. They were early trained to bear hunger, pain 
and weariness patiently; to use bows, arrows and other war- 
like weapons; to run, leap and throw the javelin. 

When his father died and Rameses became the 
Pharaoh, he had for his officers those who had been his 
companions in boyhood, and who, as men, had been as 
dear to him and to each other as brothers, and his whole 
after success was no aoubt greatly due to the wisdom of 
his father in thus providing him with trustworthy men 
to aid him in his undertakings. 

One of Rameses' first acts after becoming Egypt's 
Pharaoh, was to divide his kingdom into thirty-six states, 
each to be governed by a trusted officer, who was to be 
accountable to Armais, the Pharaoh's brother for the 
conduct of the affairs in his particular territory, and then 
with six hundred thousand foot soldiers, twenty-four thous- 
and horse and twenty-seven thousand chariots, he set forth 
to conquer the world, which in that day meant southern and 
southwestern Asia. 

This vast army was not all the fighting force of Egypt, 
for enough had been left at home to protect the kingdom 
and it was probably largely made up of slaves taken in 
former wars. 

To transport these troops was no small under- 
taking, but Rameses succeeded in doing so, and with 
four hundred war vessels, which he had caused his 
troops to build on the shores of the Red Sea, he con- 
quered the coasts and islands of neighboring countries 
as far east as the Ganges, and as I have already related, 
several other countries of Africa and western Asia. 

After an absence of nine years Rameses returned 
to Egypt laden with slaves and treasures, and caused his 
triumphs to be recorded at Tanis and left memorials of 
his greatness not only in Egypt, but in Nubia and 
Ethiojiia. At Thebes was a grand palace that had been 



-^-P> 




Procession of Sacred Bull Apia. 








■,S£^ 



Toilet Articles. 




28 



EGYPT. 




Sacred L'rauus. 



left unfinished by the father of Rameses, this the son finished, anu completed, 
also, a magnificent temple begun by a former king, placing huge statues of him- 
self before them so that none might forget that it was he, Rameses, who had 
brought them to perfection. 

On the rich land at the eastern side of the mouth of the Nile, the city of 
Pelusium, a great commercial port had long been builtand carried on 
a great trade with the countries along the eastern shore of the 
Mediterranean. The passage from this place to Heliopolis, near the 
point where the Nile divides into several mouths, was often troub- 
led by wandering bands of Arabs. Rameses caused a high wall 
to be built along the route between the two cities to protect that por- 
tion of Egypt from plundering barbarians, and he cut a great canal 
from Mem his to the sea. 

A huntlretl and fifty years before 
the reign of Rameses, and about half 
a century before Amosis drove the 
Shepherd Kings from Egypt, the 
children of Jacob, the Hebrew patri- 
arch, settled in a fertile strip of land, 
just below the delta, called the Land 
of Goshen. 

They increased and multiplied, 
and tending their flocks, sowing and 
reaping their grain, lived happy, pros- 
perous, pastoral lives, refusing, how- 
ever, to forsake the worship of the 
great God of their fathers, or to 
honor the gods ol the Egyptians. 

These Hebrews were neither builders nor manufacturers, 
craftsmen nor artists, but simple shepherds and farmers, and the 
Egyptians, who loved to congregate in cities and live a commercial 
life weaving, carving, buying and selling the products of skilled 
industry hat! little sympathy with the people of Goshen, and 
although they treated them kindly at first, soon began to be 
suspicious and unjust to them, especially as they saw that they were 
rapidly becoming wealthy, and were likely to be a power in the 





'-~^':\,Hf$mff'^' 



W.itir Mill. 



sunward Scrvlug ,\f-^MK 



land. 

After several years the Pharaohs began to treat them almost 
as cruelly as they did the slaves taken in war. The were made 
to labor on the public works without receiving an}' hire, and 
were flogged and even killed by their cruel taskmasters if they 

happened to displease them. Rameses the Great.. 

made the Hebrews help dig his canal and build his 

great wall, and Manepta, his son, put such heavy 

tasks upon them that they rebelled, as it was 

strange they did not tlo long before. 

Moses had grown up in the palace, and was 

in high favor with the Pharaoh until he killed an 

Egyptian whom he saw mistreating a Hebrew, 

then he was obliged to flee for his life. 

When he heai-d of the rebellion of his kindred 

Wlg^ aiiii Head Dresses. 




EGYPT. 



29 




Interior of Palace. 



against the king, he returned 
to Egypt and begged him to 
let the Children of Jacob go 
back to their own country, 
which was in western Asia. 
The Bible tells us of the 
wonders that Moses per- 
formed before the Pharaoh, 
and the plagues God sent 
upon Egypt before the He- 
brews were allowed to de- 
part, and how, when the two 
million men, women and 
children from the Land of 
Goshen reached the Red 
Sea, pursued by Pharaoh and 
his army, for the king had 
repented his promise and 
was following the Hebrews 
to bring them back, the 
waters divided and the He- 
brews passed dry-shod 
through them, but Pharaoh and his army who were close behind them 
were drowned. 

The Egyptian story of the exodus of the Hebrews declares that 
tne people of Goshen called the Shepherd Kings again into Egypt, 
drove Menepta into Ethiopia, and dwelt with the Hyskos thirteen 
years in the sacred cities, until Menepta came back with a great 
army and drove them into Asia. 

The Bible account, however, has never been doubted by histo- 
rians, and to this day, upon the eastern borders of the Red Sea, is 
shown the "Valley of Wandering," where the Hebrews suffered for 
their disobedience and murmuring against God. 

After the death of Manepta and two other kings of his line, a 
new dynasty of twelve kings reigned in Egypt, only one of whom, 
Rameses III, the second of the line, who ascended the throne 1269 
B. C, did much to 
maintain the power or 
glory of the empire. 

For three hundred 
years after the death 
of Rameses III the 
strength of Egypt 
steadily declined, while 
that of the nations in 
western Asia was as 
gradually increasing, 
and in 632 B.C., when 
Psammitichus was the 
reigning Pharaoh, As- 
syria, then the greatest 




r\MEsFS THr 01 E VT 



The oppressor of Hie Jews, from a pho- 
tograph of his niummy tliscovert^d 




E;;vt)liuus iu Battle with the Ethiopjau-. 



30 



EGYPT. 



oower in the world, conquered Egjpt and made it pay heavy tribute. 

Xeko, the next Pharaoh, a brave and determined man, and a good 
soldier, tried hard to restore the old glory of the empire, as did also 
his son Amasis, but it was gone forever, and in less than a hundred 
years after it had been compelled to accept its first foreign master, 
Egypt had to bow her proud neck to a still heavier yoke, that of Camby- 
ses the Persian, anil from that day to this it has been governed by 
foreigners, crushetl under the oppression of ambitious conquerors, 
whose policy has made the fair Nile valley a wilderness. 

Near the Great Pyramid of Gizeh is a colossal statue of a reclining 
lion, with a woman's head. The face is one of strength, dignity, calm- 
ness and mystery, and this Sphinx, as it is called, seems to brood over 
some problem too deep for the mind of man to fathom. 
Elsewhere in Egypt are other Sphinxes, .all with the i 

same sad mystery expressed on their stone faces. The g 

hands that carved thtMii have been dust for thousands of P 



-\, 




Sowing by Hand. 





Tlie Pyramid FJeid atOizi-ii, with Uic Sphyux Id the Forcprouiid. 




\ c-ars, as are the hands that built the 
mighty pyramids, the most magnificent 
rl of which are taller than the highest 
building on our contini^nt. 

Death seems to brood over Egypt 
- her Sphinxes brood over the desert. 
I<,T proud temples are in ruins and her 
palaces havebecome heaps of cruml)ling 
stone, the haunts of serpents and wild beasts. 

Here and there a pictured column or a giant statue still stand like 
ghosts of the past, to whom the memory of old days is so dear that they 
haunt the spots where they were hai)py. 

The hand of time and the barbarian have been .aid heavily upon 
the "queen of the world," the "hundred-gated Thebes," and her heaped 
ruins only remind the nations of her former greatness, while many of 
her sister cities have utterly vanished from the earth, and even their 
sites are no longer remembered. 

Sitting in the shadow of broken statues and pillars, travelers see to-day 
figures like those of the sculptures upon the columns above them, but 
in their faces is the sadness of a race whose past holds for them no 
inspiration, and whose earthl}' future has no promise of greatness. 

Even the gods are dead, for they were the gods made by the people 
w'ho worshipped them, and when the sun sets, from Elephantis to the 



EGYPT. 



31 



Mediterranean, from the desert to the Red Sea, where once 
the priests of Osiris and Ra chanted their evening hymns, 
and the virgin priestesses of Isis performed their mysteries, 
turbanned Moslems kneel with their faces to the east and 
mutter "Allah il Allah," "Great is God, there is no GotI but 
God," while Christians who have journeyed over land and sea 
to view the relics of a nation that died before those of Europe 
were born, say too, "God is Great." 

I shall tell you in another place how 
Egypt, after a long period of oppression, wars 
and trials, under which she sunk so low that 
there seemed no resurrection of her ancient 
glories; again arose like the enchanted prin- 
cess, from her hundred year's sleep and 
astonished the whole world. From out her 
bosom when in her first prime, she sent a 
stream of influence that watered the land of 
Greece, gathered into a life-giving torrent 
which overflowed the whole East, and finally, 
like a tidal wave, sinking into the peace of 
the wide ocean from which it came; this 
stream returned again to her bosom, fertilized her dead civilization and gave it 
a brief yet splendid period of life. 

This stream carried to Europe, and even to us of this day, the life germs of a 
grand civilization; and though Egypt is dead, her soul has hatl its transmigration to 
the body of other nations. 

Egypt's doom may be that of our own nation, but future peoples may read our 
history to some good purpose if they find that we fulfill our destiny as did she who 
left her great acquirements in science, art and literature, a deathless heritage to pos- 
terity, even though her gold, land and treasure became the prey of little conquerors 
and warring kingdoms. 





•■''■ 'ilMI' " 



Griudiug (.'itii. 



luL-z/iii Calliug tu Prayer. 








X READING the story of Egypt you noticed that 
Ethiopia was mentioned as one of the neighboring 
countries and probably thought that by Ethiopia was 
meant some Negro kingdom of Africa, and such a 
mistake is natural enough, for Negroes have long 
been called Ethiopians, although very few of them 
can rightfully claim that name. 

Ethiopia is mentioned in the oldest writings of the Greeks as a "divided 
land," and in the Bible Ethiopia means central and western Arabia, and it was 
"divided" by the Red Sea, for the Cushites, who had conquered Egypt, had 
probably founded a colony and named it for the mother country, either before or 
about the time they conquered Egypt. 

Now whether Ethiopia learned of the Egyptians how to build, weave, make 
pottery, write in hieroglyphics, and worship the gods, or whether Ethiopia was the 
teacher of Egypt we can not say, for it is not known whether the Cushites entered 
the Nile Valley from the Mediterranean or from the shores of the Red Sea, and the 
mists of the far-off past so shroud the beginnings of both nations that we shall probably 
never find out which was the oldest. 

Look again upon the map of Africa, just south of 
Egypt, and you will see Nubia and Abyssinia, although 
you can nowhere find on a modern map Ethiopia, for it 
has disappeared from the map of nations, but Ethiopia 
embraced those two countries, and several others near 
them. 

That part of the Nile which runs through Nubia con- 
tains several great cataracts, the first one being very near 
the southern boundary line of Egypt, so it was impossible 
for boats to navigate the stream upon that account, but 
nevertheless Ethiopia became in very early days a great 
commercial country, for that portion of the empire which 
bordered the Red Sea possessed several fine harbors 
i»»'"|"fe''- where ships from the far cast could anchor safely to 

discharge their cargoes of rich carpets, silks, jewelry, carvings, spices, cotton and 
linen cloth, and receive in return the gold-dust, ivory, dates and wax from the in- 
terior of Ethiopia, and the various grains raised in the river valley. 

Like Egypt, Ethiopia was yearly enriched by the overflow of the Nile and the 
fields were equally fertile, but on both the eastern and western sides of the rich valley 







ETHIOPIA. 



33 




Bf Uows anil Pott<^ry. 




were vast stretches of sandy desert, and the hills not 

being high enough to protect the low river lands from the 

shifting sands that year by year, and century by century, 

drifted nearer and nearer the Nile, the blooming valleys 

were little by little swallowed up by the desert, villages and 

towns blotted out, and even pyramids, obelisks and tombs 

were covered so deeply that no trace of them could be 

seen from the upper world. 

This is especially true in central and southern Ethio- 
pia, where many such monuments have been found deep 

down under the surface of the desert, but in the northern 

part, which is better protected by hills, monuments, rivaling those of Thebes in 

splendor still stand to challenge the admiration of the traveler. 

The greatest city of ancient Ethiopia was Meroe, and when it was in the height 

of its glory, even Thebes was not grander, although it was never noted for the learning 

of its priests, as was the former city, and left very few written records either 

upon papyrus, obelisks or temples. 

In fact all that we know of ancient Ethiopia we have learned from a 

few monumental obelisks and from the stories painted or carved on 

the walls of rock-hewn tombs and temples, but from these we are 

convinced that the Ethiopians worshipped the gods common in Egypt, and 

that they were sometimes ruled by queens as well as kings. 

Rameses the Great, and other Pharaohs before him, invaded Ethio- Tjpe ot Ethiopian. 

pia, and carried away thousands of its people as slaves, and for several centuries 

after we first hear of Ethiopia, it is always as a conquered nation, paying tribute to 

Egypt, but there was a certain Ethiopian king who conquered all of Egypt during 

the period known in the history of that country as the "New Empire," 

and who entered Asia with an army and marched to the help of the 

people of Jerusalem, then threatened by the Assyrians. 

From that time until the empire began to be torn by the quarrels 

of various tribes, Ethiopia .had a great reputation among the other 

nations, and the most extravagant stories were told of its wealth. 

These stories reached the ears of Cambyses when he was in the 

height of his victorious career in Egypt, and he determined to march 

against Ethiopia and make himself master of Africa, as he already 
was of western Asia. 

The prisoners he took from among the Ethiopian fishermen 
on the shores of the Red Sea, told him that they had heard that at 
Meroe gold was so plentiful that the plates and drinking vessels 
of the common people were made of it, that all the weapons 
of the soldiers were of gold, as well as the chains of the 
prisoners and the armor worn by the warriors in battle, 
and that iron was unknown. 

They related, too, that food was so abundant in the 
capital city, that every night a vast plain in the suburbs 
known as "The Table of the Sun," was covered with 
platters of boiled flesh, set there by order of the king, 
so that no one in his kingdom need go hungry. The 
country itself, according to these fishermen, was a par- 
adise, in which men never grew old. This latter story Tj-pe of Ethiopian. 




Type ot Etbloplan. 





Ethiopian Queeu. 



34 



ETHIOPIA. 




Musical Iustruin'"nts, 

them. 



was partly true. Men never grew old in Ethiopia 
because they were given no chance to do so, for when 
they showed signs of the feebleness of age their dutiful 
sons took them to some retired spot and killed them. 

The Persian king must have been very easily 
deceived, for no matter how improbable the stories 
related by these fishermen, he seems to have believed 
them all. and while he was preparing to invade the 
country he sent ambassadors, or agents, to the Ethio- 
pian king to tell him of the power of the Persians, and 
that he had better submit peaceably and pay tribute to 
I le sent also presents of gold and a cask of wine. 

The Ethiopian king viewed the presents with much 
contempt, and when upon making inquiries, he found that 
the Persians ate bread made of grain, drank wine, and lived 
to be seventy or eighty years old, he paraded his gigantic 
warriors before the ambassadors, and refused to treat with 
them at all, telling them that people who lived on the boiled 
and dried flesh of camels and wild game, and lived to be 
two hundred years old, had no cause to dread such puny 
people as the Persians. 

He told them, too, that his people were a nation of 
warriors, and defied any power in thie world to conquer 
them, so, of course, when the ambassadors returned to 
Cambyses and told him their experience at Meroe, he was 
all the more eager to advance. 

These ambassadors, who were probably the same fisher- 
men captives, may have had a good reason for trying to 
tempt Cambyses into Ethiopia, although if they told him anything of the difficulty 
of reaching the heart of the kingdom he paid no attention to it, and finally set 
out across the terrible desert, whose heat, storms of sand and lack of water were 

more powerful enemies than all the armies of the world 
would have been, and after untold suffering, and the loss of 
nearly his whole force in the desert, he was obliged to turn 
back and forever abandon the attempt to conquer the rich 
land to the south. 

The Ethiopian kings were diff- 
erently chosen from kings in most 
other countries. Usually when a 
king (lies his oldest son or some 
near relative is made ruler, but 
in Ethiopia the priests, who were 
all-powerful, chose the king from 
among themselves. 

When they became tired of 
the king, or he offended them in 
any way, they politely sent word 
to him to kill himself, and then 
they conferred the honor of king- 
ship on another priest, although he 






Armsnnd Armor. 



ETHIOPIA 



35 




Agricultural Iinpleineuts. 



must have been a brave priest indeed, 

who was willing to accent the crown under 

such circumstances. 

Strangely enough, every king comman- 
ded by their priests to commit suicide did 

so, for there was a law of the country 

which obliged every offender convicted of 

serious crime, to kill himself in his own 

house or in some quiet place, and as secretly 

as possible, and it is said that no one ever 

attempted to escape the doom, but I have 

no doubt that the wide desert and wandering Arab tribes became the refuge of many 

an Ethiopian condemned to death. 

This custom of getting rid of an unpopular king continued until about 300 B. C. 

A certain priest, Ergamenes by name, was king at that time, and having offended his 

brother priests, they sent him a cup and a 
dagger as a gentle hint to him that he 
had lived long enough, and that he had 
better either poison or stab himself. Erg- 
amenes was evidently unwilling to give 
up either his kingdom or his life, and he 
assembled hisarmy, drove the priests into 
their temples, which then became sort of 
fortresses, killed them all after a series of 
sieges, and set up a new religion. 

After the time of Ergamenes the 

kings were chosen as they are in other countries, and it was decided that if 

they were condemned to die it was to be by regular judges, and they were to 

be executed by regular executioners, although we have no record that any 

king was afterward thus put to death. 

Although Cambyses failed to conquer Ethiopia, one of the Persian kings who 

came after him, succeeded in doing so, and the Romans and Saracenes in their turn 

claimed tribute of her, but the desert conquered even the conquerors, and invaded 

their fields and buried those of the southland. 

The cities by the "sweet-watered Nile," that were Ethiopia's glory, are in ruins, 

the once fair valleys dead and desolate, and only her rock-hewn and sculptured tombs 

are left to remind us of her old grandeur, and the old worship of her gods. 

As a link in the chain of history is her story told, and in Egypt and Ethiopia the 

great civilization of the Nile Valley began and ended, although thousands of years 

of growth, development, glory and decay lay between their birth and death. 




Hunting Rhinoceros. 




Costume of Nobleman. 





mmwk 



/' 




u- 




LTHOUGH the great civilization of the Cushites 
had passed away long before the days of early 
Egyptian historj', the story of the different Cushite 
^^ .^^ tribes or colonies that went out from the land of 
'*)(» '■^^^[e^'''^'^S|. Cush, in Central Arabia, forms a great part of ,<; ^,^. 
ancient history. Such a colony had found a home on the 
banks of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in the lower part of 
their course, and upon the shores of the Persian Gulf, into 
which those rivers empty, about the time that the pyramids 
were being l)uilt in Egypt, of which I have told you 

This Cushite colony had chosen wisely 
the land upon which it settled, for the narrow 
strip of country bordering the Arabian desert 
and watered by the two great rivers, was fair 
and fruitful, and there grew up and flourisheil 
the first empire in southwestern Asia that is 
known to history. 

Along the Euphrates, which, like the Nile. 

overflowed that part of its course and fertilized 

the land, great groves of date-palms grew. 

and from them were obtained not only the luscious and nourishing 

fruit, but wines, sugar and syrup. 

The rolling plains and gentle slopes were covered with a verdant 
carjjct of grass, green throughout the year, except in midsummer, 
when the "kasmin," or hot desert-wind blew, and clusters of willows 
and poplars showed silvery green by the side of the palm groves 
and along the river's edge. 

Xature is said, in some regions of the world, to be like a harsh 
and cruel step-mother, but certainly in Chald;ea, as the Cushites 
along the Persian Gulf called their country, she was an over indul- 
gent parent. 

Wheat grew wild upon the river-lands, so that they who wanted 
bread had but to go forth and gather the grain, and when cultivated 
in the fields it produced such a wonderful crop that foreigners who 
saw it growing or stored in the overflowing granaries, were astoun- 
ded. The straw and leaves were so tall and thick that in cutting the 




KestoratUin of Ancient Temple. 




Gathering Dates. 



CHALD/EA. 



Z7 




grain only the heads were taken. The country of Chaldsea in the early 
summer must have been fair to the eye. Everywhere the dwarf cypress 
drooped its feathery branches among the other forest trees scattered 
about over plains, yellow with ripening grain, bright with flowers of 
every color, and gay with the hum of insects and song of birds. 

If the daughters of Egypt, who were carried into foreign captivity 
died of longing for the green fields and blue skies of their 
native land, how sad must have been Chalda^an hearts when 
far from the fair valleys and verdure-clad hillsides of their 
home. 

In Egypt ra.n never falls, but in Chahkca tluring Novem- 
ber and December there are heavy rains, ami sometimes light 
frost, and this winter season is the most delightful of 
the year, for the frosts are never heavy enough to blight the 
vegetation, and the rains make it luxuriant and beautiful. 

As they were able, on account of favoring climate ant 
fertile soil, to live without much labor, the Chalda;ans earl\ 
grew wealthy, encouraged art, literature and science, and their 
priests were the most learned people of ancient times, the benefit of whose wisdom 
we are now enjoying in many ways, for a large part of what we know of mathe- 
matics, astronomy and the mechanical sciences was discovered by them. 

It was the Chalda'ans who divided the year into twelve months of 
thirty days each, and finally corrected the calendar, and devised a 
system of weights and measures for ordinary articles, and for gold 
and silver, and the characters we use to represent ounces, scruples 
and drams in weighing drugs are the old Chaldsean symbols. M 

The air of Chakk-ea was remarkably pure and clear, and upon their vast 
plains the moon and stars shone so brilliantly at night that they could not fail 
to attract the attention, at a very early period, of students, and these observ- 
ing that at different times in the year the sun rose and set near different 
groups of stars, made a map of the sky and learned to 
measure distances in the heavens. 

They observed eclipses too, and calculated when they 
would recur as cleverly as the most learned of our modern 
astronomers. 

The Chaldsans had traditions or stories that had long 
been told from father to son, when they began to write their 
histor}'. Of course a nation that is able to write history is 
civilized; otherwise it would care nothing for history. 

The Chakkxan historians make Nimrod, the son of Cush, of 
whom the Bible speaks, the founder of their first great city, 
Ur, and honored him as a god; naming a group of stars in 
the constellation Orion for him. 

Nimrod, we are told in Scripture, was a mighty hunter 
and he probably gained his power over the various Chal- 
dtean tribes by training a band of warriors to kill or drive 
out the lions and other wild beasts tliat infested the coun- 
try, and afterwards united the many petty tribes into an 
empire. 



Water Clock, the 
ir re' oriiluK time. 





Aueieut Suu Dial. 







Chal<i»an M'rltlug on 
Uricts. 



38 



CHALD.^A. 




Bronze Arrowa and S pear-Heads. 




Woman of the 
Nolunty. 



Had the Chaldaeans built their palaces and temples as did the 
Egj-ptian and left upon them carven records, we might know more 
about the kind of people they reall}- were; but there was no build- 
ing stone in the whole country, and they used in its stead bricks 
made of clay, baked in ovens. 

These they cemented together with a sort of pitch or bitumen 
which was vcrj- plentiful in the country, and although the buildings 
thus constructed answered the purpose, they did not have the 
durability to withstand time and war that stone has. 

The common people built their houses of cypress wood or reeds, 
plastered together with river mud and of course of these there is 
not a trace, although the mounds covering ruins of Chaldican cities 
contain many perfect bricks of the kind anciently used. 

With a soil of great richness and with cheap food and plenty of 
building material, Chalda;a soon came to be thickly populated. 
Added to all the other advantages there were horses, buffalo, 
cattle, goats, sheep and dogs, that were natives of the Chalthcan 
plains and river lands, and it was an easy matter to tame them 
and make them useful. 

The people had leisure time for doing ornamental 
work, and after they began to build cities, and there were 
man}- cities in Chaldaia, Uruk Babylon and Ur being the 
largest three, several arts were practiced. 

The Chakheans were the first gold, copper and bronze 
workers, the first gem-cutters and polishers and engravers, 
and as the people were fond of ornaments, they made rings, 
collars, bracelets and chains of all the precious metals. 

The country in course of time became overcrowded 
and several tribes, among them the Hebrews and Assyrians, 
who were neighbors of the Chakhcans, went out from the 
portions of the country where they had no more room for 
the natural increase of their population, and founded new 
empires elsewhere. 

I suppose you have heard people say that they " saw 
the newjnoon on the first day of the month and therefore would be lucky for 
thirty days," and have read about "lucky" and "unlucky" "stars." These 
superstitions are very old, for the Chaldxans believed in them, and their religion 
was a mass of superstitious nonsense, astronomy, and astrology, a pretended 
science, which finds in the stars conditions governing the actions of man. 

The Chalda^an religion had in it the principles of other religions that 
afterward became common in Western Asia, and was not very different from 
that of Egypt, although they gave the gods different names from those liorne 
in other countries. 

I speak of "the gods" as though they had real existence, but of course 
you must keep in mind the fact that the gods of the ancients are but forces 
of nature under different names. 

The Chalda^an god II was said to be the father of all the gods and was 
supposed to live in the sky as did all the other gods; so perhaps the early 
Christian notion that God lived in the skj- and Satan dwelt under the earth 
may have originated in Chalda;a, for many of our mistaken ideas are nearly 




Flint and Stone Implements. 



CHALD.-EA. 



39 




Uracrlets, Eur. Toe aud Finger Rings. 




as old as Father Time himself. Beside II there was a sea god, 
a sun god, and five planet gods with their wives and a horde 
of lesser gods to suit the needs and wishes of everybody, and 
the Chaldseans were a religious people in their way, although 
we can not blame them for their paganism because without 
the light of divine revelation we ourselves would have been 
pagans. 

Every country subject to destructive floods has a tradition 
of a great flood, and the Babylonian tradition is so much like 
the Bible narrative, that it is nearly certain that the Hebrew 
and the Chalda^an historian wrote of the same event. 

The Chalda;an story relates how II grew angry because 
of the sins of men and decided to send a great flood to 
destroy the world. The god Bel, the son of II appeared in a 
dream to a certain man named Xisuthrus and told him there 
was to be a deluge, commanding him at the same time to go 
to a certain "City of the Sun" build a ship and place in it all 
his children and dear friends. Xisuthrus did so and when 
he had closed the ship up tight, the flood came. 

As soon as the rain ceased Xisuthrus sent out some birds a-^'™» Lamps. .■y,„„,c.r f„r ..ampin, lvku. 

but they could find no rest nor food antl returned. After a time he sent them out 
again and they came back with their feet covered with mud. Xisuthrus waited many 
days more and again sent forth the birds, and as they did not come back, he knew 
that the waters were dried up, left his ship and with his 
children and friends sacrificed to the gods. 

The story of the Tower of Babel as it is related in 
the Bible is also told in Chaldccan history for the plain of 
Shinar was in ancient Chalda;a. 

For centuries Chaldcea was governed by its native 
kings and for a long time was the ruling power of Assyria, ^' 
but after many centuries Assyria became the great power 
in Western Asia, conquered Chalda^a, and although the 

native kings were usually allowed to sit upon the Chal- Ancunt p„ttery. 

daean throne they were obliged to pay to Assyria a large sum of money every year, 
and in case of war to fight Assyria's battles. 

Chalda^a was the mother of Asiatic civilization and drew the insp. ration for her 
arts, sciences and literature from the same sources as did 
Egypt. Her first-born colony, Assyria, was a hard task- 
master for many years, but at last Chalda;a became free 
and the real greatness and splendor of the empire began r-^^' — = 
with the glorious days of Babylon; and the name Babylo--^_/<^RCl~l 
nia was given to a large portion of Western Asia. 

I have told you enough about the Chakhtans to give ■ 
you a general understanding of their early history, and as 
the Assyrian history properly belong to that of Baby- 
lonia, we will tell you the story in the following chapter. 





Ui.-li l.'.)VCT Tomb. 




Jar Coffin uf ttic Chaldaeans. 











:, A E ARE told in that partof 
^1 the Old Testament which 
^^^ gives the earliest history 
"^-^^ of the Hebrew nation that the sons(A(|(frI^ 
of Noah were Shem, Ham and Japhet. After the 
deluge it is supposed that Shem settled in Asia, Ham in Africa and Japhet in 
Europe. The Shemitic or Semitic peoples, as they are called, lived neighbors 
to the Cushites and in early times the people inter-married, and there were 
probably many inhabitants of mixed Cushite and Shemite blood in Chal- 
daja, at the time that the Semitic tribe, living upon the lowlands between the Tigris and 
Euphrates, near the head of the Persian Gulf, became cramped for room, and seeing 
that if they remained so close to the growing empire of Chaldjca, their rights and 
privileges were likely to be endangered as time went on, decided to move northward. 
The Chalda;ans, it seems, had already claimed them as subjects, and perhaps 
compelled them to pay tribute, but when they began their northward movement did 
not oppose it, being perhaps well satisfied to secure the lands that had been their 
homes. 

It must have been about nineteen hundred years before Christ was born, and 
about the time that the Shepherd Kings entered the valley of the Nile and estab- 
lished their cruel rule over the Egyptians, when the Semitic tribes that sprung from 
the sons of Asshur, and Terah, the father of Abraham, and his family 
went forth from the Chaldaian empire, and perhaps other tribes, 
too, went at the same time, although little is really known about this 
dispersion except what is related in the Bible. 

The first city built by the children of Asshur was upon the Tigris, 
about midway of the upper half of its course, in a region far less fruit- 
ful than the valley they had left, and whose climate was colder and 
more moist than that of the country near the joining of the two great 
rivers of Western Asia. 

The Assyrians, as they henceforth called tn.emselves, knew how 
to till the barren fields of their new home so as to make them yield 
fairly good crops, for the soil of all Western Asia needs but a plentiful 
supply of water to make it bring forth grain and fruit, and irrigat- 
ing ditches were dug to carry the water of the river to the thirsty 
fields, which for several months of the year lacked rain entirely. 




CoBtume of Priest. 



ASSYRIA. 



41 




Assyrian Dwelling. 



The olive, which is valuable to eastern nations for its 
wood, oil and fruit, took the place of the palm which grew 
in Chalda'a, .md beside the poplar willow and dwarf cy- 
press common in that country, the Assyrians had also 
the mulberry upon which the silk-worm feeds, and 
delicious grapes, from which they made excellent wine. 
The new city of Asshur, the capital of the country 
and its only large town for a long time, grew and pros- 
pered, the people continuing to pay to Chalda.'a the tribute 
that they had yielded when in their old homes, and sub- 
mitting to the rule of governors sent from Babylon, but 
when other cities began to spring up throughout the 
newly settled land, and the manufactures and productions 
gave added wealth and importance to the Assyrian people, 
who had by this time spread over the entire middle 
Tigris Valley, they rebelled against their Chaldjcan ruler, 
drove him out of the country, and selected a king from 
among themselves. 

When they were not obliged to send the heavy tribute to 
Babylon, the wealth of the Assyrians soon became such that 
they felt themselves strong enough to further extend their 
kingdom. To this end they crossed to the eastern side of the 
Tigris, drove out or conquered the people they found there, and 
built the city of Calah. 

Calah was so located that it would have been hard for a 
large well-drilled army to have taken the place, and utterly 
impossible for the barbarous tribes to successfully attack it. 

The Tigris made a curve about two sides of the city, and the 
Zagros Mountains were near it on the East, while surrounding 
it on every side they built a thick, high wall, a sufficient pro- 
tection even against an army in those days when there was no 
gunpowder to explode in mines tunneled under walls by an 
enemy and no cannon with their huge balls against which the 
strongest walls are of little avail. 

Having taken the country east of the Tigris, the Assyrians 
meant to keep it, I suppose upon the principle of all ancient 
conquerors and most modern ones that "might is right," 
and had not the Zagros Mountains barred their way on the 
east they might have extended their empire to the very heart of Asia. 

Atfirst Chaldsea was not inclined to acknowledge Assyria's independence and sent 
an army to try to repossess the government, but Assyria resisted so manfully tha*- 
Chaldajawas compelled after a bloody war to not only acknowledge the independence 
of Assyria, but to maintain a close watch upon her in order to keep from losing its 
own territory, as the Assyrian empire was absorbing little 
by little all the petty countries about it. 

To be sure neither of the kings of the two countries 
made any sign of the jealousy that each knew e.xisted, but kept 
up a great show of politeness toward each other, sending pres- 
ents, visiting, and even taking in marriage, daughters from the 
royal house of the rival country and allowing their sons to be 




Costume of Cuinmuu Peopl'.\ 




Ass\Tiaii y;U]d;ll. 



42 



ASSYRIA. 




Assyrian Sandal. 



eilucated in the rival court. Soon after the time that Rameses, 
the Great, with his army invaded Asia, and from his camp in Syria 
sent messengers to both Babylon and Calah demanding and receiv- 
ing tribute of gold, silver, jewels and slaves, the Chaldrcans for 
some reason, which is now unknown, drove their rightful king from 
the capital, killed him and set up another ruler. 
The murdered king was the son-in-law of the reigning king of Assyria and such 
an outrage was not to pass by unnoticed. The Assyrian monarch with an armj' at 
his back marched to Babylon, took the city, killed the new king, and placed upon the 
throne his son-in-law's brother, who was also closely related to the Assyrian kingly 

house by a royal marriage. 

-^-^^^^ --^rs^T^— a„.^,g^, j r^ . The Chaldseans re- 

sented the interference 
of Assyria in their 
affairs, and the new 
king would have pro- 
bably fared like his 
brother had not Ra- 
meses the Great com- 
manded the people to 
submit, and they feared 
in case of rebellion 
the total destruction of 
their empire. 

As it was, they never 
forgave the Assyrians 
for the part they had taken, and all friendly feeling 
between the two empires was at an end. 

Nineveh, long supposed to be founded by Ninus, 
was begun soon after Calah was built, and the old historians 
tell a remarkable story of Ninus, which is as interesting as 
though it were true, and that it is not true has been proven 
by records which the Assyrians themselves made, but which 
until very recently nobody could read. 

The finding of the hieroglyphic alphabet led .scholars to 
study closel}' and at last learn to read the curious wedged- 
shaped writing and arrow-like characters found stamped 
upon the bricks in the ruins of all old Assyrian buildings 
and written upon clay cylinders from two to three feet high, which had evidently 
been inscribed with a sharp point when the clay was soft, and then baked and glazed. 
This writing was beautifully fine and regular, and some of it must have been 
written either by persons who had extremely good eyes or with the aid of the magni- 
fying glass, and is so small that it can not be read with the 
naked eye. 

Papyrus did not grow at all either in Chaldaia or Assyria, 
and i^erhaps the writers of the cla)^ cylinders considered linen 
and silk too perishable for recording their store of knowledge, 
and so made those queer clumsy cylinders and covered them 
with historical, geographical, astronomical and poetical writing. 

Plow and Seeder. . i '^ i i r i i • i 

Among the thousands oi tlicse cylmders, written m cunei- 





ASSYRIA. 



43 




ssyrhui SUugL-r. 



■form, as the writing is called, found in the old ruins of Assyria, 
are fragments of history that have been dilligently studied, and 
from them the main facts in Assyrian history are taken. 

But to return to the story of Ninus, as related by the old historians, 
who were fond of heroes, and where it was impossible to find one suited 
to their minds, they created one in their fancy. 

Ninus in his prime, they tdl us, was as beautiful as a son of Heaven, 
he was tall and stately, with eyes that could ' read the hearts of men 
and a smile that made sunshine in the palace, a frown that made hiscoi 
tremble and turn pale. In strength, as in beauty, he was unequaled, and he 
could easily strangle a lion or kill a man at a blow. 

When this great king marched out to conquer Bactria, there was in his 
army an officer who had a beautiful wife named Semiramis, a woman who 
in mind and body was a fit companion for a great warrior like Ninus. 

The city baffled all Ninus' attempts to take it until Semiramis, seeing 
that the Assyrians were about to be defeated, mounted the wall and cheered 
the soldiers to rally again to the attack, which they did with such enthusiasm that 
they took the city. 

Ninus, who admired courage and b'eauty, especially when joined to wisdom and 
prudence as they were in Semiramis, straightway made her his wife, and the officer 
who was her husband was so grieved at her loss that he killed himself, although =uch 
an incident as the death even of a brave and 
deeply wronged man did not move the might" 
Ninus. 

The king took Semiramis home to Nineveh, 
his capital, in great pomp and when he was absent 
on his warlike expeditions she governed his 
empire so wisely that there was plenty throughout 
the whole land; and in Nineveh bread, oil and 
wine were cheap. " ~ - ~ 

When Ninus had lived to a good old age, As^ynanKuyaiTcut. 

Semiramis who was still a young woman, may not have poisoned him, but he died 
suddenly and mysteriously. 

After his death Semiramis is said to have conquered the surrounding peoples, 
subdued Ethiopia, built Babylon, and done so many other things that had she lived a 
half dozen ordinary lives she could not have performed them all. Finally we are 
told that with three million men she undertook to conquer India, but failing, returned 
to Babylon, gave up her kingdom to her weak and womanish son, Ninyas, /mn 
and went to the gods. Ninyas was followed by thirty kings as weak as Mf. 
he, and at last Assyria fell into the hands of the Medes. p , ^v~ , __/^^ ^^ gg <:^g <w;f-* 

This is the story told by the old historians and ^^ 
repeated by the others until the cuneiform was made 
out and it was found to be a fiction. I tell it here in Mw'i. 




order that you may see, as you read the history of ^| 
Assyria how the works of many different. '^^^'i..^"^^ 

rulers were all credited to this one queen, ;^^^Sl^-~'£ 4^^ ;- , 
for there was a Queen Semiramis, who, with ' ' -^':-.7'^lV|/V^;t^l|. 
her husband, ruled over Assyria several hun- jS,- "'".^ 1 >m- 

dred years after the city of Asshur was 
built and who was one of the only three 




Interior of Royal Palace. 



44 



ASSYRIA 




women mentioned in the cuneiform writing-. 
Of course the real Semiramis did not 
found Babylon, for that city existed a thou- 
sand years before she was born, and as for 
Nineveh it too was built long before, and had 
become a great city years before her husband, 
V^ul-lush III, became sovereign. 

There were no such persons as Ninus an 
Ninyas, and tiie kings of Assyria who followed 
the first king, whoever he was, were certainly 
neither weak nor womanish. 
The old historians make Semiramis more goddess than woman, and when they 
learned of any remarkable temple or building for which they could not account any 
other way, they settled the matter to their satisfaction by declaring it to be the work 
of Semiramis. Of late years Semiramis has been proven to have been a very ordi- 
nary woman, but little superior to oriental women generally, and not half so great a 
queen as Victoria of England, who makes, as you know, no claim to being a goddess. 

The real Semiramis was the wife of a 
king named Vul-lush III, who lived about 
the year 781 B. C, and her husband dying, 
she reigned several years over Assyria. 

Shalmancscr I, the builder of Calah 
and other cities on the east side of the 
Tigris was the first Assyrian conqueror. 
Shalmaneser brought people from Asshur 
and other parts of Assyria to live in his 
cities and to hold the land he wrested from 
the wild tribes, and when he died Tiglath-Nin I, his son continued his work. 

Tiglath-Xin made war upon Chalda;a, antl was the first Assyrian king to receive 
tribute from that country although the five kings who came after him had a hard 
time maintaining the superiority of Assyria over Chaldaja, and the wars they made to 
collect tribute must have cost them far more than the amount of tribute they received. 
Tiglath Pileser who became king, 1 130 B. C, was the first .Assyrian monarch who 
caused his history to be fully written upon cylinders, and according to his own story 

he made ten campaigns against his neighbors; deter- 
mined not only to extend his dominion but to force the 
conquered people to accept the religion of Assyria, which 
was, with the addition of two or three gods, the same as 
the religion of Chalda!a. 

After this king little is known of Assyria for many 
years. Rameses, the hero-king of Egypt, came after a 
long period that is a blank in Egyptian history, so after 
a similar blank in .Assyrian history we first hear of 
Asshur-izzar-pal, the general, conqueror and builder, who 
made Assyria, while he lived, the greatest power in 
Western Asia, and who in the twenty-five glorious years of 
his reign laid the foundations for the future greatness of 
Nineveh and conquered the whole Tigris Valley to the 
Persian Gulf. His son was worthy of his warlike father 
and when he died in the thirty-fifth year of his reign had 




Traosportlng Stone on Inflated Skin Uaft. 




Archer and Attendant. 



ASSYRIA. 



45 




so enlarged the Assyrian empire that it stretched westward to the Mediterranean, 
northward to the Taurus Mountains, excepting only Armenia, and southward into 
Chaldaia, which it held tributary. 

Painting, sculpture, glass-blowing, metal-working and weaving had by this time 
reached a high state of perfection in Assyria, rivaling the kindred arts of Egypt in 
her glory, and becoming famous in all civilized lands. 

It was after the reign of the son of Asshur-izzar-pal that Vul-lush III. and his 
queen Semiramis, governed Assyria, ami that they ruled it poorly enough we may infer 
from the fact that during the period when they sat upon the Assyrian throne 
Babylon broke away from their power and again became the capital of all 
hostile Chalda^a, and that the tribes conquered by former Assyrian kings regained 
their independence. 

Nineveh had by this time become a great city, and very densely populated. Its 
walls were a hundred feet high and fifty feet thick, and its wealth was very large. 
The kings in their palaces of brick covered with slabs of sculptured stone, were 
gluttonous, idolatrous and cruel, and God warned them that their city would be 
destroyed if they did not repent. 

Upon receiving this warning we are told that they did repent, 
and that they turned from their wickfedness for a time, but the 
military spirit had too long been steeped in idleness, drunkenness 
and luxury to soon revive, and it was not until Tiglath Pileser II. 
ascended the throne in 745 B. C, and began the attempt to re-con- s^wui 

quer the lost territory that the people showed any of the energy and patriotism 
of the old days. 

While Shalmaneser II., his successor, was absent from Nineveh conquering 
Samaria and besieging Tyre, his people at home set up a new king, Sargon, who 
made Asia the mistress of Africa, and under Persian, Saracen and Turk, with 
intervals of Greek and Roman dominion, Africa has remained to this day tributary 
to Asiatic kingdoms and empires. 

Sargon conquered nearly all of Western Asia, removing the people 
of whole provinces that were hostile and placing them in the midst of 
people that he knew to be loyal, thus preventing them from rebelling by 
placing them out of reach of aid, and thus by dividing his enemies made 
them more easy to conquer. Babylon submitted humbly to Sargon, and 
the Medes, then a small tribe of bold, free-spirited people, sent him 
tribute, for which they afterwards paid themselves a thousand-fold, as we 
shall learn. 

Sargon reigned seventeen years and after him came Sennacherib, 
the haughty, cruel and warlike king who has come to be regarded as a 
type of the ancient monarch. 

Egypt, Judea and Babylon, felt the weight of his sharp sword for he 
"slew and spared not" those who opposed him. Even the Holy City, 
Jerusalem itself was threatened, but God heard the prayer of Hezekiah 
and we are told in the Bible how one night when the army of Sennacherib 
lay encamped under the walls of Jerusalem, the Lord "smote in the camp 
of the Assyrians," and when morning came the watchers upon the walls of 
Zion saw 185,000 dead upon the plain, while Sennacherib and the few of 
his followers who were left were fleeing toward the east pursued by the 
Egyptian allies of the Hebrews. 

"The misht of the heathen unsinote by the sword, 
Had melted like snow 'neath the glance of the Lord." 







Battle Standaii! 



46 



ASSYRIA. 




AjjgJTlan King. 



The old historians anxious that the story should "end well" relate 
that Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and in a few weeks was murdered, 
his kingdom at his death being totally destroyed; but the Assyrian 
inscriptions upon the cylinders say that Sennacherib lived seventeen 
years after his campaign against Jerusalem, mention nothing about the 
destruction of his army, out do say much about his after successful 
campaigns. 

When Sennacherib was finally murdered by his two wicked sons, 
Adramalech and Sharezer, the people of Nineveh mourned very sin- 
cerel}' for him and only submitted to the new kings until Esar-I laddon, 
the favorite son of the murdered king, returned from Armenia with the 
army when they proclaimed him sovereign. 

After setting affairs at the capital in order, Esar-Haddon crossed 
the Arabian desert with a large army, took the cities and towns beyond 
it, and then re-crossed the desert safely. 

Afterward he conquered Egypt, divided it into twenty States over 
which he placed trusted friends as rulers, made Ethiopia a province of his empire and 
after a series of victories, extending over thirteen years he died, and his son Asshur- 
ban-i-pal, came to reign in Nineveh the queen city of the world, and to enjoy the 
results of his father's conquests. His capital was the envy of all peoples. His 
palaces of brick housed untold treasures, his granaries were the source of supply for 
a flourishing commerce, and his slaves taken in war labored by day and night to add 
to his wealth. 

Asshur-ban-i-pal had a genuine taste for learning and as a warrior and builder he 
was widely celebrated, while as a hunter the mighty Nimrod himself had no greater 
skill and strength, nor was he more fearless. 

Under Asshur-bani-pal Assyria attained its greatest glory, but under him also 
it experienced a great calamity that was the cause of its downfall as an empire. 

As you read the story of the great empires of the world you will notice that at a 
certain point of development they begin to decay as do the fruits and flowers that 
spring from the soil, but that from the seed dropped from their ripe heart new 
empires spring. 

The conquerors in turn are vanquished, perhaps by the very people whom they 
have again and again subdued, or from without some unexpected danger menaces and 
destroys the empire. 

You will notice, too, that when the great nations were the most confident of their 
security and had given themselves over to the enjoyment of riches, from the north 
barbarian hosts have descended and hastened the inevitable downfall, carrying back 

with them when they retreated the leaven of new thoughts 
and ideas, the germ of new empires. 

Thus the Hyskos descended upon Egypt, the Assyrians 
upon Chaldaja, the Medes, who grew strong and bold, and tiring 
of the Assyrian yoke fell upon Assyria, but now during the 
reign of Asshur-bani-pal upon the whole of Western Asia 
from Scythia, the first of the horde of barbarians that was in 
centuries after succeeded by Parthians, Mongols and Turks, 
swooped down upon the fair cities of the south, laying them 
waste and carrying off their treasures. 

These Scythians were huge white-bodied savages, half- 
AS6 riao Monutcd Soldier. covcrcd with hair like wild beasts, who wore few clothes, 




ASSYRIA. 



47 




anointed themselves with butter in place of bathing, lived in rude 
tents made of coarse woolen cloth, eating the flesh of horses and 
drinking the milk of mares. 

Their hoarse voices, fierce manners and wild appearance struck 
terror into the civilized communities upon which they descended, / 
who viewed with horror the drinking vessels made of human skulls, 
the quiver-covers of flayed human skin, and the scalps of victims 
floating from the briilles and saddles of their horses. 

Their religion was a wild and bloody mixture of human sacrifice and 
mysterious rites and beneath the presence of such foes it is no wonder that a 
blight fell upon Assyria. The people fled from the fields to the walled cities 
reared by the old kings and when these were finally taken and plundered by the 
invaders, their inhabitants were massacred, and fire and ruin blackened the whole 
Tigris valley. 

Finally the Scythians retired beyond the mountains to the steppes that were 
their home, but the eight years of pillage had given Assyria her death blow, and 
wasted by foreign war, and this scourge of barbarians, the "Queen of the East" was 
tottering to her fall. 

Media had gained power rapidly and a new ruler haa animated the courao-e of 
the warlike people and he had led an army against his imperial mistress. 

When the Scythians had gone the Medes gathered all their strength to strike for 
their freedom. Jealous and revengeful Chalda^a had a hatred for its Assyrian 
oppressor nurtured by centuries of wrong and cruelty. Asshur-ban-i-pal was dead 
and Saracus, his successor, had not demonstrated the possession of any warlike 
qualities. 

As the rebellious Chaldacans advanced against Nineveh from the south and the 
Medes came down from the north, Saracus sent his most trusted general, Nabopo- 
lassar against the former, and remained in Nineveh to direct its defense. 

Nabopolassar saw Chaldsea's opportunity and his own. He took the portion of 
the army entrusted him to Babylon, openly espousing the Chakki^an cause, then sent 
messengers to the Median monarch offering to join him against Nineveh if he would 
give him his daughter, to be the wife of his son, Nebuchednezzar. 

The agreement was made and the two armies marched against Nineveh. 
Saracus resisted until hope wasgone, and when the city fell he shut himself 
up with his wives and treasures in his palace and with his own hand 
applied the torch which devoted them to the flames, no doubt calling 
vainly upon his gods as he perished and cursing the traitor, Nabopolassar, 
who had delivered the city of his father up to the hated foe. 

Thus Assyria fell as many nations had fallen under her power.' 
Her golden vessels and her idols were carried to Babylon, and in Ecbatana, 
the Median capital, were displayed her vases, jars and bronzes, her 
carved ornaments, jewels and art treasures, so finely wrought that they 
moved to admiration all who beheld them. 

The Assyrians had constructed upon the Chald?can foundation of 

their knowledge new arts and sciences. They 
built aqueducts, tunnels and drains, knew 'the 
use of pulleys, levers and rollers, and understood 
underlaying and overlaying with metals. 

The conveniencies and luxuries of their 
every-day life were nearly equal to our own, 



Assyrian Harper, 





mm 



King's Armor-bearer. 



48 



ASSYRIA. 



although their morals on account of some shameful customs practiced in their 
religion, were debased and their conscience thereby blunted. 

Their ideas of religion and government were taken from Chalda;a and the one 
was a gross and debasing idol worship, while the other was exceedingly crude. 

Upon the ruins of the Assyrian empire two other great empires were founded, 
whose course we will now follow, and whose fortunes we will trace. 




Ferohar, the Guardlaa Spirit. 










— ^^i " ' ^ 1 



LONG the borders of the ancient kingdom of Assyria and just beyond the 
Zagros Mountains there is a great highland whose outline upon the 
western side is a long gentle curve, and in this curve was comprised 
the northern, western and a part of the southern frontier of the 
Assyrian empire. 

The highland extenos to the country of the Afghans on the east, and the northern 
part is crossed by several nearly parallel mountain chains, while the western part too 
has several parallel ranges following the curve of the table-land. 















•■■■ v,,'"'- / ' ■ „-^ - 








Calneti ■ '^ ' ' •" - 




Geber 



Map OF The 

FffiST GREAT EMPIRES 

B.O. BO«0-.".l(0. 







CeD.F.Cram, EoKcnver aud PobllBhcr, Gbleago,UI. 

Scale OF MiLEa 



. - i""r~ \) ^ 



260 



300 400' 



^> 



On your map you will see the names Kurdistan and Luristan as the two countries 
comprised in this region, but in ancient times it was called Zagros and was the home 
of several warlike mountain and plains tribes all called the Medes. 

On the level part of the great table-land the climate is mild and the soil in the 
neighborhood of the mountains to the north and wesL is fertile, but in the southeast 



50 



MEDIA. 







Money Iq Bags, 



there are wide stretches of desert, waterless, dreary and 
with but few oases. 

To be sure there is some snow between the months of 
December and March even upon the plains, but the cold is 
never very intense, and when the glorious spring comes, not 
lingering as th(5ugh loth to bless the earth with her bounty, 
as she does in Europe and .America, but with a sudden burst 
of warmth and brightness, the chill winds of winter are 
forgotten in the beauty of this most lovely season of the year. 

The snows disappear as if by magic, the roses bloom and the orchards are like 
great bouquets from which the droning bees gather honey from morning until night, 
and in the shadow of the vines, where later in the year the grapes hang in purple 
clusters, the nightingale sings the whole night through while rare and beautiful 
flowers perfume the air with their fragrance. 

During this happy season, even the desert wears a livery of tender green, scanty 
coarse grass springing u]) in the sand, and the grain in the fields by the river banks 
grows so rapidly that it is soon ready for the harvest. 

These balmy days, however, grow hot toward June, which in nearly all parts of 
Europe and .America is the most perfect month of the year, and before the half of 
May is over the hot winds from the desert begin to blow, the vegetation on the plains 
withers and even the air near the foot of the mountains, tempered as it is by the 
everlasting snows of the summits, in the middle of the day is uncomfortably warm, 
though tlu; nights and mornings are deliciously cool, and the atmosphere is 
at all times pure, dry and e.xhilirating. 

I he mountains themselves are wild, rugged, and, e.xcepting the low ranges, 
which are covered with pines and willows, are brown and barren, cleft by mighty 
gorges and roaring torrents, the homes of eternal snow upon the highest peaks. 
Winter reigns in these bleak mountains half the year, but in the long narrow valleys, 
between them, the fields and meadows are bright with flowers and verdure long after 
wintry winds are roaring and snow is falling among the neighboring peaks. 

These valleys, although not so fertile as those of the Tigris country, were care- 
fully irrigated and were planted with wheat, barley and sesame, maize, cotton, tobacco 
and melons, while pears and apples grew wild, and the long summers 
atoned for the rigor of the winter. 

Mountainous countries, as a rule, produce hardy independent nations, 
for men there struggle so constantly with the forces of nature, brave the 
tempests, the snows and dangers to life and limb in the chase, or wrest 
from the earth with such difficulty their living, that they become strong of 
body and bold of spirit. 

Where nature does so much for man that he has but to reach forth 
his hand and take her gifts he becomes indolent, and thus the; tropics are 
unfavorable to the development of great nations. 

Upon the other hand where the elements are so constantly in oppo- 
sition to man that every energy of body and mind is absorbed in 
providing food and shelter sufficient to maintain his life, the conditions 
^: are equally unfavorable, and only in countries where the temperature 
varies from summer heat to winter cold as in the temperate zone does 
man reach his highest mental and bodily perfection. 

The valleys, table-lands and hill-country of Media possessed the 
climate of the temperate zone, and there, in the early days of Assyria, a 




Costume of KluR. 



MEDIA. 



51 




Tbreshing with Flail. 



people grew up widely differing, as was natural from their 

surroundings, from the people farther south. 

Had the Medes grown up under the same conditions that 

developed Assyria and Babylonia, they would still have been 

different in many important particulars, just as the seeds of 

poppies and the seeds of pansies, planted in the same pots of 

earth, will produce different flowers, for their origin was dif- 
ferent and they belonged to another branch of the human 

family, a branch with larger brain power, more enduring 

muscles, and greater moral strength. 

The nations whose story we have told you were all Cushites, 

Semites, or mingled Cushite and Semite, but the Medes were 

descended from Japhet, and belong to the great Aryan race, 

who, you will see as you read their story were the world's 

nation-makers. 

Where the Medes came from is not certainly known, but 

from some part of Central Asia they began a southward 

movement at about the same time that their brother clans of Celts, Teutons 

Gauls, and Slavs, went north and west. The Persians, Hindoos Tind other kindred 

races, passed on to find homes, leaving the tribes of Medes in the valleys of the 
Zagros, and there they remained for centuries, not as savages, fci' the Aryans were 

neither savages nor habitual wanderers, but had houses with windows and doors, 

cooked their food and had settled religious rites before they took their flocks and 
herds, their wives and little ones, and went in search of new homes. 

From their position, hemmed in by mountain walls and separated by gorges, 
torrents and desert, from surrounding nations, the Medes did not attract the atten- 
tion of ancient conquerors for a long time and it is not until the days of Shalmaneser 
II., 833 B. C, that we first hear of them in history. 

Even then the Medes were but few in number and possessed of little wealth. 
Water was scarce throughout their country and the irrigation was by underground 
galleries, or ditches, that prevented any loss by evaporation, which led the water of 
the mountain streams to wells where it was raised by hand to water the fields. The 
grain and fruits raised were only sufficient for the people, and although there were 
precious minerals and metals in the mountains, they were then unknown. 

Having few cities and towns, and their wealth chiefly in horses and cattle, Shal- 
maneser II. allowed the Medes a greater degree of independence than he usually- 
permitted a conquered people, and although he settled colonies of Samaritans, who 
had also been conquered, among them, he neither disturbed their old laws, religion nor 
customs, and the only tribute he compelled them to pay was a certain number of 
horses yearly; for the Medes bred many fine horses. 

The Assyrian conqueror little thought that this weak half-barbarian tribe would 
ever become a dangerous enemy to his empire, but conquerors are only mortal, after 
all, and cannot foresee the future, while few of them have even read the past aright. 
Like the Aryans of Europe, whose story remains to be told, the Medes treated 
their women with great respect and chivalry. In Chald.xa and Assyria the position of 
the women was degraded by religion and by law; but in time men sunk to the level 
upon which they had kept their mothers, wives and sisters, for women are the molders 
of men's ideas in childhood, and a great portion of the after life of a man, if, indeed, 
not all of it, takes its bent from the mother's hand. 

The respect for womanhood and the worship of one great unseen God, made the 



52 



MEDIA. 



Medes in very early days a simple, manly, honorable race, and it was not until after 
contact with the idol-worshipping Cushites, that woman among them was considered 
a lower creature than man. 

This religion of the Medes shows how much they were naturally superior to the 
Assyrians to the south, for although they had not the light of revelation as we have, 
they believed in one great and mighty God, the creator, preserver and governor of 
the world, from whom came all good. He w^as a God of love and they believed that 
he sent a tall, beautiful, swift-winged angel, Serosh, as his messenger to men, showing 
them the paths of happiness and blessing. 

They believed too, in a devil, or evil spirit, who created himself and who was 
always fighting against the good spirits. Like all Aryan races they believed that the 
soul lived in heaven after this life and their priests taught that the souls of the dead 
must cross a deep, wide chasm on the "bridge of the gatherer," and that the good 
were met by Serosh and led into paradise, while the wicked fell into the yawning gulf, 
and were compelled to remain forever in outer darkness. 

After some time the Medes came in contact with the Armenians to the west of 
them, and there they learned to worship fire, earth and water, and combined it with 
their own religion whose precepts were given them by a great teacher, Zoroaster, and 
was called Zoroastrianism. 

This religion of Armen.a was called Magism, and the Magi were 
their priests. Its principle object of w^orship was fire, and in the temples, 
a sacred flame was kept always burning. They offered sacrifices of various 
kinds, and even human victims, and the priests of Zoroaster were one by 
one turned from their old faith until at last Magism became the national 
religion of Media. 

Although the Medes had long oeen settled in Zagros, when Shal- 
maneser II. conquered them, they had, as I have said, few cities; neither 
knew nor cared anything about the art of painting, sculpture, or ornamental 
work of any kind, and had no written language. 

They were apt, however, and soon adopted the cuneiform, simplifying 
it to suit their. needs, and initiated the perennial habits of the y\ssyrians 
in many things, although they had always been neat and cleanly both in 
person and dress, took great pride in their abundant hair and were fond 
of bright colors and personal adornment. 
The Medes were tall, well-formed and handsome, with high foreheads, well- 
rounded limbs and small hands and feet. Many of the women were exceedingly 
beautiful and both men and women were loyal to their friends and cruel to their 

foes. 

After Shalmaneser II. died the Medes refused to pay tribute to Assyria, and 
Shamus-Vul, his son, invaded Media with an army and easily took their cities, none 
of which were walled. 

The Medes trusted to the barriers of mountain and desert with which nature 
had surrounded their country, but the plains empire to the southwest had only the 
mountains to cross, while Media had not enough soldiers to defend the passes, and 
again the Medes were obliged to purchase peace by paying tribute, although it is 
likely that only those tribes nearest Assyria continued to do so, the others being able 
to take refuge in the mountains at the approach of an enemy and successfully conceal 
their property and defeat their foes. 

Every king of Assyria from the reign of Shaiamaneser II. to that of Sargon had 
much trouble collecting tribute from Media. Perhaps the Medes could see no justice 




A LeaUicrn WaterBottlc. 



MEDIA. 



53 




Mounted Soldier. 



in paying to be let alone by the nation that had picked a quarrel 
with them, and thought it shameful for Assyria to demand tribute 
and a disgrace to their country to pay it. 

All of the ancient conquerors supported their splendor by 
tribute wrung from vanquished people, and money and treasure 
were the spur to war, and wrong was heaped upon wrong until 
vengeance followed, sometimes long-delayed but always sure. 

Sargon reduced Media to a province of the empire, made the 
native king accountable to the Assyrian ruler, and compelled the 
Medes to obey many Assyrian laws, and for three hundred years they 
submitted, as there was nothing else to be done. 

All of this time, however, the old free spirit of Media was not 
dead. The people saw in the Assyrians, not only the foe to their 
kingdom but to their religion as well and when the Scythians at the 
north liegan to encroach upon Media, the time was ripe for action. 

The king, Cyaxares, called for soldiers from the chiefs of all the 
Median tribes to defend their homes from the barbarian invaders, and whereas during 
the Assyrian expeditions into the country these chiefs were jealous and held aloof 
from each other, the terror which the northern savages inspired was very different 
from the feeling toward civilized conquerors. 

The chiefs united in the common cause and sent men to Cyaxares until he had 
in readiness a great army. He marched against the Scyths, who were really the 
advance guard of the host that was soon to overrun Asia, conquered them and two 
other small nations and having thus inspired the confidence of his people decided to 
defy Assyria. 

Mad the Assyrians at this period attempted an invasion of Media they would 
have been beaten back, but Cyaxares knew nothing of the manner of warfare waged 
by a civilized nation, since he had dealt only with barbarians. 

Asshur-ban-i-pal, the king of Assyria, had a large well-drilled army that con- 
tained thousands of men who had fought his battles against Egypt and Tyre, and 
who were then the most famous soldiers of the world, while Cyaxares had only a 
horde of undisciplined Medes, each under a chief who knew nothing of military 
science. 

The Medes advanced toward Nineveh, and Asshur-ban-i-pal with his army, met 
them in an open plain where his cavalry and war-chariots had plenty of room to 
manoeuvre, and easily defeated them. 

Cyaxares was not discouraged by this defeat for he had learned something by it, 
and although he had paid dearly for the lesson, was content with the result. 

Instead of having his power over his countryman weakened by this disaster, it 
was strengthened, for he persuaded the chiefs to allow him to take sole charge of the 
army, divide it into corps of horse and foot, direct all its movements and henceforth 
fight the Assyrians in their own manner. 

Convinced that only thus could they defeat the Assyrians, the chiefs submitted 
all of their men to Cyaxares, who soon had a large force of well-drilled horsemen, 
and foot-soldiers, and again marched into Assyria. 

Again Asshur-ban-i-pal met him with an army, and the Assyrians were confident 
of an easy victory. They had been victorious so often, those veterans of Asshur- 
ban-i-pal, that they probably thought themselves invincible, as did the people of 
Nineveh, and that the barbarous Medes would be woefully beaten, but they found to 
their surprise and consternation that they had to front a foe stronger than they 



54 



MEDIA. 




Costume of Scjthians. 



themselves were, better horsemen, more expert bow-men and 
commanded by a general whom nothing escaped; who was 
quick to seize a point of vantage and who was obeyed with a 
surprising enthusiasm. 

At last Cyaxares utterly routed Asshur-ban-i-pal and such 
of his great army as were left fled into the city of Nineveh 
and the Median king disposed of his forces for a siege. 

Just then a messenger came in hot haste from Ecbatana, 
the Median capital, with the news that a great horde of 
Scythians were spreading terror throughout Media, murdering 
all who opposed them, burning towns, and laying waste the 
country. 

Cyaxares made all speed to return, but the invaders had 

already fastened themselves so firmly in his kingdom that he 

was obliged to pay them tribute and submit, waiting until the 

rich spoils of Assyria and Chaldasa should tempt the Scyths 

from the comparatively poor country of Media. 

It was several years before the Scythians dispersed sufficiently over adjoining 

countries and were sufficiently weakened by indulgence in unaccustomed luxury and 

their numbers reduced by the many battles they had fought for Cyaxares, to attack 

them with any chance of success. 

The Medes had submitted so long to the rule of their barbarous oppressors that 
the latter were unsuspicious of them and when Cyaxares invited their principal 
chiefs to a banquet at Ecbatana, they doubtless took the invitation as an attempt of 
the Median king to gain their favor and all the head men of the various Scythian 
tribes of Media attended it. 

The Scythian chiefs were everyone killed in the banquet hall by the orders of 
Cyaxares, and then began a war, in which the Scythians, under Zarina their queen, 
fought with desperate bravery but were driven from Media, and finall}' from Asia. 

There is a story told of Zarina that will bear repeating, although I shall not 
vouch for its truth. Stryangaius, the son-in-law of Cyaxares, commanded the troops 
sent against the Scythians and in one of the many battles he captured Zarina. The 
queen begged so hard for her liberty that the romantic, and soft-hearted Stryanga^us, 
set her free and she went back to her camp at Roxance. 

After awhile, such are the fortunes of war, Stryanga;us himself was taken 
prisoner by the Scythians, and was condemned to die by Marmareus, the husband of 
Zarina. 

In vain the Scythian queen, who was madly in love with Stryanga^us, pleaded for 
the life of the Medc. Her husband was stern in his determination to execute him, and 
to save his life Zarina murdered her consort. 

Stryangseus was as much infatuated with the queen as she with him, for she is 
said to have been the most beautiful woman in the whole world. It is singular, isn't 
it, that nearly all of the ancient queens were the "most beautiful women in the 
world?" For certainly the modern queens are neither better looking nor better iluin 
ordinary people, and some of them have even been positively homely. 

But to proceed: Stryangecus returned to Ecbatana, but had no peace of mind 
until he again sought Zarina. told her his love, and entreated her to take jjity upon 
him. 

I think myself that it was not very consistent in Zarina to preach to Stryangieus 
about constancy to his early vows when she had killed her husband on his account. 



MEDIA. 



55 



but the old historians say she did so, and they seemed to think it very noble of her. 

She reminded him of his good and beautiful wife, Rhaitaia, and exhorted him to 
show his manhood by struggling against his unlawful love, whereupon Stryangaeus. 
cut to the heart by his mistress' repulse, retired to a room in Zarina's palace, wrote 
her a long letter reproaching her — I doubt that Zarina could read a word of it, 
for the Scythians could not read the Median cuneiform — and then killed 
himself, which, under the circumstances, was the proper ending for him, as well as for 
the story. 

When the Scythians were driven off, Cyaxares again turned his attention to the 
empire to the south. Assyria had suffered more from the Scythians than had any 
country in Asia, for while the barbarians were plundering the provinces, the cities, 
following the example of Nineveh, gave themselves uj) to pleasure, and nothing was 
done to check the ravages made in the country. 

Again he advanced toward Nineveh, and at the same time the Chaldajans 
approached the city from the south. You are already familiar with Nabopolassar's 
bargain with Cyaxares and the story of the death of Saracus, and the history of the 
capture of the city, although had not the Tigris, swollen by heavy rains, overflowed 
its banks and undermined a portion of the wall, Nineveh might have stood a long 
siege. 

Cyaxares and Nabopolassar divided the spoil of the Assyrian empire between 
them, the Medes taking the original kingdom of Assyria and the provinces adjoining 
their country, Nabopolassar taking Chaldaea, Susiana and the Euphrates valley, 
sharing equally with Cyaxares the northern and western conquests of Assyria. 

After Cyaxares had conquered the remaining nations north and west of him 
there was peace in all Western Asia for fifty years, broken only by brief disturbance 
in Egypt during the reign of Psammitticus. Cyaxares died 503 B. C, after a reign 
of forty years, leaving the kingdom to his son, Astyages. 

Cyaxares had made Media a great nation and during his reign the Medes 
learned from Assyria how to live luxuriously, to deck their houses with rich stuffs and 
furniture, and had made much advance in civilization, although they learned too, 
many of the vices that hastened Assyria's downfall, and had become idolaters. 

By all laws of descent a great father sh-ould have great sons, but you \v\\\ notice 
in history and experience that such is not always the case, and 
that too often the sons of good and great fathers are weak, lazy 
and vicious. 

Astyages was a good humored handsome king, married to a 
Lydian princess, but totally unlike his father. He cared nothing 
for conquest or government and i:)assed his days in eating, drinking 
and merriment, in the midst of his female slaves and dancing girls. 
Cyaxares had early conquered Persia and the Crown Prince 
Cyrus, was compelled to live in the household of the Median king, 
perhaps as a hostage for his father's, good behavior, although 
ostensibly to learn the manners and laws of the Medes. 

Cyrus was a bold and daring fellow and must have had a 
hearty contempt for the Median king, Astyages, and his manner of 
life, and when he was about forty years old determined to free his 
country; being disgusted, also, with the debasement of the old 
religion that was common to both Media and Persia, and urged to 
revolt as much by piety as patriotism. 

T suppose you have heard the story of Cyrus that was told by 




pancing Girl. 



56 



MEDIA. 




Foot SoldltT 



a Greek historian, and believed to oe true, until the cuneiform writing of 
Persia had been read and it was proven false. 

It relates that Astyages, after the manner of all superstitious people, had 
a steadfast belief in dreams, and that whenever he dreamed he caused the 
priests, who were as we know great liars, to interpret his visions for him. 
When he dreamed that from his daughter Mandane a vine grew that cov- 
L-red his whole empire, the priests told him that his dream meant that 
Mandane would have a son that would overthrow liis kingdom. 

In course of time Mandane was married to a Persian prince and while 
she was upon a visit to her father a little son was born to her. 

Remembering his dream, Astyages took the babe and gave it over to 
one of his officers, commanding him to destroy it, but instead of doing so, 
the officer in turn gave it to a shepherd who kept it and reared it as his own 
son. 

When the boy was ten years old he came to the notice of Astyages, 
who recognized him with great joy as his grand-son, lor he was a bold, 
handsome little fellow, who resembled his grandfather greatly. Never- 
theless he punished the officer who had not obeyed his command, in a very horrible 
manner, serving him at a feast with the boiled flesh of his, the officer's only son, a 
lad about the age of Cyrus. 

Of course the talc is not true, for it makes Cyaxares the son instead of the father 
of Astyages, and falsities the cuneiform record in many important particulars. 

Cyrus gained permission to leave Media by telling Astyages that his father was 
in poor health, and desired to see him, but as soon as he had gone Astyages was 
sorry that he had granted his request, and sent a force of horsemen to bring him back. 
It seems that Cyrus had thought such a course not unlikely, and hatl, with his 
followers, made all haste toward the Persian frontier, where a troop of soldiers were 
waiting to receive him, but he was overtaken by the Medes late; in the evening and 
ordered to return. 

Cyrus readily agreed to do so, but suggested since it was late, and they were all 
tired, it would be V)etter to camp until the next morning. 

They did so, and he plied the Medes with wine until they were all drunk, then he 
and his followers mounted their horses and rode on their way toward 
Persia as fast as they could. 

\Vh('n the Medes had slept off their drunkenness they pursued Cyrus, 
who had now joined the soldiers sent to meet him. fought a battle to 
gain possession of the prince, were flefeated, and returned with the news 
to Astyages. 

The Median king sent an army to demand Cyrus' return, but upon 
Persian territory the advance of the force was hotly contested. 

It was in the neighborhood of Pasagarda>, the Persian capital, that 
the hardest fighting took place. A narrow pass led to the city, and the 
Persians held this, bemg driven back, little by little, for five days, until it 
seemed certain that the Medes would at last win it, but from the sides of 
cliffs the brave defenders, urged on and encouraged Ijy their wives anil 
sisters, who knew what cruelties might be expected should the Medes 
gain the victory, they defeated the invaders, who fled toward Ecbatana. 
but were overtaken, and Astyages himself made prisoner. 

Thus Cyrus, who only meant to free his country, became the 
master of an empire, for his father had been killed in the first of the 




Kalloual Co&tuuie. 



MEDIA. 57 

five days fighting before Pasagardae, and the Median empire, after seventy years 
of "mastery over Western Asia, was destroyed, for, after the capture of Astyages, 
the whole empire readily acknowledged Cyrus, who proved himself the greatest 
of ancient conquerors, and has for centuries been a hero of romance as well as 
history. Although the many remarkable stories which the old historians relate of 
Cyrus are purely imaginary, he was nevertheless a wonderful man, but more of a 
warrior than a ruler. When he had conquered his enemies, he had not the faculty 
of making them his friends, but was obliged again and again to subdue his unruly 
provinces. His whole reign was passed in warfare, and when he died he left the vast 
Mede-Persian empire in a sadly unsettled state. 

Cyrus had no genius for government, his one idea being the acquisition of 
territory, and the extension of the fame of Persian arms. By contact with the more 
civilized and wealthy nations of the south, he gained an idea of the luxury that 
follows wealth, and he desired for his people riches, as well as military glory. 

Even during the lifetime of Cyrus, there was a change for the worse in the 
national character of his people. What those changes were you will note in the 
story of Persia, and there we will follow those fortunes of Media, that have any 
bearing on the history of other empires and upon civilization. 



lOJ^tr. 



xU. 



if 




i<'r)'jjLijLijjJ(^! 



t ■ n H ?1I K K KJCKIXJK I 




m 




]\ j\'>.^CJUL: 11. Wi: already been luKl .M)lllcli,...g 
about Babylon, the wonderful city of old ) i 
Chalda;a, and it was from that city that P;-M^l:if 
the new ChakL-can empire, formed by 
Nabopolassar took its name. The Tower of Babel 
which the foolish people of the plain of Chaldaja t 
attempted to build to the very skies, may have been 
within the limits of Babylon, at all events wc are told that it was, and the priests of 
Chaldfca were the wisest in the world. 

Of course these priests could no more interpret dreams, or tell the course of 
future events by gazinjr at the stars than you or I can, but they made the common 
people believe that they could, and when the might of their kings was diminished 
and the political pride of the nation humbled by Assyria, the priests became more 
powerful than ever in Babylon, and sought to make the fame of the learning and 
arts of their city atone for the loss of empire. 

When a country was brought under the rule of a foreign power in those days, as 
now, the burdens did not fall so heavily upon the rich, who could spare 
from their great wealth their share of the tribute, but it was upon the 
toiling i)oor who fart-d hard at best, that the ta.xes pressed most heavily, 
and although the climate was so mild in ChalcL'ta, and gourds, melons 
and cucumbers were cheap, and even pickled bats, and dried fish jiounded 
line and made up into cakes that were baked in the sun could be bought 
for a mere trifle, the poor longed for better food and shelter, and a 
chance to improve their condition, which they could not hope to do 
under the oppressive rule of Assyria. 

Thus it was no doubt, as is generally the case in revolutions, that it 
was from the very poor that the mutterings of discontent first arose and 
well-pleased were the rich who feasted at magnificent banquets, to hear 
the complaints of the masses, and amid the perfumes and the music of 
the palaces of the nabobs there were men who plotted to lead these 
discontented common people out to war against Assyria, and to free 
Chaldsea from the oppressor. 

Luxury had grown fast in Chalda;a of the contact with luxurious 
Babylonian Kins. Assyria, aud Splendid dresses, gold and silver plate, exquisite carpets 

and hangings delighted the beauty-loving Babylonians of the higher 




BABYLONIA. 



59 




class, but in spite of luxury, there was martial spirit, daring and patriotism 
among all classes, and all were eager to try their strength against 
Nineveh. 

After the Scythians had been driven from Asia, and Nineveh, care- 
less of the growing power on the north, and heedless of discontent in the 
south, gave itself up, as was its wont, to pleasure, Babylon made a bold 
movement. 

Hearing of Nineveh's indifference and military weakness from the 
merchants who thronged the streets of Babylon to purchase wares or 
wives, — for maidens were sold to the highest bidder at public sale in 
Babylon, which did not keep its women in seclusion as did other oriental 
cities, — a large army advanced toward the capital of Assyria and no doubt 
received Nabopolassar and his troops with great rejoicing, proclaimed 
him king and joined with the Medes in the attack upon the Assyrian 
capital. 

Nebuchadnezzar was wedded to Amyitis with great pomp soon after 
the fall of Nineveh, and the new empire began under very promising Costume ot voung 
conditions. The people in the conquered provinces had been subjected to so many 
rulers that they probably cared very little whether they paid tribute to Nineveh or 
to Babylon, for in any case they knew they should be taxed to the fullest extent. 
It never seemed to enter the minds of the kings ot the old empires that the provinces 
should receive the benefits of public improvements, but they were compelled to pay 
out large sums to enrich the capital or favorite cities of their ruler. 

The Babylonians, however, were greatly benefitted by the return of glory to their 
city. In former days the empire was but a small strip of country, scarcely larger than 
a county in one of our western states, but by the agreement between Nabopolassar 
and Cyaxares, Babylonia extended from Media to the Mediterranean Sea, and from 
Arabia and Egypt to Persia. 

From all these countries, now provinces of Babylonia, and from surrounding 
countries, merchants came to Babylon to buy and sell their goods, caravans carried 
carpets and tapestries across the desert to the sea, where the ships bore them to 
Egypt, to India, and the far East, receiving in return gold, pearls, diamonds and 
precious woods and perfumes, the Babylonians being as fond of ornament as they 
were of sweet odors, and fonder of wine than of either. 

Media had a barrier of mountains to protect her empire, but Babylonia lay open, 
on every side a vast plain. The military skill of her generals and the strong walls 
of her cities were her chief dependence against her foes, and both these in time failed 
her, as we shall see, for skill can be met with skill, and works reared by man can be 
destroyed by man, no matter how strong 



or massive they are. 

Perhaps Nabopolassar thought this 
when he sought to join the family of 
Cyaxares to his own by marriage. He 
knew that Media would be a dangerous 
enemy and a powerful friend, and that 
Cyaxares would hardly make war upon a 
kingdom that would in time pass to his 
grandsons. 

Nabopolassar was a shrewd states- 




BabyloDiau Camel Sedan Chair. 



6o 



BABYLONIA. 




Babjiouiau Soldier. 



man, we are forced to admit, for not only did he bind Media to 
himself by ties of marriage, but he succeeded in making a treaty 
between Media and Lydia which lasted fifty years and secured 
the peace of all western Asia. 

It happened that the Medes had been five years trying to 
conquer Lydia, and that Nabopolassar with a Babylonian force 
joined Media. As they were just about to begin a battle, the 
sun was hidden, although the day was without a cloud, and 
darkness settled down upon the plain where the conflict was to 
have taken place. 

The hearts of the soldiers were filled with that awe with which 
even we contemplate a total eclipse of the sun, and added to that 
was a superstitious terror. 

They thought that the sun-god frowned upon them, and they 
would surely all perish if they braved his anger. Nabopolassar 
seized the opportunity to propose that the battle should be indcti- 
nitely postponed, that peace should be arranged, and to make sure 
that the war should come to an end, proposed the means that he 
had found so efficacious in the case of Babylon — a royal intermarriage — should take 
place. His proposals were accepted, and Astyages, Crown Prince of Media, wedded 
a Lydian princess, to bring about lasting peace, as Nebuchadnezzar had married 
Amyitis for the same purpose. 

In spite of the fact that Nebuchadnezzar married the Median princess from 
motives of policy, he became e.xceedingly fond of Amyitis, we are told, and gratified 
her every whim. She was beautiful and capricious, and cruel, as well, as Babylonian 
queens were apt to be, although she was a loving wife to Nebuchadnezzar and no 
more exacting to the large number of other women in the harem than oriental wives 
usually are. 

For some years Nebuchadnezzar remained in Babylon enjoying life, but when 
Neco, the Egyptian Pharaoh rebelled against Babylonia and refused to pay tribute, 
and invaded Syria, he rode away at the head of a great army to punish him. 
When he had done so and was on his way home, messengers met him with the news 
of his father's death, and it was as King of the great empire that he entered the 
Capital with the slaves and treasures taken from Egypt, and was met by the priests 

of Bel and solemnly crowned ruler. 

A few years more and Nebuchadnezzar 
was again marching forth from Babylon 
with an army, this time against Tyre, a city 
of Phoenicia, whose ships sailed to every 
part of the known world, and who was 
almost as rich, and was quite as proud and 
haughty as Babylon. This time Nebuchad- 
nezzar had also a body of Medes among his 
troops, sent by his father-in-law, Cyaxares, 
and with these and the veterans who had 
fought under him in Egypt, he thought that 
he would make short work of Tyre, but h(; 
was mistaken, for while he could surround 
warChariofwiih Scythes. Tyre ou the land side, one side was open to 








BABYLONIA. 



6i 




Babyluiiiau MethoJ of Inflicting 
the Death Penalty, 



the sea, and the ships could bring supplies, arms and soldiers to Tyre when those 
within the city were no longer sufficient. 

Taking advantage of the siege of Tyre, the Hebrews of Jerusalem 
rebelled. When Neco had some years before refused tribute to 
Babylon, and even marched into Syria, a king of the Jews, Josiah, who 
had cause to be friendly toward Babylon, met him on the borders of 
the land with an army to oppose his entrance to Asia, but was defeated 
and killed. 

Neco then marched to Jerusalem, dethroned Josiah's son and piaced 
upon the throne Jehoiakim, who promised to be Egypt's friend, and to 
-hold Egypt's enemies as his own. 

Now Egypt and Babylonia had always been bitter enemies, and 
Neco probably promised to help Jehoiakim in a rebellion against Babylon, 
perhaps counting upon the army of Nebuchadnezzer being employed at 
Tyre. 

Nebuchadnezzar at once divided his force, left ..a.f of it befoi the 
walls of Tyre, and with the other half marched promptly to Jeru- 
salem, so promptly that the Egyptians had no time to reach the Jewish 
city. When Jehoiakim saw the Babylonian army nearing the walls of his capital 
he at once surrendered himself to Nebuchadnezzar and was put to death, his son 
being placed on the throne, but being dethroned and carried captive to Babylon three 
months after by Nebuchadnezzar, who suspected his faithfulness, although Jehoiachin 
could hardly be blamed for plotting against the king who had humbled his city and 
taken his father's life. 

Tyre still held out against Nebuchadnezzar, and eight years after he first marched 
to Jerusalem he was again encamped under the walls of the Jewish Capital. 
Zedekiah, the king he had himself placed upon the throne, thinking the time favor- 
able to free the Jewish nation from Babylonia, whose oppression and extortion had 
become unbearable. With aid promised from Egypt, he felt reasonably sure of success, 
and was not able to see that the Hebrew kingtlom under Egypt's protection, was 
doomed to bear heavier burdens than under Babylonia's rule, for Egypt was not only 
greedy and tyrannical but treacherous too, although in this instance the Pharaoh did 
actually send an army toward Jerusalem, which, when it heard of the great force 
Nebuchadnezzer had brought to meet them, marched back into Egypt much faster 
than they had marched out of it. 

Zedekiah was a brave king and a good general, but after the city of Jerusalem 
had been besieged two years, and famine 
and sickness had caused the Jews to lose 
strength and courage, he at last sent his 
submission to Nebuchadnezzar, opened the 
gates, and amid the mourning of the people 
the conqueror entered. He plundered the 
temple of Jehovah, carried off its sacred ves- 
sels, and not only killed Zedekiah's sons be- 
fore their father's eyes, but afterward forever 
shut all other sights from the poor father by 
blinding him ; with the heated blade of a 
sword and carried him and nearly all of the 
people of Jerusalem to Babylon as captives. 




Habyluniaii Metliod of 8pwiring Captives 



e>2 



BABYLONIA. 




Thus the unhappy Jewish nation that had been in bondage in 
Egypt, had wandered forty years in the desert, and fought 
bravely to maintain the inheritance promised by Jehovah to their 
father Abraham, again became slaves, as all the twelve tribes, 
except those of Judah and Benjamin, had before been made 
captive by Assyria, and settled in a far-away portion of her 
dominions. 

Nebuchadnezzar was not the man to forget the injury Egypt 
had done to him, and after three years further besieging Tyre, 
and taking it after a brave resistance of thirteen years all told, 
he led his army into Egypt, dethroned the 
Pharaoh who had encouraged the rebellious 
Jews, placed a friend of Babylonia, Amasis, 
over the Egyptians and continued a career 
of conquest over the whole of Northern 
Africa. He removed colonies of Jews, Egyp- 
tians and Phoenicians from their own country 
to distant portions of Babylonia, and brought 
thousands of captives to Babylon. 

We are apt, in thinking of a great con- 
Musiciao with Lute. Queror, to remcmbcr only the glory of his 

conquests, and to forget the sorrow and desolation that followed in his track, of the 
lives wasted antl the miseries of those subjected. These woes are sad enough in our 
own times, when men lay some claim to humanity, but they must have been dreadful 
in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, for he was a cruel and bloody-minded tyrant, to 
whom the groans of conquered people were sweet music, and who sought by the 
horrible nature of the revenge he took upon rebels, to so terrorize his provinces thaJ 
they would remain faithful. 

As I have said before, Babylon was famed for its learning before the fall o) 
Nineveh, and in Nebuchadnezzar's time its magnificence was celebrated throughout 
the whole world, and it was called the "City of the Gate of God." 

The city was built upon both sides of the Euphrates, covered about 150 squart 
miles of land and round about it on every side, for it was nearly square, Nebuchad 
nezzar caused his captives taken in war to build a wall nearly a hundred feet high 
forty feet thick and something over fifty miles long, measuring entirely around the 
city. 

Upon this great wall of brick were towers that served as guard-houses and sentry 

stations, and twenty-five bronze gates on 
each side were opened in the morning and 
closed at night. 

1 can not believe that the whole space 
witliin the walls was as closely covered 
with houses as in our modern cities, for it 
would have contained four limes as many 
people as there are in Paris now, and 
twice as many as live in London, the 
greatest city of the wofld. Some of 
the ground must have served as fields and 
market gardens, that in case of siege 




BABYLONIA. 



63 




Eabyloulan Rep"CBentatlon of Baal. 



would have supplied fresh fruit and vegetables to the citizens. 

It must have taken very huge moulds to cut the bronze gates 
of the walls, and how it was done' we do not know, but that it was 
done proves that the Babylonians were as skillful workers of large 
masses of crude metals as they were of smaller quantities of gold 
and silver. 

Crossing the Euphrates were drawbridges which in the day- 
time connected the two portions of the city, but at night swung 
open. These bridges were set upon stone-piers sunken deep in the 
river bed, clamped firmly together with iron and lead, and were 
not very different from those in use in our own times. Beside 
these bridges there was a tunnel under the river twelve or fifteen 
feet from floor to roof, and about the same width; and thus you 
see that the Babylonians made practical use of their knowledge 
of mathematics in ways hitherto unknown to the ancient world. 

The walls of Babylon were wonderful in their strength and 
thickness, and in the city itself Nebuchadnezzar caused two great 
palaces to be built upon opposite sides of the river, and repaired 
and beautified an old temple to the gOd Bel, making it the most celebrated lor its 
splendor in the world. 

This temple was surrounded by high brick walls, and was so set that the corners 
of its square foundation pointed exactly to the four points of the compass. It was 
built of eight stories, each one smaller than the one below it, and the building, when 
it was finished, was of the shape of a pyramid. 

Each of these stories was thirty-six feet high, reached by broad winding stairs, 
and midway up the long ascent was a platform or resting place. 

Each story served as the place of worship of a separate god or godess, and lead- 
ing from the central room of each story were arranged around the square the dwell- 
ings of the priests who attended upon the shrines. 

The Chaldaians were planet worshippers, and so they made this temple both 
upon the outside and inside, represent the place each planet occupied in the Zodiac. 
The first story was the shrine of Saturn, and as Saturn is so far from the earth 
that it is almost beyond the reach of light from our sun, and could be but faintly 
seen through the imperfect telescopes of the Chaldgeans, — for as they made such good 
glass, they no doubt made telescopes. The outer walls of the first story were made 
black by a coat of bitumen, and black was probably used as the gloomy planets appro- 
priate color in the decorations of the inner walls. 

The planet Jupiter gives a bright orange light, as you nave perhaps noticed, and 
the bricks of the second story, the shrine of Jupiter, were a bright orange color. 

The third story was sacred to the planet Mars, which was supposed to rule the 
lives of warriors, and hence its bright red color was imitated in bricks burned fiery 
red, but these three lower stories were entirely eclipsed in splendor by the fourth, 
the one sacred to the sun, for both its inner and outer walls were covered all over as 
were its floor and ceiling with plates of gold hammered to the thickness of a finger 
nail, and burnished as smooth and bright as summer sunlight on the yellow o-rain 
fields of the Chalda;an valleys. 

How many hungry and weary slaves as they hammered these plates must have 
secretly cursed in their hearts the folly that decorated thus temples to the gods of 
bloodshed, crime and cruelty, while thousands of their fellow human beings were 



64 



BABYLONIA. 




lacking the necessities of life on account of being compelled thus to gratify the 
ambition of their king, who probably cared quite as much for the envy of foreign 
nations as he did to please the deities, and who finally in his pride and vain glory 
even declared that he himself was a god before whom men trembled. 

\ enus was represented bj- the story above the sun, and after the walls were built 
of the story sacred to her shrine intense heat was applied in some way so that the 
bricks were of the dull blue of slag or meltetl glass. 

The moon's shrine was covered all over with plates of silver as the sun's was of 
gold, and above the seven other story's towered the shrine of Bel, a square altar of 
solid masonry covered all over with beaten gokl and approached by a winding stair- 
way leading around the outside. 

The gold and silver images, the precious vessels and altars where sacrifices of 
hundreds of victims were daily offered that were within this great temple, cost the 
whole wealth of many conquered people, for Nebuchadnezzar made them bear the 
expense as well as the labor of the great works with which he enriched Babylon. 

Seen from a distance this rainbow-hued tower must have been impressive, while 
near at hand it excited admiration and wonder which was not at all diminished by 
sight of the splendid offerings borne daily to the temple by the rich, and the dignity 
of the officiating priests who lived in a magnificence and state equalled only by the 
king. 

Xo slabs of marble or alabaster, cut and painted like those that adorned the 
inner walls of the great buildings of -Assyria, were used in this temple of Bel or in 
any of the palaces and temples of Babylon, but the bricks were stamped with figures 
forming pictures of hunting scenes or the triumphs of Nebuchadnezzar, and with 
sentences which related that they were made by Nebuchadnezzar, and these are 
found to this day in grass-grown mounds that are the heaped ruins of palaces and 
temples. This stamping of the bricks was done with metal or wooden moulds, hav- 
ing the subjects raised on their surface, so that when 
they were pressed firmly down upon the wet clay a 
sunken impression was left. This was the birth of the 
art of ])rintingto which weowe so much of our civilization, 
and the Babylonians became celebrated printers, although 
their books were only clumsy terra-cotta cj'linders or 
-. square bricks. They printed not only these but made 
beautiful printed muslins or calico, printed borders of 
leaves, flowers, or fantastic animals and geometric figures 
upon their linen robes, and even printed silks and woolens 
in complicated patterns as a substitute for the hand 
Babv.on.an Brick with stump. cmbroiderics which thev executed with such dainty skill, 

and these, as well as their fine carpets, were the forerunners of the present Eastern 
proficiency in fabrics and needle-work. 

Although the palaces and temples of Babylon were so fine and gaudy, built upon 
high mounds to be above the insects and dust, and with walls thick enough to keep 
out the heat, I am afraid that the houses of the common people were poor protection 
against the burning sun of summer, or the damp of the rainy season. The houses 
of the rich, although they were painted in bright colors, inside and out, and were 
often three or four stories high, were hardly less flimsy, for they were built of palm- 
wood, and the pillars that supported the arched roofs were the stems of palm-trees, 
twined with twisted rushes, that were then covered with stucco and painted. 







BABYLONIA. 




Bjibjiouiau Wuniun Grinding Corn. 



Perhaps if the Babylonians had possessed stone for building 
purposes, as did the Egyptians, they, too, would have become 
sculptors and noted builders, but they had only palm-wood, which 
is too tough to be readily carved, and brick for building. Their 
attempts at sculpture are so clumsy that they are much like the 
school-boy's achievements with jack-knives, although some of 
their seals and engraved gems have small representations of 
birds and animals that are fairly good. Notwith- 
standing their lack of artistic taste, the Babylonians 
were an intellectual people, that is to say they (■ 
excelled in literary and scientific knowledge, and in 
the construction of practical works like drains 
and bridges, and they found out many natural laws. 

The clock, ticking so soberly upon the mantel, and the watch in its case, are 
descendants of a Chalda;an time-piece called the Clepsydra. After the Chaldean 
astronomers had mapped out the heavens and watchetl the motion of the heavenly 
bodies until they could divide the day pretty well into periods, they made two kinds 
of sundial, which marked the day when the sun shone, from the time the sun rose 
until it crossed the meridian, or noon line, and from that time until it set, but they 
still had no means of telling the time at night, or in the cloud"- days of autumn and 
winter. 

It was inconvenient enough, even in that sunny land, to depend wholly upon 
the sun as a time-keeper, so after much study and experiment, — and it is astonishing 
how much study and experiment have gone to perfecting the many convenience of 
our modern daily life, — they made the Clepsydra or water-clock. 

This queer clock was made of a certain number of tubes filled with water, poised 
so the water was poured out slowly drop by drop, and they were marked in such a 
way that one could tell at a glance by the height of water in them what hour it was, 
the dropping water being received in a tube also marked. 

The Chalda:an priests studied the weather, too, and could foretell changes and 
storms nearly as well as our own signal service, and made a sort of almanac. 

Mixed with their real knowledge was much pretended wisdom, and as humbug 
has been powerful in every age of the world, they probably gained more fame from 
the pretended than the real wisdom. 

Hundreds of these priests attended upon Nebuchadnezzar in peace or war, and 
gravely professed to be able to tell him the meaning of signs and omens, and of 
course, as there are no such things as "signs and omens," they attached a meaning to 
the thousand little incidents of dail}^ life. 

Nebuchadnezzar never undertook anything without consulting the priests, so you 
see the priests were the real power behind the ignorant and superstitious king, and 
made him do as they liked. If the king dreamed, no matter how silly a mess of 
nonsense resulting from over-eating and undr exercising, one of the 
priests must be called to "interpret" the dream, and if he said it meant 
calamity, othes priests were called to "charm" away the evil. 

The people were as superstitious as the king, and like him paid 
professional "dreamers" to dream for them, and other priests, for only 
priests were supposed to be first-class "dreamers," to "interpret," so the 
priests grew wealthy practicing such frauds, and were a power in the 
land. If a stray dog got into Nebuchadnezzar's palace and crawled under ""'"'""Z^Zr ""'"'' 




66 



BABYLONIA. 




Arms anil Annor. 



his chair, the city was seized with consternation, and the 
priests were called to remove the evil influence which they 
said threatened the empire, and if a piece of furniture fell 
in the palace and was broken, it was supposed to fjortend 
dire disaster, which only the priests could prevent. 

How they managed to avoid contradicting each other I 
can not saj', but I suppose they wrote the ridiculous "omens" 
and the interpretations they had given them on their 
cylinders, and this was a part of the "lore of the Chaldees" 
which they taught to those who desired to become priests. 
The priests no doubt studied carefully cause and effect, 
and kept themselves more thoroughly posted on national 
affairs than any other class of people, and were thus able 
often to be of real use in preventing the king from foolish 
actions. 

At last Nebuchadnezzar discovered what frauds his priests 
were. lie dreamed a dream and forgot ail but its vague outline. 
\3 Reasoning rightlj' that pri"sts who could interpret dreams should 
be able to tell the dream itself, he called them all to the palace 
and bade them tell him at once his half-forgotten dream, or die. 
The priests were in great terror. One ventured that the king had dreamed a certain 
dream, but Nebuchadnezzar struck him dead because he had not told him anything 
near the truth. Then all were afraid to hazard any guesses, and had not the 1 lebrcw 
prophet Daniel, who had been told by Jehovah in a vision the details of the dream, 
restored Nebuchadnezzar's good humor by relating it to him with the interpretation,, 
the priests would all have lost their heads. 

As it was, Nebuchadnezzar soared their lives, although he never again tielieved 

in them. 

Nebuchadnezzar was almost as great a builder as were the old pyramid kings of 
Kgypt. Besides the palaces, the temple to Bel and the great wall of which 1 liave 
told you, he dug a great many canals, one of which was 400 miles long, for the use of 
merchant traffic boats; made roads; constructed wharfs along the Euphrates and 
break-waters on the shores of the Persian Gulf, and made a great reservoir in 
Babylon to hold the waters of the Euphrates for the use of the citizens. 

To fill this reservoir he turned the waters of the river from their course, then 
paved the bed of the stream with brick so none of the waters might be lost by sinking 
into the ground, then placed gratings that could be raised and lowered at the points 
where the river penetrated the city walls. When ill was completed he turned the 
water back again and the reservoir was filled. 

Another great reservoir that was 140 miles in circumference, and iSo feet cieep, 
he caused to b;^ dug in the Chal(l?ean plain, to hold the overflow waters of the 
Euphrates and Tigris, for irrigation in the hot, dry weather. 

Nebuchadnezzar founded two cities on the Gulf, made a levee along the Tigris 
to protect the fields from floods. He taxed most oppressively the provinces for these 
works, which were of no benefit to them at all, but useful to the city of Babylon and 
neighboring cities only, and making the people from whom the money was wrung 
hate Babylonia most heartily, and always ready to revolt at the first appearance of a 
foreio-n enemy. One of the most singular works of Nebuchadnezzar was an artificial 
mountain which he built for the pleasure of Amyitis, and which you have probably 



BABYLONIA. 



67 



heard called "The Hanging Gardens." Amyitis, having been reared in a mountain- 
ous country, pined for the hills of Media, and wearied of the plains of Chakkta, 
so Nebuchadnezzar selected the site upon the borders of his great Babylonian 
reservoir, and near the banks of the river, and reared the pleasure grounds of 
his queen upon tiers of arches and solid pillars of masonry twenty or thirty feet 
thick. 

The structure was built in five stories, each fifty feet high, and each square and 
a little smaller than the one below it, the projecting part in each case being a wide 
platform with steps leading to the platform above it, giving the mountain a pyra- 
midal shape. 

These platforms were like the rest of the masonry, made twenty feet thick, of 
reeds coated with bitumen, afterward covered with solid brick work, and over all a 
coat of lead, and each story was supported by fifteen hundred pillars. 

The top was quite extensive, and was covered, as were the platforms, with rich 
earth for several feet in which were planted groves of trees and flowers, and shrubs 
of every kind known in the East, and were watered from the reservoir by a sort of screw. 

Here the Median Amyitis sported with her maidens, bathing in the artificial rills 
and lying upon the grass amid the flowers in the cool morning or evening, and looked 
over the great city and wide plain. 

Here, too, when the deadly winds blew hot from the desert, and the windows and 
doors were shut tight in the city to keep out its blighting breath, naked slaves toiled 
amid the flowers and shrubs, bearing water to them that they should not wither, until 
they fell under the power of the desert winds and died. Then others took their places 
and in turn panted out their life in the stifling heat, but what were the lives of these 
slaves to the queen, when compared with the preservation of one of her rare shrubs! 

It was death to a stranger to enter these gardens unbidden by the queen, or 
without the signet of the king, and its groves and glades shadowed only those upon 
whom royal favor had fallen. 

Nebuchadnezzar was warned in a dream that God would remove him from his 
kingdom for seven years, on account of his pride and vainglory, and sure enough on 
the very day when he boasted that he was a god, and related how wonderful were 
his works, he was stricken with a very dreadful form of insanity, which learned 
physicians call lycanthropy. 

As is usual in such madness, Nebuchadnezzar imagined himself 
an animal, could not talk, remain in a house or eat his ordinary 
food, so he was kept in an inclosure in the palace garden, eating 
grass and herbs. Amyitis ruled in his stead until the seven years 
were over. 

With his heart humbled by his affliction, Nebuchadnezzar, 
when he recovered, resumed his sway and lived to be an old man 
of eighty, dying in the forty-fourth year of his reign and leaving 
his great empire to Evil Merodach, his son, who treated the captive 
jews with great kindness, but was dethroned and killed by his 
brother-in-law Nereglissar, in less than two years after Nebuchadnez 
war-worn and weary heart was stilled by the hand of death. 

Nereglissar lived but three years to enjoy the fruit of his crimes, 
his son, a mere boy to whom he left the empire, was put to death b\ the 
Babylonian nobles, who claimed that he had a bad disposition, and if he was 
at all like his father no doubt he had. Nabonadius, a general and noble. 




k'as selected as king thereafter, and he married the widow of Nereglissar, 



Bal)ylonian MuBician. 



68 



BABYLONIA. 



the mother of the murdered boy, who, being the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, gave 
her husband a sort of legal claim upon Babylonia, although the poor creature 
probably was unwilling enough to marry him. 

Nabonadius was scarcely established upon the throne before Media fell into the 
hands of Cjrus, and the eastern provinces rebelled. The Lj-dians, whose friendship 
had been gained long before, now had a king named Crcesus, who saw with alarm 
the growing strength of Persia, and sent messages from Sardis, his capital, to Baby- 
lon, proposing that Babylonia and Lydia should unite against Cyrus. 

Nabonadius at once agreed and signed a treaty with Lydia, and then began to 
prepare for war, knowing that Cyrus would sooner or later invade Babylonia. He 
built a high thick wall on each side of the Euphrates, making the two parts of the 




city each completely walled 
around, and pierced these 
river walls with gates which 
were shut at night. 1 le 
then raised a great army, 
which he drilled for the tm,. c-.p:ur. „t j-.a.,yi„„ i,v c yn,.. 

struggle. The king of Lydia soon plunged, unaided, into war against Cyrus, and 
was conquered, and it was fourteen j^ears after that event before the; Persian king 
was sufficiently sure of his power in the north to invade Babylonia. 

The ancient idea of war was either to measure at once strength with strength, 
or to wear out by a siege the patience of the foes, and sometimes both a great battle 
and a long siege were necessary. 

As Cyrus came near to Babylon it is said that one of his sacred white horses was 
drowned in crossing a river between the Euphrates and Tigris, and to revenge him- ^ 
self upon the stream he camped tht;n and there to punish the river by cutting 360 
channels to disperse its waters, and thus the whole winter passed away. I suspect 



BABYLONIA. 



69 



Cyrus only kept his soldiers busy cutting channels to keep them from growing lazy, 
and to give them a practice in digging that might be useful to them hereafter, and 
that he pitched his camp in the warm dry valley to wait until the wet season in 
Babylonia should be over. 

As soon as spring broke, Cyrus marched toward Babylonia, and was met by 
Nabonadius and his army. A dreadful battle was fought, in which the Babylonian 
king was defeated, and retired with half his army to a strong walled town south of 
Babylon, while the other half returned to Babylon, where Belshazzar, the son of 
Nabonadius, had been left in command with royal authority. 

If Nabonadius thought by dividing his own army to divide that of Cyrus, he was, 
mistaken, for the Persians ramped before Babylon, and tried every possible means 
of taking the city. Belshazzar, although only nineteen years old and unskilled 
in war, had a warrior queen for his mother, and Nitocris was the true child of her 
great father Nebuchadnezzar. 

She advised him wisely, and he took her advice, and the Persians were almost 
in despair when Cyrus, at the time of the feast of the god Bel, marched off up the 
Euphrates valley, leaving only a few thousand men before Babylon. 

Thinking the Persians had given up the attempt to take the city, the Baby- 
lonians, already reveling as usual at the Bel feast, gave themselves up to 
the wild mirth and feasting, but while they were carousing, Cyrus, out of 
view from the watch towers, had set his vast force at work with spades 
cutting the channel of the Euphrates to dimin- 
ish the water so the army could march in the 
bed of the stream back to the city. 

As soon as the water was low enough, which 
was not long, they were all on their way back 
to Babylon, and, protected by the darkness, were 
soon again ready to join their comrades. 

In Babylon drunkenness and debauchery had 
succeeded the feast. The gates between the 
two portions of the city were open, and revellers, 
garlanded with flowers, went singing and shout- 
ing through them, while many of the soldiers that should have watched on the walls 
half-sodden with wine, left their arms in the watch towers and joined in the general 
mirth. 

In the meantime the Persian watchers at the water-gates listened anxiously to 
observe whether the sinking of the water had been observed inside the town. 
When they heard only drunken shouts they passed in silently, protected by the dark- 
ness and the banks of the streams, stationed themselves at the river gates, threw 
open an outer gate to their friends, raised the war shout and fell upon the Baby- 
lonians burning, slaying, and plundering. 

Belshazzar hhnself was in the midst of a thousand nobles, drinking toasts to Bel 
out of the golden vessels taken from the temples by his grandfather, Nebuchad- 
nezzar, when his doom was written upon the wall in letters of fire there by the hand 
of Jehovah. 

Cyrus allowed his soldiers to plunder to their heart's content, reserving, of 
course, the richest spoil for himself, and after burning some or the temples and dis- 
mantling the walls, received the submission of Nabonadius, who yielded up all his 
treasure with his kingdom. 




King nnntiiiK Li.m. 



70 



BABYLONIA. 



Thus, proud Babylon, like Memphis, Thebes and iNineveh, bowed her neck to 
the conqueror, antl but 539 B. C, 88 years after Nabopalassar gained the throne, she 
was shorn of her diadem of glory, and while widows wailed over their dead, and the 
priests mourned over her desecrated altars she was fettered by foreigners, never 
ao-ain to know the sweetness of freedom. 




BaDylonlan Tttreshlng Wagon. 



mA '^%-^4:^^ i 'L\ "\'^'k " 'i Yk ''\ '"Jt 'I'Jh '■ '\ 



rnJ^J^--^ iN iN-^iNJNJNi-^^-JN-it^ 











M jN -jN JiN ^N - N JN ^W -jN j^^ j»" ^)m ^H ^ ^N, ^N ^N ^H ^>" -jiH ^^ ^'H ^H",^)™ .J 




T, 



V 



1 ^ ij L ^ ^ >' '-^'^ "^^ ^!l' ,!^T ;?vrjMl 



LTHOUGH the Persian Empire did not exist until after the con- 
quest cf Media by Cyrus, Persia had been a prosperous kingdom 
for a long time before that great king was born. It was small and 
unimportant, a "scant country and a rugged," in many portions with 
dreary salt deserts and bleak, bare mountains, brown and desolate, frowning 
down upon the fair vales, where lovely flowers grew and bright birds sang in orch- 
ards filled with ripening fruits or fragrant blossoms. 

Across these mountains, roads were cut, winding about the edges of deep preci- 
pices, and crossing wild gorges, upon bridges of a single span. But nature had gifted 
the long narrow valleys with such rich fruitfulness, mildness of climate and wealth of 
verdure, that the Persians loved their land with passionate devotion, in spite of its 
dreary plains and arid highlands, finding in its cloud-piercing summits and roaring 
torrents inspiration for song and weird legend. 

Like the Medes, the Persians were Aryans, and their religion, customs and laws, 
were much the same for a century, after the fall of Nineveh, when their history 
is first known, and they used the same cuneiform alphabet that was common in Media. 

Like the Medes, too, the Persians were not a literary people, and although 
papyrus grew wild in Persia, and was cultivated in fields because its roots'were good 
for food, the only scrolls that were written were those containing the chronicles of 
their kings. 

The education of a boy in Persia in the days when Cyrus was young was not one 
which was calculated to encourage literary tastes, and I doubt whether he ever, in 
the whole course of his life, learned to read or write, for the priests did all the read- 
ing and writing that was done. 

Nevertheless, although there were neither school-books nor school-houses, boys 
were very carefully educated, but girls were sadly neglected, for it was not thought 
necessary to teach them anything, as it was supposed that their mission in life was to 
look pretty, dress as finely as possible, and amuse their male relatives when they felt 
disposed for amusement. 

Every Persian man married as many wives as he could afford to support, and 
although the women quarrelled among themselves, they were kept in rather strict 
order when under the eye of the favorite wife, or the chief male slave of the 
household. 

Eor the first five years of the boy's life he was taught nothing at all except per- 



/-' 



PERSIA. 




fersUu Woman of the Ilari'm 



haps the nursery rhymes and stories which all mothers, savage or civ- 
ilized, croon to their little ones, but when he was five years old his 
father began to train him. 

Every day in the year the little lad was obliged to leave his bed 
in the cold grey of the morning, just as dawn was breaking. No 
matter whether the weather was hot or cold, whether the rain fell, 
the snow whitened the ground or the dew lay in pearly drops on 
the grass, the boy was obliged to leave his warm, snug bed, plunge 
iH into a cold bath, rub himself briskl3^ dress himself, and, accom- 
panied by the slave who had charge of him, go out in the open 
air to the place where other boys of his age were assembled. There 
he was exercised in running, slinging stones, shooting with the bow, 
and throwing the javelin. 

1 le received no food until mid-day, and then he must eat enough 
to last him twenty-four hours, for he got nothing more until the same 
time the next day. 

When he had kept up this course for two years, if he lived 
through it, and a great many did not, the boy was taught to ride. 
Now all V)oys love to ride, but this riding of the Persian boys was not merely a canter 
over a smooth stretch of turf, or a gallop through level lanes and plea.sant meadows, 
but at full s])eed he dashed up hill and down hill, jumped off and on his horse while 
in full career, as you have perhaps seen circus riders do. He also learned to shoot 
the bow or throw the javelin, and manage a long spear while in the saddle, ^-un- 
dertakings which a boy of seven these days would hardly think possible of 
achievement. 

As soon as the Persian boy learned to manage his horse and weapons tolerably 
well, he was allowed, or compelled, to go out hunting with the other boys under 
training, commanded by one of the king's officers. 

This officer led the boys into all sorts of danger to make them fearless, and 
caused them to march miles and miles in the burning heat of summer or the bitter 
cold of winter, for in some parts of Persia heat and cold were both extreme in their 
season. At night they slept on the bare ground with the blue sky and twinkling 
stars above them, and while lying under their blankets they heard the sighing wind 
in the tree-tops, or in the distant desert the cry of the hyena or lion. 

They thought nothing, these weather-toughtened lads, of plunging through an 
icy mountain torrent, but held their weapons high above their heads t(j keep them 
dry, and if they succeeded, cared little for the discomfort of wet clothing. 

They often had nothing to eat but the wild acorns, small bitter pears and various 
herbs and roots of the country through which they passed, with a substantial meal 
once in two days, and would have thought it a great disgrace to be accused of indo- 
lence, fondness for eating or fear of danger. 

When the boys were not absent on these hunting excursions they exercised in 
the morning, and in the afternoons were busied in learning to till the soil or in mak- 
ing nets, traps and snares, for wild animals, in fashioning bows, arrows and jave- 
lins. As "all work and no play" is no better for boys than all play and no work, 
they probably had many a rough boyish game with which they filled in the hours not 
given over to serious piu'suits. 

The only studying of set lessons was the listening to the priests tell about 
Ormazd and his angels, or relate legends of gods and heroes, which the listeners 



PERSIA. 



7i 



■were expected to remember, and in their turn relate. As many of those stories 
were dull enough, I doubt not that the boys found them the most wearisome part of 
their training. 

In one particular, at least the moral training of the Persians was admirable. 
They were taught that lying was the greatest of all crimes, and that upon truth all 
other virtues rest, as indeed they do, for a man who speaks the truth, lives true to 
his conscience and true to his God, needs no higher moral standard. 

The Persian love and practice of truth was famous among early oriental nations 
who were usually deceitful enough, and we are told that the Persians would neither 
buy or sell goods of any kind if they could avoid it, as trade is apt to make people 
exaggerate in explaining the virtues of their wares. 

Should a man make a promise, even were that man a king, he was considered 
forever disgraced and unworthy of respect if he broke it, no matter what disaster 
would result to himself or others should he keep his word, or what good would 
accrue from not keeping it. Indeed the Persian kings were forbidden by law to 
withdraw from their promises, and punishments for proven offenses were so certain 
that "fixed as the laws of the Medes and Persians," became a proverb 

When Persian youths were fifteen 
years old they were considered men, 
enrolled in the army and likely to be 
called upon to attend the king on for- 
eign expeditions. 

Their training for the trade of 
war, however, continued five years 
longer should there be no foreign ex- 
pedition callingthem to accompany their 
king. At twenty they were strong, hardy 
and muscular, accustomed to cold and 
hunger, afraid to face no danger, truth- 
ful, manly, and, we are told, noted for 
their personal beauty. Persian Dwiiiing 

With an army of such men no wonder that Cyrus conquered the world, and it 
was only when the youths were no longer thus trained that the empire of Persia fell, 
conquered as much by luxury as by the foreign foe. 

Every young man of twenty, in Cyrus' day, belonged to his country from that 
time until he was fifty. Those who were the sons of fathers of high rank became 
the body guard of the king, and lived at the capital, or were given employment as 
governors, messengers, secretaries or judges, in the provinces, while the youths of 
more common parentage were stationed in the garrisons in different parts of the 
empire. 

It is not at all strange that Cyrus, having been trained to manly sports and war- 
like exercise, should have felt deeply disgusted with the idle ease of the Median 
court, and have learned to despise the luxurious conquerors of his country. 

His youth and early manhood had been passed in Persia and, he had only been 
brought to the court of Cyaxares late in that monarch's reign, or early in the reign 
of his son, and had probably watched the decline of the martial spirit in Media 
closely, and bided his time to secure Persia's freedom. 

He knew that Western Asia could own but one master, and that either Baby- 
lonia or Persia must be that master. He resolved that Persia should through him, 




74 



PERSIA. 



become the dictator to surrounding nations. After he had overthrown the dominion 
of Astyagcs, and become the owner of the Median share of the Assyrian possession 
in land and slaves, gold and treasure, he turned his eyes toward Lydia, the richest 
empire in Western Asia. Croesus, the king, was rash enough to engage him with- 
out waiting for Babj'lonia'said, and he conquered himeasilj'. After putting down a revolt 
in Media, Cyrus subdued the Greek cities on the Ionian peninsula, turned his arms 
against the Eastern mountain and plains tribe that were in the habit of plundering 
unprotected portions of his empire, and punished them thoroughly. For fourteen 
years Cyrus marched forth from his capital every spring with his army, and came 
ever}' autumn loaded with the spoils of war. 

When he had thoroughly made himself master of all the petty kingdoms and 
wild tribes of Western Asia he turned his attention to Babylonia, and whtn by his 
capture of Babylon he made that empire his own, his sway was over a dominion 
made up of various tribes and nations occupying half as much territory as is com- 
prised in all modern Europe, and eight times as large as the Assyrian empire was in 
the days of Ashur-ban-i-pal. 

This conquest of Babylonia by an Ayran empire was the greatest event of anci- 
ent times, for it hastened the death of paganism and the growth of a civilization that 
paved the way for the performance of the greatest miracle of the ages, — the birth of 
the God-man, Jesus, and the dissemination of Christianity. 

Babylon was the oppressor of the Jews, and an example of wickedness in every 
way upon which the world looked and was tainted. Mer sins found imitators, and 
her paganism supported by a powerful and unscrupulous priesthood, had spread into 
Media and was likely to spread as the glory and fame of the city increased. 

Cyrus became deeply interested in the Jews when he learned that his coming and 
the destruction of Babylon had been foretold ages before by one of their prophets. 
He found in their religion much with which the creed of Zoroaster was in sympathy, 
and he not only gave them permission to return to Jerusalem, but encouraged them 
to carry their doctrine to every part of his empire. He saw in it, perhaps, a more 
powerful weapon against the pagan taint that Media and Persia had received than 
even the creed of Zoroaster. 

The enlightenment of the heathen world that has continued to our 
own times, therefore, began with the greatest achievement of the great 
Cyrus, the conquest of Babylonia. He died a short time after, battling 
against barbarians, and his body was borne to a rock-hewn tomb which 
he had caused to be built for him near Pasaganht. the old capital of 
Persia. 

Cyrus was a conqueror entirelj^ different from the usual type of 
ancient conquers, and be it said to his lasting glory, he was a warrior who 
was never cruel to a captured or conquered foe, a king who had none of 
the foolish pride of a tyrant, and a ruler who was at once a law-giver, 
father and model to the nation. 

Por centuries after his death Persia had reason to mourn for the 
goodness, gentleness and humanity of its first great monarch, and in all 
the ages of the world's history there have lived but few men who have 
had an equal share of military genius, resolution and courage. 

The good Cyrus thought that by leaving his empire to Cambyscs, his 
eldest son, and the government of several large provinces to Smerdis, 
his only other son, that he was providing justly for both, but neither was 




Persian Soldier. 



PERSIA 



75 



satisfied. Cambyses was a jealous and cruel man, and as soon as he was firmly 
established upon the throne he caused his brother Smerdis to be killed, but with 
such secrecy that it was never known whether poison or the dagger did the cruel 
work, and it was a long time before the fact of his death was disclosed. 

Cambyses knew that Cyrus had always meant to conquer Africa, and so he 
determined to carry out his father's plan, and Egypt, of course, was the first country 
that figured in his schemes of African conquest. 

Amasis was at this time Pharaoh, and knowing his proud temper, and think- 
ing it most unlikely that Amasis would grant his request, to pick a quarrel with him, 
Cambyses sent to him and asked him for his daughter, as a sort of secondary wife 
little better than a slave. 

Of course the request was insulting, but Amasis was too crafty to refuse Camby- 
ses outright, knowing a 
refusal equal to a de- 
claration of war, and 
he had no army ready 
to bring against the 
vast force of Persia. 
Therefore he sent to 
Cambyses an Egyptian 
woman of remarkable 
beauty, pretending that 
she was his daughter. 

This woman, Nitetis, 
perhaps thinking she 
would be returned to 
her home if she dis- 
closed the fraud, or it 
may be to revenge her- 
self upon Amasis, told 
Cambyses that she was 
not the Pharaoh's 
daughter, whereupon 
the Persian king, well 
pleased, no doubt, to 
have a cause of quar- 
rel, pretended to be 
furiously en rage tl 
against Amasis, and be- 



gan to get his army 
ready to start for Egypt. 

He sent rich presents to the Arab chiefs who ruled over the tribes in the desert, 
through which he was obliged to pass in reaching the Egyptian frontier, and made a 
treaty with their Sheikh. 

He bribed or compelled the Phoenicians to send a fleet of ships to join the fleets 
of Ionia, Cypress and Aeolis, which were tributary to Persia, and got together a large 
army. 

With his ships of war Cambyses knew the Nile would be open to him, and he could 
lay siege to the cities of Egypt both from the land and from the water. Finally after 




KING CYKI'S. 



76 



PERSIA. 



four years of preparation, he set out for Egypt, and when he had reached the Nile 
valley, desolated the whole land from east to west, and from the shores of the Medi- 
terranean to the Island of Elephantis, there was scarcely a house that did not mourn 
a son or brother dead by the sword of the Persian. 

At last the Persian army, having plundered all the cities and towns of Egypt. 
was about to be led by Cambyses against the rich republic of Carthage, in Northern 
Africa, one of the Barbary States which we know as Tunis, but the Phoenician fleet 

refused to have anything to do with the enterprise, 
for Carthage was a city that had been founded and 
peopled by Phoenicians centuries before. 

Unable to conquer Carthage without the aid 
of the fleet, Cambyses, reluctantly enough, aban- 
doned the idea, and sent instead fifty thousand men 
to conquer the oasis of Amnion, in the Libj^an 
-V desert. They must have perished amid its heat, 
I or been buried under a whirling column of 
sand, or in some way which will forever remain 
unknown met their doom, for never a man of thi-m was iieard 
I if more. 

Another and a more numerous army Cambyses jed him- 

I If into the desert toward Ethiopia, probably not knowing 

^^"■i*^-'' that his fifty thousand would never return. After suffering 

unluld miseries of famine, heat and thirst, and losing half his army in the 

desert, the Persian king, vanquished by a foe against whom arrow and 

spear, fire and sword were powerless, turned back to Memphis. 

Discontent grew into murmuring in the Persian camp, and the 
Egyptians, when they heard of it, took heart. The priests declared that 
Tomb of cjruhut PasaKar.iiu.. one of thcir gods, Apis, had come to earth in the form of a white bull to 
help them, and their leaders formed a plan to rebel against the Persians. 

Cambyses, never a very moderate man, was sc much enraged on learning of the 
contemplated rebellion, that he put to death the captive, Pharaoh Psamenitis, — who 
had succeeded Amasis some time before the Persian invasion, — and then proceeded 
to show the people how powerless were the gods in whom they trusted. 

He stabbed the white bull, thought to be Apis, wqth his own hand, and caused 
every priest who had taken anj' part in caring for the animal, to be publicly whipped. 
Then he prohibited the worship of Apis under pain of death. 

Next he opened the tombs and e.xamined the mummies, which was considered 
great sacrilege by the Egyptians, but worst of all, he scoffed at the monstrous, ugly 
idols of the Egyptians, with their hawks-heads, cats-heads and bulls-heads, and took 
every one that he could lay hands on, broke them into small pieces with mallets, and 
while his army jeered and reviled them, made a public bonfire of their altars an 1 
offerings, into which he threw the broken and defaced idols. 

When the Egyptian people saw that their outraged deities took no terrible 
revenge upon the Persians, they lost faith in them, and as Cambyses took no very 
gentle means to show them that he was their master, they bowed their necks to the 
Persian yoke. 

Cambyses had been gone from Persia quite a long time, and now thought it 
prudent to return, but the event proved that he had a'ready delayed too long, and in 




PERSIA, 



n 



- reaching his greedy hand out to grasp Egypt, he lost the great empire of Cyrus and 
his life. 

He had reached a certain point in Syria, and was resting one evening, after a 
day's march under a tropic sun, within his tent, when he was roused by loud shouting 
and the voice of a herald, proclaiming as he rode about, something that seemed to 
set the whole army in confusion. 

He listened and heard the herald say that Smerdis was king of the Persians, and 
that this army should no longer give allegiance to Cambyses. 

Of course Cambyses f 
knew that Smerdis was i 
dead, and that some im- ; 
postor was pretending to ^ 
be that prince, but when ; 
he heard that the man 
who had murdered Smer- ^ 
dis had declared him to ; 
be alive, he knew that a 
conspiracy had been 
formed against which he ^ 
would find it hard to con- 
tend. 

He knew, too, that his 
haughty and tyrannical 
conduct, his drunken- 
ness and ferocity, had 
made him hated, and 
that his unnatural mar- 
riage with his sister, 
Atossa, had shocked the 
whole nation. How it 
happened that Camby- 
ses fell upon his own 
sword and gave himself 
a fatal wound cannot be 
certainly explained, some 

historians saying it was (■rLmtiyses KiiiinR tuc r.mi Api-. 

accidental, others that he did it quite deliberately. The chances are that being 
a bloody-minded bully, tyrant and murderer, he was afraid to go back to Persia, 
and committed suicide to escape being buried alive or put to death in some bar- 
barous way that he richly deserved. 

The false Smerdis must have been a very bold villain, indeed, for he had a hard 
part to play. 

First, according to the Persian custom which provided that a king should marry 
the widow of his predecessor, he was obliged to marry Atossa, and as Atossa was the 
sister, or half-sister, it is uncertain which, of Cambyses and Smerdis, she would not 
only find out the cheat, but tell of it. 

To orevent Atossa from telling her suspicious of his identity, this false Smerdis, 




78 



PERSIA. 



who was really a Magus, or priest of the Median national religion, divided the palace 
in such a way that each wife was as completely isolated from all the others and from 
the outside world as if she had been in jail, and he made it an offense punishable 
with death for any one, except the slaves whose duty it was to attend the harem, to 
approach or address any of the w-ives of the king. 

The new king began to destroy the Zoroastrian temples, forbid the worship in 
the ancient Persian manner, and everywhere to displace the Persian priests, and put 
his brother Magians in their place. Me forbade the Jews to rebuild their temple, 
and did so many other things contrary to the plans and principles of Cyrus that the 
Persians became dissatisfied. 

Above all the false Smerdis kept himself almost as secluded as he did his wives, 
until the suspicions of the nobles were aroused, and it was whispered among them, 
in the frequent secret councils which they held, that an impostor sat upon the throne 
of the great Cyrus. 

The nobles were very cautious, and none of them liked to take the lead in a 
rebellion which, if unsuccessful, would cost them their lives, but at last there appeared 
in the capital a man to whom fear was unknown, — a man who had not been spoiled 
by the growing luxury of the nation, and who was destined to restore to the throne of 
Persia its first line of great kings, and this man was Uarius, son of Hystaspis, a blood 
relative of Cyrus, twenty-eight years old. 

Darius was twenty-eight years old, handsome, winning and 
brave, and had no sooner caught a glimpse of the king than he 
knew that he was not his cousin Smerdis. He at once put himself 
at the head of the conspiring nobles, denounced the impostor and 
called upon the Persians to support him as the rightful heir to 
the throne. 

The people flocked to his standard, and the Magus, deserted 

by all but a few troops, Hed into Media to a dreary fortress. 

)arius and his friends followed him, attacked and drove off his soldiers, 

md finally, it is said, Darius hacked off the head of the false Smerdis 

,ith his o.wn hands, and carried it to the capital. 

So furious were the Persians over the fraud practiced upon th(-m by 
he Magus, that they killed every Magian they could find, and from sun- 
ise to sunset of the day of the death of the impostor king the bloody 
massacre continued, and ever afterward its aniversary was kept as a 
Persian Kiut ou Throne. solemu festlval by the Persians, during which no .Magian was allowed to 
leave his house between daybreak and suns(!t. 

When Darius first decided to act against the Magus, the heads of six noble fam- 
ilies who were probably relatives of Cyrus also, made an agreement with liim wiiich 
was binding upon all of their descendants and his. 

Darius promised that these families should be allowed to enter his presence 
unbidden, that he would choose his wives only from among their relatives, and 
granted them certain other privileges, which were in reality checks upon the power 
of the king. They promised in return to spare no effort or treasure in supporting 
his authority, and thus mutually bound together by solemn pledges king and nobles, 
and for the first time in the history of Asia, despotism was in a slight degree 
limited. Darius at once re-established the religion of Zoroaster, permitted the Jews 




PERSIA. 



79 




to proceed with the building of their temple, 
and undid most of the acts of the Magus, 
although for some reason the royal wives 
were always, from the days of false Smer- 
dis, kept closely secluded, and the law was 
preserved which made the punishment 
death to one who came unbidden into the 
presence of the king, except, of course, the 
six noble families already mentioned. 

Darius had hardly begun his reign 
when several provinces revolted at the . . ^ . _ , _ 

same time. The king dealt in the same way --"-:: ~ 

with every one of these rebellions — first sub- pershm war vessel. 

dued them, then chained to his palace door with his nose, ears and tongue cut off the 
person who had started the trouble, in order that all might see what rebels were to 
expect, then after the victim had stood thus for several days, publicly crucified him. 

Even Persia itself revolted under the lead of a man, who, notwithstanding the 
fate of the first impostor, declared hiniself to be the true Smerdis, and gathered 
about him an army. False Smerdis, number two, was defeated and treated like the 
common rebel that he was, mutilated and then crucified. 

When Darius finally settled all these revolts, he put into execution a plan to 
prevent similar uprisings. The Persian empire under Cyrus had been a collection of 
provinces, each only indirectly ruled by Persia, and constantly rebelling and being 
reconquered. 

Darius divided the whole empire into twenty or more satrapies or provinces, and 
over each of these he placed a governor to execute the laws, a secretary to keep the 
king informed of everything that passed, and a commander who alone had charge 
of the troops, so if any governor contemplated a rebellion he was discouraged by the 
fact that not a soldier was his and that his every movement was watched by two men, 
each jealous of their power. 

The tribute system Dlarius abolished, and in its place he imposed a fi.xed tax on 
land, making the burdens light upon the poor, and taxes on fishing, mining, and water 
for irrigating purposes, as all the rivers, seas and mines were property of the king. 

Darius established, too, a government messenger service, so that the reports of 
his secretaries might reach him swiftly. The main roads leading to the capital and 
their branches in the various provinces, were improved, guarded by soldiers to protect 
passengers from robbers, and post stations and good bridges constructed along their 
course. At the stations fresh horses and messengers were always kept in waiting, 
and when a dispatch was to be carried to the king a courier took it to the nearest 
post-house and gave it to a messenger, who galloped with it to the next, who gave 
it to another, who took it to the next, and so on by night and day until it was de- 
livered to the king, — not so bad a postal service in a country without railroads or 
telegraph. Along these roads were excellent inns, and they soon became main 
highways for commercial caravans, because they were safe from plundering high- 
waymen, of whom there were many in the empire, and towns and villages sprang 
up along the royal roads that in time became thriving, commercial centers. 

Darius was a greater statesman than any ancient king who preceded him, al- 
though, like Cyrus, he, too, was a warrior. 



8o 



PERSIA. 



After he had arranged his empire to his satisfaction, he made an expedition to 
the East, explored the coast of Greece with a probable view to future European 
conquest, and then with nearly a million men set out to overawe the barbarous 
Scytiiians, who were a perpetual menace to his empire. 

This vast army, preceded by miles of wagons loaded with food, camp equipage 
and military baggage must have been a singular sight, representing as it did every 
portion of .the great conglomerate empire, as it marched forth along the royal road. 
Among the soldiers were dusky Nubians, Abyssinians and other Ethiopians, 
naked except for a lion or leopard skin about their loins, giants in size and strength, 
hideous with war paint and savage ornaments, marching to the movements of a drum, 
and uttering wild cries as they brandished their bludgeons of knotted wood, their 
javelins tipped with stone or their long spears pointed with antelope horns. 

In striking contrast to the Ethiopians were the slender-limbed Assyrians, armed 
with iron maces in their armor of quilted white linen. They carried on their arms 
huge but light wicker shields, which, when they were set up as a protection for the 
archer, rested upon a crutch something like the rest for an ordinary photograph 
frame. 

Arabs in yellow white woolen robes, Berbers in leather jerkins, East Indians in 
striped turbans and snowy linen garments, and Persians and Medes dressed much 
alike in felt caps, leather breeches, tunics and low shoes, carrying bows, quivers and 
pouches for stones, came in troops both horse and foot. 

In the middle of the marching line was a guard of a thou- 
sand horsemen, selected from among the Persians of rank, and 
following them a thousand foot-soldiers, the tallest, most beautiful 
and noblest born of the empire, attending the pure • hite stallions 
decked with gold and gems, — the sacred horses. 

Eight more milk white steeds drew the golden car containing 
the sacred -altar,, and then surrounded by ten thousand picked 
soldiers, horse and foot, rode the king, his purple robe, gold 
embroidered, and heavy with jewels extending to his feet; his 
collar of precious stones about his neck, and his curled and per- 
fumed locks surrounded by the royal cap bound with a blue and 
white fillet. 

In his hand he held his golden scepter, a long plain rod taper- 
ing to a point which rested against the floor of his chariot. The 
king sat, sloping his scepter outward, and at his side his chariot- 
eer with fillet bound hair, and without arms or armor, guided the 
single Volute cnpitai. pranciug stceds, while behind him stood the royal stool-bearer, the 

noble next in rank to the king himself. 

The Persian kings were fond of anointing their bodies with lion s fat, mixed with 
palm-wine, saffron and helianthus, and carried even when they went to war, the cases 
containing the alabaster boxes, which held unguents and perfumes for their toilet, 
and no doubt some chosen trusted slave, in the retinue of Darius, was master of per- 
fumes and sweet waters. 

At a distance of a quarter of a mile behind the king's "invincible" ten thou- 
sand were the remaining foot soldiers, cavalry and war-cliariots, the elephants, and 
litters containing the wives of the chief officers, and their baggage-mules bringing 
up the; rear. In passing through an enemy's country the baggage-wagons brought up 




PERSIA. 



8i 



t^.. 



■'. TSTTfJ^^jajK 



I -iB ■ i ■ "1 Jl.^ 



were lashed 



,:^Tf5tr 







•K:^^^ 



the rear, while the cavalry 
formed the vanguard, and when 
at any time the long cavalcade 
came to a stream, rafts were 
made by men sent ahead for the 
purpose, and either the rafts or 
boats procured on the banks 
end to end to form a bridge. 

When forests were to be penetrated, the soldiers 
cleared a road with axes, and upon the entire niarch 
fleets laden with grain sailed as near to the army as 
possible. In every country through which it passed the 
inhabitants were forced to furnish bread for a meal for 
each man, and to provide a banquet for the king. imiucc ..t nanus tn,- Great. at porsepous. 

During the mid-day heat the army rested, and at night they encamped, always, 
if possible, in an open plain, and near water. 

If the Persians thought an enem.y was within a dozen miles of their camp when 
they halted at night, a ditch was hastily dug all around it, or bags filled with sand 
were piled up as breastworks, the soldiers, who carried shields, setting them up close 
together all around inside the heaped dirt of the ditch or the sandbags, and pitch- 
ing their tents close behind them, the other soldiers being posted in appointed places. 

All the tents were set so that they faced the East, the cavalry men hobbling 
their horses in front of theirs, and the king's or commander's tent in the center 
closely guarded. 

The Persians dreaded night attacks, and in moving through an enemy's country 
were so careful t^ guard against surprises that they never suffered disaster on that 
account. 

Sometimes a part of the army would be sent by water, and thus when Darius 
marched against the Scythians he sent iirst across the Euxine one of his generals to 
carry off prisoners of war from among the coast tribes, the Persians, who despised 
commerce, and were therefore not a martime people, securing their fleet from 
Phoenicia and the other coast provinces of the empire. 

This fleet of thirty vessels was made up mostly of triremes, which were decked 
boats rowed by three tiers of oarsmen, sitting on small seats arranged along the 
sides of the vessel, each one a little above and behind those below, and each rower 
having charge of but one oar, which was fastened about his wrist to prevent its 
slipping through the hole in the vessel, through which it was worked, into the water. 

These triremes had a mast and a square sail, and the rudder was two broad- 
bladed oars fastened together so that the helmsman could readily manage them, and 
their prow was a sharp iron-coated beak firmly braced with timbers which was used 
in battle as a sort of ram. As these vessels had a mast and square-sail, and were 
rowed nearly at as great a rate of speed as belongs to an ordinary steamboat, the 
crafts struck by the ram were almost sure to be sent to the bottom of the sea, and 
seldom with any damage to the attacking vessel. 

Upon the decks, level with the sides of the boat, was room for thirty soldiers, 
and these with the one hundred and eighty or two hundred rowers, who were 
soldiers also, made quite a formidable fighting force when driven to bay. 

Darius, in the pauses between his warlike expeditions, had caused to be 



PERSIA. 




built for him two great palaces, one at Susa and another at Perseopo- 
lis, ruins of whose platforms and of stairway's, with broad low steps 
up and down which twenty horsemen could ride abreast, still remain in a 
remarkable state of preservation, although twenty-four centuries have 
passed since they were built. Terraces and wide landings were placed 
at different points of the ascent of the lofty mounds upon which these 
palaces were built. a»id slender, elegant, beautifully carved stone pillars 
made of several blocks of stone, firmly clamped together with iron and 
lead, supported the wooden roof. 

These palaces must have been very beautiful, in the days when the 
Persian kings held court in their great halls, for they were adorned with 
magnificent carpets, tapestries and precious stuffs, and from their pillared 
porticoes were views of the lovely valleys and verdant hill slopes of the 
country. It is even thought that the Greeks, who were noted for the 
beautj' of their palaces and temples, got the idea of their buildings 
from Persia. 

Within these palaces that he had built, Darius rested from the 
fatigues of war for some years after the Scythian e.xpedition, passing his 
liuiihenued Capital. time whcn uot employed in cares of State playing at dice with Atossa, 
who had descended to him after he had killed her second husband, the first false 
Smerdis, and who had the unsual honor, if honor it was, of being the wife of three 
successive kings. 

The lot of a Persian I:ing was not such a pleasant one after all, for he was 
obliged to live in seclusion, eat his meals alone, and every dish was first tasted by 
his "taster" to see that it did not contain poison, — a not very cheerful occupation, it 
seems to me, for the man who did the tasting. 

Once in a great while the king gave a banquet of wine at which certain nobles 
were present, and politeness reqviired that they should all drink on these occasions 
until they were drunk. In fact the king was expected to get drunk regularly every 
day, and so he did in solitary state, attended by his cup-bearer, his "taster,*" and a 
slave called his "eye and ear," who was the official spy and tale bearer of the palace. 
Perhaps Darius whiled away some of the tedious hours by planing or carving 
wood, and no doubt being naturally energetic he often hunted the lion in company 
with his officers, riding far into the deserts and jungles as he had done long before 
when he was a boy in his father's province, of Hyrcania. 

In these hunts, no matter how exciting the chase, woe be to the officer who let 
his arrow tly at the game before the king had tried his skill, — death or banishment 
would surely have been the punishment for such an offense. 

When not thus engaged in outdoor sport or indoor amusement, a part of every 
day was given over to business, for a king, in spite of his high estate, his wealth antl 
dignities, is a hard worked individual, and would often, no doubt, gladly exchange 
his high estate for the humble peace and quiet content of an obscure common 
man. 

There are councils to be held, tiresome ambassadors to be received, complaints 
and messages to be read or heard, warrants to be signed, soldiers to be reviewed, and 
plans of public works to be examined and passed upon, and in an empire like that of 
Darius, where so much depended on the personal character and supervision of the 
king, there was no lack of serious work to be done. Greece, with unknown Europe 



PERSIA. 



8: 



A 



beyond, may have figured often in Darius' dreams of future conquests, for many of 
the Grecian States had sent him tribute of earth and water as a token that they 
acknowledged him as their master, when he was upon his marcli into Scythia, and all 
appeared humble enough and sufficiently overawed by his power. 

Gieat indeed, then, must have been Darius' surprise and indignation when he 
was informed that the people of Ionia had rebelled. Headed by a Greek, and 
aided by Athens, the lonians had taken and Inirnt Sardis, the Lydian capital, that 
Cyrus had wrested from Croesus. 

Insulted Persia was not long in inflicting dire punishment upon the rebellious 
lonians. In the meantime, while they were being subjected, Darius employed an 
officer to say to him every day, "remember Athens," and when he had received the 
submission of Ionia he "remembered Athens," with fire and sword. At Marathon, 
a name ever glorious in Athenian history, his hundred and fifty thousand Asiatics 
were soundly beaten and dispersed by ten thousand Greeks, and the Great King's 
army was fain to retire as swiftly as possible to his own dominions. 

Egypt revolted soon after, and while Darius was pre- 
paring to lead an e.xpedition into Africa, the guest who 
enters unbidden, even the presence of kings, visited him, 
and bade him follow to that empire where kings and slaves 
alike are judged according to their deeds. In the sixty- 
third year of his age and the thirty-sixth of his reign, the 
alabaster coffin containing all that was mortal of Darius, 
son of Hystaspis, was deposited in the royal tomb, and 
under the sculptured pictures of the deeds which he had 
done, and the mystic symbol of Ormazd, it was laid away 
and its repository sealed with a block of stone. 

Xerxes, the son of Darius and Atossa, had not been 
educated as was his father and Cyrus, but had grown up in the ease * 
and luxury which was now common to the rich and great in Persia. His 
body had not been trained to warlike pursuits, nor his mind to the con- 
sideration of serious questions, but when he became king the great deeds of his 
ancestors inspired him to make the effort to hold and e.xtend the domin- 
ions they had bequeathed him. 

Unskilled as he was in war, and formidable as were both Greece and 
Egypt, he had been king but a year when he determined on the conquest of 
both. Egypt, unhappy country, the prey of conquerors, yet ever in her pride striving 
to break her fetters and be free, again felt the iron hand of war, and again yielded. 
Xerxes and his army marched back into Asia, to plunder and destroy in the city 
of Babylon, for, uncertain of the prowess of the young king, and taking advantage 
of his absence in Egypt, Babylon revolted, as it had done in the early nart of the 
reign of Darius, and was again subdued. 

As soon as he had reached his capital Xerxes commenced to prepare to move 
against Greece, and for four years everything that his most skillful veteran generals 
could devise for the success of the enterprise was done. The provinces along the 
coast were made to furnish twelve hundred triremes and three thousand other ves- 
sels, while great stores of provisions were deposited along the proposed lines of 
march. 

When Darius sent his feet to support his army in Greece, a great storm off the 










Tunibof DarluB. 



84 



PERSIA. 




dangerous rocks of Mount Athos wrecked it, and as vessels were 
constantly being lost off Athos, Xerxes, to avoid risking his fleet, 
J^^l cut a canal through the Isthmus which joins Mount Athos to the 
%i/^.)^ mainland, and sent his vessels through it. 

Separating Europe from Asia there is a narrow strait about 

fortj- miles long and from one to four miles wide, which opens on 

the northeast into the Sea of Marmora, and on the southwest 

into the yEgean Sea. On your maps this strait is called the 

Dardanelles, and as you probably know, Constantinople, the 

>^ great city of Turkey, lies at the head of the Sea of Marmora. 

The Strait of Dardanelles is now protected by several 

verj' strong fortresses. 

In the time of Xerxes, however, there were no 
fortresses upon the shores of the Dardanelles, and no 
great Turkish city a little farther up, but beyond the 
strait, which in those days was called the Hellespont, 
W.f; lay the rich Greek communities. Xerxes determined to build a 
bri<lge of boats to reach these Greek cities instead of embark- 
Eiephants OS Used bj the pereTanT^n Baltic, ing h's army and Sailing across the strait, for it would have taken 
a very long time, and would have been troublesome where there were so many horses^ 
camels, and even elephants, to transport them across in vessels. 

This bridge was finally built double, and after the boats had been firmly fastened 
together with strong timbers, planks were laid across and the whole structure 
covered with earth so that the horses, mules, camels and elephants would not be 
afraid to walk upon it. At length in the year 48 1 B. C, both bridge and canal were 
finished, and we are told that Xerxes with eighty thousand cavalry, twenty thousand 
warriors in chariots or on camels, and 1,700,000 foot soldiers set out from Sardis to 
invade Greece. Of course these figures, as well as all the others, relating to the 
numbers of men in ancient armies must have been greatly exaggerated, and it is a 
pretty safe rule to divide all such numbers by two. 

Xerxes may have had a million men in his expedition, all told, but certainly he 
had no more. A million men is a vast army, and when this force came to Abydos 
a Greek city on the Hellespont, it was probably late in the evening, for we are told 
that they camped and waited for the sunrise. Just as the first red rays of the sun 
illumined the east the next morning, the king poured an offering of wine into the sea 
from a golden goblet, and praying to the sun-god to grant him the conquest of Europe, 
flung the goblet and a Persian sword into the sea, but if he had flung all the goblets 
and swords of his empire into the Hellespont it would have made no difference in the 
result, for conquests were never gained by such nonsense. 

While the army chanted hymns, swung censers of burning incense, and cast palm- 
branches on the bridge, the ten thousand "invincibles" of Xerxes' body-guard with 
their heads adorned with garlands, passed over first. It took seven days and nights for 
the Persians to cross, and at the end of that time the whole army was safely in Europe. 
What Xerxes did when he reached Greece I will tell you in another place. In 
spite of the golden goblet and the libation of wine, the Persian sword and 
the hymns, no victory was vouchsafed the Persian king, and when the 
wreck of the army he had left in Greece came to the Hellespont in less 
than a year afterward to recross the wonderful bridge, the fickle 



PERSIA. 



8s 




Caltrop or Spiked Ball. * 



sea had destroyed it completely, and the Persians had to 
get back to Asia as best they could by the aid of their few vessels. 
This expedition was the last great undertaking of Xer.xes, and 
once back in his own capital he gave himself up to luxury. 
His false, mean, boastful, and cruel character soon showed itself 
in its true light, and the court and capital became notorious for 
luxurious living as ditl all of the other large cities of Persia. 

Whereas in the days of Cyrus the Persians ate but 
one meal a day, they now feasted from morning until -- " - 

night. Drunkenness, lying, and every other vice, and 
disgusting form of wickedness prevailed, and Xerxes 
openly countenanced all sorts of iniquity. 

At last Xerxes was murdered by a slave, who 
afterward persuaded the king's youngest son that his 
elder brother had done the deed, whereupon he put 
his brother to death, and proclaimed himself king. This young man, Artaxerxes by 
name, had no real right to the throne, as his eldest brother Hystaspis, governor of 
Bactria, was the lawful heir, but when Hystaspis attempted to possess himself of the 
kingdom he was defeated and probably killed, as we hear nothing of him afterwards. 

Artaxerxes Called Longimanus, or "the long-handed," by the Greeks was 
obliged to put down rebellion in Egppt, as every Persian king from the days of 
Cyrus had been, and he found it somewhat more difficult than usual. Had he not 
made an alliance with the Athenian allies of Egypt, he would have been defeated. 

Artaxerxes, even though he was called "the long-handed," was a weak and 
wicked ruler, and after the expedition to Egypt he lived twenty years in a disgrace- 
ful peace with Greece, bought with gold. In that twenty years he allowed rebellion 
to go unpunished, and the worst forms of wicketlness to riot in his palace and 
throughout his empire. Xerxes, who succeeded him, was killed after a reign of less 
than two months by his half-brother, and the murderer in turn was killed by another 
villainous half-brother, who took the throne under the name of Darius Nothus. 

The wife of this ruffian was a suitable mate for him, and perhaps a viler and 
more wicked pair never trod the earth, nor breathed the pure air of heaven. Mur- 
der and every other form of crime they not only encouraged but performed, and for 
nineteen years Persia sunk lower and lower in the scale of civilization under their 
misrule. The military spirit had died with Xerxes, and now all Persia's army that 
could be depended upon were hired from among foreigners. The love of truth and 
virtue had long been a tradition, and the king and queen, though somewhat exag- 
gerated types, were a fair sample of the worst part of the nation. 

The children of this precious couple were better than could have been expected 
from their parentage. Arsaces, the elder son, had been named by Darius as his 
successor, but Cyrus the younger, failing in an attempt to have his brother mur- 
dered during the coronation ceremonies, hired some Spartans, whom he had helped 
during his father's lifetime in a war against Athens, and some Ionian Greeks from 
the cities of Asia Minor, and with these and a large army of Persians marched toward 
the Persian capital. 

Arsaces, who had taken the name Artaxerxes, when he was crowned, met Cyrus and 
his force with his army in the Euphrates valley, and although six hundred of Cyrus' 
Greek soldiers routed six thousand of the Persian "invincibles," Cyrus was killed and 

+ These were strewn on the ground in great numbers in order to lame the enemy's horses, elephants or soldiers who trod upon them. 



86 



PERSIA. 







Modtru CuatuaiL ul I'cr&lun. 



his force tlispersed. Cy-^us's Greek soldiers were now, to the nam- 

S^^*^ ber of ten thousand, in a hostile country, over a thousand miles 

j^^{ from the sea, and the story of how they fought their way back, over 

■<^'''^*- mountains, through desertsi and all sorts of dangers without guides. 

or leaders, their commanders haying been treacherously massacred 

by the Persians, is told by Xenophon. who took th.e lead in the 

retreat. 

Cyrus, the younger, when he hired those Greeks, pronounced 
the doom of the Persian empire, although, of course, unconsciously. 
Before that time the Greeks had an exaggerated idea of the Per- 
sian empire, but thej' found that the states were everywhere ready 
to revolt, that their army was cowardly and undisciplined, and that 
Greece might conquer Persia v.hen she so willed. 

The Greeks carried to their country accurate information, 
which in after days was used to great advantage. Sparta almost 
immediately afterward declared war, fearing that Persia, on account 
of the aid the Spartans had given to Cyrus would seize some of the 
island states over which Sparta exercised power. This power over 
the islands helped to make the Spartans the leading people of Greece, 
and they were determined to hold it. Artaxer.xes, called Mnemnon, was the wealthiest 
of all the Persian kings, and his son Ochus, who succeetled him. was the most wicked. 
a very monster of cruelty, inheriting, perhaps, the combined bad passions of his two 
grandparents. Not only did Ochus murder his elder brother to gain the throne, but 
when he had become king murdered every one of his brothers, sisters, half-brothers 
and half-sisters. It seems almost incredible that any nation would permit their king 
to commit such sickening crimes and still let him pollute the earth with his presence, 
but they held the doctrine that "the king could do no wrong," a monstrous idea, 
and one which for ages made the world wretched. 

Ochus, as a matter of course, had to attempt to put down, the hrst thing, a revolt 
in Egypt, but the Egyptians this time threw off the Persian yoke after a hard struggle. 
Encouraged by Egypt's success, Phcrnicia. under the leadership of Sidon, also rebelled, 
but when the cowardly king of that cit}' saw Ochus' great armj' encamped under the 
walls of the town, he sent out a hundred citizens to beg Ochus to spare hiin his life. 
Ochus, like the human tiger that he was, caused the hundred suppliants to be mur- 
dered, as he did five hundred more sent out on the same errand, by Tennes, the 
Sidonian king, and likewise killed Tennes when he delivered himself up. Seeing that 
they could expect no mercy from Ochus, the people of Sidon set fire to all ':be ships 
in the harbor to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Persians, and then to 
the number of forty thousand shut themselves in their houses, set fire to the city, and 
perished in the flames. Ochus afterward sold the ruins for a large sum. 

Ochus, having amused himself thus at Sidon, got togther an immense army, 
and again entered Egypt, and his army, under two Greek generals. Bagoas and 
Mentor, devastated the whole country, killed thousands of the Egyptians, and car- 
ried away as slaves thousands more, plundering and destroying the temples not 
before plundered and destroyed. 

When he returned to Persia, Ochus made Bagoas and Mentor the two real gover- 
nors of the empire, not from motives of gratitude, for of that quality he had not a spark. 
The two generals had seen so many instances of the manner in which Ochus rewarded 



PERSIA. 



87 




tustumc of Warrlur about I'OO 



faithfulness with cruelty, that they knew should they happen to displease 
him they, too, would be ruthlessly murdered, so Bagoas poisonetl the 
tyrant and all his sons except the youngest, and him he placed upon the 
throne. This young man, Arsaces, happening to show, after a year or 
two that he had a mind of his own, and having made some threats 
against Bagoas, was also murdered, and with him his little children. A 
certain Codomannus was found who was brave enough to accept the 
perilous honor of Persian kingship with the possibilities of sudden death 
by the poisoned draught or the assassin's dagger which it involved. 
This Codomannus, who 'prefixed to his name the appellation Darius, 
was destined to be the last king of the old empire of Persia, for a 
certain Alexander of Macedon, whose ancestors sent to the first great 
Darius tribute of earth and water, had become master of Greece, and 
to revenge the insults that Persia had infiictcd one hundred and fifty 
years before, and to enlarge his empire had invaded Asia Minor, and 
advancing into Syria threatened the rich southern cities of the Persian 
empire. Now Alexander was only twenty years old, and Codomannus 
not realizing what military genius was' represented in the person of 
that youthful Macedonian, and that by inheritance, training and 
instruction he was a warrior, scoffed at him and no doubt expected to crush 
him with a single blow. While Alexander was subduing with his trained 
veterans all Asia Minor, Darius, Codomannus. who had gathered, we are told, 
an army of over 700,000 men, waited for him in Babylon, and finally set out to 
find him. Well, to make a long story short, he found Alexander on the plains of 
Issus ^ nd learned for the first time what a great general the Macedonian j^outh was, 
for he was totally defeated, and his army of "invincibles" all killed or scattered. 
Alexander employed the year and eight months in which Codomannus was busied in 
raising another army in conquering Syria, Egypt, Phccnicia and other Persian provinces, 
and then at Arbela met the Persian army of more than a million men, and with forty- 
seven thousand brave Greeks put the Persian army to flight or cut it to pieces. 
When the battle was over, some historians say that Codomannus himself was found 
dead upon the field, but others declare that he ficd into Bactria and was killed by 
Bessus, one of his own generals, to prevent him from yielding himself to the Mace- 
donian king. There was now no one to dispute Alexander's possession of the empire, 
and he therefore took possession of it. Thus the dominions conquered by Cyrus 
330 years before passed into the hands of strangers, its history repeating, with but 
slight variation, that of the empires that preceded it. As it gained civil power, its 
people lost those virtues which alone could perpetuate the nation, and being ever "a 
house divided against itself," its fall was inevitable. 




\\\-r 

Ormazd, the Guardlao Spirit 



.jmmmmmMMm 




MIHCIB 



§) 



'H 








\i^ ^ CONSULTING the map you may see that Asia Minor is a 

jjeninsula surrounded on three sides by the Euxine, /Egean and 

Mediterranean seas, and in ancient times it comprised several 

countries of small extent, but which had a j)o\verful influence on 

"'^^ the civilization of Western Asia and Southern Euroi^e. Phoenicia was a 

"^ narrow strip of land bordering close on the Mediterranean sea, and was, 

perhaps, the last remnant of that great Cushite empire that lived, flourished 

and (lied before the dawn of history. Centuries before Christ was born Phccnician 

vessels sailed the stormy Atlantic, bringing tin from the savage British islands 

and amber from the no less savage shores of the Baltic, while along the coasts 

of .Spain, France and the countries of Africa which border the Mediterranean, 

Phoenician colonies were planted whose people trafficked with the natives for the 

productions of the country. 

Phoenician vessels coasted down the western shores of Africa, too, for cargoes of 
gold, slaves and apes, and Phccnician caravans toiled across the deserts of Arabia, 
Plgypt and Babylonia, bringing to Tyre and .Sidon, its two great cities, the wealth of 
foreign lands. It was, no douljt, the Pha-nicians who carried the mariner's compass 
to China, for who so likely to have invented it as this nation of naviga- 
tors, and Phoenicians may have sailed to Mexico, Central America and 
Peru, as some historians say they did. At all events the Phcenicians 
were an enterprising, restless people, who carried on in very early times 
a commerce with the whole known world, and who were renowned for 
their manufactures of fabrics, ornaments, and exquisite jewelry of gold 
and silver, which even now is considered artistic and dainty. 

It was the Phoenicians, too, who perfected the alphabet, reducing 
it to a small number of letters, twenty-two in all, and wherever they 
planted colonies they took with them their alphabet. The letters 
which we use in writing and printing are not very unlike those which 
the Phoenicians invented and used in writing their many papyrus 
scrolls relating to science and religion, for the Ph(rnicians were a 
literary people as well as craftsmen and builders. Fhe Tyrian dyed 
garments were considered by the ancients to be the richest and most 
beautiful made, and kings, nobles and the rich of both sexes prided 
themselves upon the number and variety of" Tyrian-colored robes they 
possessed. The character of the Phoenicians was very different from 




COBtunie of Phccnician 'Woman. 



ASIA MINOR AND NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS. 



89 




Cobtuiiif uf I'ha-iiiciau Man. 



that of the early Medes and Persians and resembled rather 
that of the Babylonians. 1 hey were such liars that 
"Phoenician craft" became a proverb, aiid as to other 
virtues their religion speedily eradicated them, for by offer- 
ing bloody sacrifices and human victims to their gods, their 
conscience became blunted and all fine feelings of humanity, 
which can not exist side by side with cruelty were lost. 

The ruins of Phicnician palaces and temples show that 
their art was remarkable for its colossal effects, and their 
architecture so much resembles tliat of Egypt, that it can 
not be doubted that they had the same origin. 

Phoenicia, from its position, was forever harassed by 
foreign enemies. When we first hear of Sidon, it is as a 
rich commercial community, sending out colonies ami trading 
with all nations, yet forever menaced by the Philistines, who 
at last took the city and plundered it, a large number of the 
inhabitants fleeing to Tyre, which was henceforth called 
"The daughter of Sidon." Egyptians, Assyrians and Baby- 
lonians successively conquered Phoenicia, and Tyre was twice subjected to a long siege. 
The first was during the reign of Shalmaneser, of Assyria, who for five years 
encamped about its walls, but the Tyrians were free on the side that was toward the 
sea, and could bring grain from Egypt and the Mediterranean countries to feed 
their people, and being people of a warlike temper, they held out so long that 
Shalmaneser abandoned the siege. 

Nebuchadnezzar was more successful, but it took thirteen year's constant siege to 
wear out the patience ^^_^__^^ 
of Tyre, and in fact, ~ ^ 
although circumstances 
compelled the surren- 
der of the city, it re- 
mained the greatest 
commercial center in 
Western Asia, until 
Alexander of Macedon, 
offended at its haughty 
defiance of his power, 
took it and burned it. 
Under successive con- 
querors Phtcnicia's 
commerce was still 
flourishing until the 
blighting hand of the 
Turk fell u]jon it, since 
which time its glory 
has departed, and even 
the name Phoenicia, has 
long been blotted from 
the map of the world romiuL-.tuf T),ui.j thcL..iijiuj 




go 



ASIA MINOR AND NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS. 




even as a province. Northwest of Phoenicia 
were Phrygia and Cilicia, peopled by Aryans, 
whose cities were once of commercial and 
political importance, but of them little is now 
known, and very near the coast was a long 
narrow strip of land l)earing the name Ionia, 
and there Greek civilization had its birth. 

Lydia, also near the sea, ami separated 
from it only by the Ionian colonies, was for a 
long time the richest countrj" in Western 
Asia, its commerce, agriculture and conquests 
all bringing wealth to the empire, and when 
the Scythians invaded Asia, Lydia being 
EMorn II.1IJ.I Mill. providcd with many strong-walled cities, suf- 

ered little by the barbarous invasion. Although the Lydians were great merchants 
and craftsmen, they were brave and manly, good horsemen, strong of body, agile of 
foot, and as slingers and bowmen, equalled any of their warlike neighbors. When 
Cyrus began his career of conquest, Crccsus, who was then king of Ljdia, and the 
richest monarch in the whole world, was not unnaturally anxious about his king- 
dom, for month by month the Persian was making conquests which brought his 
provinces nearer to the Lydian frontier. 

Sardis, the Lydian capital, was not so far from Delphi, a town on the southern 
side of Mount Parnassus, that Crcesus cculd not send to the famous oracle of the 
temple there to ask advice. Now an oracle was supposed to receive the answer to all 
questions direct from the gods, and the Delpiiic oracle was long renowned for its wise 
advice to men. The priestess who officiated sat on a tripoil. or three-legged stool, 
over a hole in the ground, from which gases constantly ascended, and every one 
desiring to have his questions answered must present some very rich offerings, for 
unless the priests and priestesses were heavily bribed, the gods were supposed to pay 
no attention to their petitions, just as if deities, such as the priests professed that 
their gods were, cared anything for perishable earthly goods. 

Croesus sent splendid presents to Delphi, and asketl the oracle what would come 
of it should Cyrus invade Lydia. Now the answer, that tlie clever priestess 
returned, and she always gave answers that could be interpreted a good 
many ways, was the following, although, of course, it was written in Greek. 
"If Croesus crosses the Ilalys and prosecutes a war with Persia, a 
mighty empire will be overthrown. It will be best for him to form an 
alliance with the most powerful States of Greece." 

Croesus was mightil)' pleased with this rather misty answer, but, of 
course, he might have known that should he light Cyrus "a mighty 
empire" would be overthrown, — either Lydia or Persia, — but he took it 
for granted that the oracle meant that he would conquer Persia, so he 
straightway crossed the Ilaljs, a river separating Lyaconia and Cappadocia, 
and sent to Sparta to ask for help. 

lie had strongly fortified Sardis before he started forth to brave 
Cyrus, and he had not gone far into the country, on the east side of the 
Halys, before Cyrus met him and a l)attle was fought, in which neither 
side gained the advantage. The Persians not offering battle, the following 




Plicpnlclau Cilass Bottle, 



ASIA MINOR AND NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS. 



91 




'i^J 



ry TTrvrrrrT') 



Phcenician tralley. 



day Croesus considered them beaten, and 
thinking Cyrus would go back to Media, 
he turned back to Sardis to recruit more 
troops, for he had lost many bj^ the fight, 
intending to follow Cyrus and conquer 
him. He sent messengers to Egypt, 
Sparta and Babjdonia, informing them of 
his victory, and then disbanded man}- of 
his troops, telling them to return to 
Sardis in the spring. =^ 

Very soon after Croesus had thus fool- 
ishly dispersed the greater part of his ~^- 
army, word was brought that Cyrus was 
advancing against the city, and wasonly a short tlistance away. Crcesus got together 
all the force that was available in surrounding cities, and with a vast body of 
cavalry and a force of foot-soldiers waited on a plain near Sardis, anil as Cyrus 
had few horsemen, Croesus supposed he would be easily vanquished. 

Cyrus had, however, a number of camels, and knowing that horses are naturally 
afraid of these animals, and will never approach them if they can avoid it, he put soldiers 
armed with long spears on his camels, and placed them in front of his lines as they 
advanced to the attack. As Cyrus had supposed, the horses of Croesus's cavalry 
refused to approach the camels, reared, plunged, threw their riders, and mad with 
fright galloped through the Lydian ranks, trampling hundreds of foot soldiers to 
death. The army of Crcesus was thrown into confusion, in the midst of which they 
were defeated and retreated to the city, hoping to hold out until help came. 

Sardis was built in a very strong position, surrounded by gorges and precipices 
which were crowned with high but not very strong walls, protected by a citadel on 
the spur of a mountain which projected into the city. The Persians, for several 
days, could find no means of carrying the town by assault. It is said that a soldier 
named I lyraides, while studying the precipices which for fourteen days the Persians 
had been trying in vain to scale, and thought inaccesible, saw a sentinel stationed 
above on the walls, leave his post and climl) down the sides of the cliff to 
get his helmet, which he had accidentally droijped. secure it 
and return in safety to his station. 

The Persian soldier thus saw that the wall was acces- 
sible from that point, although the way was narrow, steep 
and dangerous, and, leading a large number of troops up the 
cliff, they gained an entrance to the city, and .Sardis was taken. 
It is said that Crcesus had once been visited by -Solon, a wise 
man of Greece, to whom he showed all his splendid posses- 
sions, and then asked whom he thought the happiest of men, 
thinking, of course, he would reply "Croesus." 

Solon, however, said that a certain countryman of his, 
Tellus by name, he considered the happiest of men, for 
living under a good government, surrounded by a \irtuous 
and loving family, he died at the end of an honorable life on 
the field of victory and was giyen a public funeral. Croesus 
was disappointed, and asked him whom he considered next PhQ?uician Dweiimg. 





92 



ASIA MINOR AND NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS. 




^'iSSi'm 




Pbtrnlclau Tomb. 



happiest, and Solon mentioned two Circeks who were noted for their devo- 
tion to their mother, and who died a painless death at the height of their 
happiness. Cra:sus was not a little chagrined that Solon should 
place private men of no wealth or power above him in the scale of 
happiness, and told the philosopher so. Solon replied that it was 
impossible to pronounce a man happy until his life was ended. At 

that time Crccsus had great wealth, a 
noble and handsome son to inherit his 
kingdom, and everything to make him 
happy, but his son had been killed while 
out hunting, and now when the Persians 
poured over the walls of his capital and 
he saw his wealth given over to his 
enemies, he was sad indeed. Being cap- 
tured and condemned to death, as he stood bound in the market place, he thought 
of what Solon had said concerning happiness and exclaimed "Solon! .Solon! 
Solon!" 

Cyrus, who happened to hear him, asked what he meant, and when Croesus told 
him, so the story goes, ordered him set at liberty, and took him home to Persia with 
iiini. Whether these stories of Croesus and the fall of Sardis are true or not, it is 
certain that Cyrus conquered Lydia and that its capital was long a favorite place of 
residence of the Persian kings. 

Syria, a country of the interior, was often the battle-ground where Asia strove 
against Africa, and there Egypt at various times fought Babylonia, Assyria and 
Persia for the small rich tract of land bordering the Mediterranean sea and the old 
kingdom of Chahhua. 

The Syria of to-day embraces Palestine and Phcrnicia, and Damascus is now, as 
it has been fron: time immemorial, its chief city, and is the oldest town in the world, 
dating back four thousand j'ears, standing to-day with its quaint, 
narrow, stony streets, much as it was in the days of Cyrus. 

The Syrians were a Semitic people, but never were, for any 
long period of time, a united nation, fen' the various tribes 
uniler their petty kings or chiefs, inhabited different portions, 
often warring against each other, and always jealous and suspicious 
of each other. 

just west of Syria, and south of Phoenicia, there is a long 
narrow strip of land bordering the desert and the sea, which 
was once the home of a ]>eople that have e.xerted a more 
powerful influence upon the human race than any or all of the 
proud pagan civilizations, whose rise and fall we have noted, or 
shall trace in the future, for they were chosen of God for a 
peculiar purpose, a people to whom he revealed his word and 
gave his law that it might be made known to the whole 
world. This country we call Palestine, although in olden times 
it was a Hebrew kingdom. In the Bible the history of this 
remarkable Semitic race is clearly and beautifully related, and 
the lives and characters of the early founders of the nation, 

Jewish 'Wirrior In DaTld'e Reign. 




ASIA MINOR AND NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS. 



93 



\ r^N- 







Philistine ■«-;irrl(ir. 




/^TT',^ 



their adventures and vicissitudes are told in tlie Book of Genesis. 
You will remember from your reading of the Old Testament, how 
Joseph, the best beloved son of Jacob, was sold as a slave into 
Egypt by his wicked brothers, whose evil deeds he had told to their 
father, and you will remember, too, that Joseph became cup-bearer, 
chief cook, and finally by interpreting a dream of the Pharaoh, 
prime minister of Egypt. 

The lucky Hebrew, who was wise and clever, married Asenath, 
daughter of a priest of the sun, and as the Pharaoh's dream por- 
tended seven years of famine after the seven years of plenty, he 
caused granaries to be built throughout all Egypt and tilled with 
grain in anticipation of the coming calamity. 

The famine spread not only over Egypt but into adjoining 
countries, and finall}^ into that portion of the land where Jacob and 
his sons dwelt. Joseph's brethren came down into Egypt, where all 
unknown to them their brother had become a great man, rising 
daily in the estimation of the Pharaoh on account of the hard 
bargains he drove with the Egyptians, to whom he sold at an 
exorbitant figure, thegrain which he had made them contribute to fill 

the Pharaoh's granaries. When his brothers came into I^gypt 
after grain, Joseph subjected them to a series of trials, but after- 
wards relented, made himself known to them, and secured from 
the Pharoah a tract of land just below the delta of the Nile, as a 
place of residence for them ami all his father's household. 

The children of Jacob dwelt in this Land of Goshen for more 
than two hundred years, and we have already related how and why 
they left Egypt under the guidance of Moses, passed through the 
Red- sea and wandered forty years in the desert. 

Moses died and the Hebrews passed, under the leadership 

of Joshua, dry-shod, through the Jordan, as they had through the 

\ ,f Red sea. They entered the promised land of Canaan, which they 

Jewish iuk-8t.iua had many hard battles to obtain, but which they thoroughly 

conquered, and each of the twelve tribes were provided with certain 

tracts of land as their portion of the inheritance. 

Near neighbors to all these Hebrews were various Cushite tribes 
with whom they were on friendly terms, and from whom they learned 
the idolatries from which they had been so careful to abstain in Egypt. 
After being severely punished by Jehovah for their faithlessness 
after all that had been done for them, they returned to the worship of 
the true God who raised up several wise and righteous men to deliver 
them from their enemies. These men were called "The Judges," and 
their lives and works are recorded in the book of "Judges" in the 
Bible. Saul was the hrst king of the Hebrews, and the touching story 
of the affection of his son Jonathan, for David the shepherd lad, who 
by his conquest of Goliath, had brought himself to the notice of the 
Hebrew king, is one of the most charming narratives in the Old 
Testament. 

David married Saul's daughter, and the king, who heard on every 
side praises of David, sought to take his life, being jealous of his popu- woman of Cyprus. 






3; 




94 



ASIA MINOR AND NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS. 





^: 



AlH-lcut Jews. 



Tomb will, uoiiing Stone. 



larity, and fearing that he would 

make an attempt to sieze the 

throne. Samuel was at this time 

the High Priest of the Hebrew 

nation, and although Saul hated 
'I , him, he feared him too much to ^ 

practice heathen rites. As soon "^^^^ 

as Samuel was dead -Saul turned to 

evil ways. He put the priests of 
;- Jehovah to death, and established 
;•; the religion of the idolaters instead 
> of the worship of the true God. 
" He then set forth to make war 
^ upon the Philistine king with whom David had found 

refuge. David had, however, collected an army and 

marched to meet Saul, and it was within Hebrew territory 

that the Philistines routed the Hebrew army, killing Saul's 
two sons and so severely wounding Saul himself, that he committed suicide to escape 

captivity. 

David then returned to his own country, placed himself at the head of the 
tribe of Judah that acknowledged him as king, and began the conquest of the other 
tribes. In the long anil bloody civil war that ensued there was such cruelty shown 
upon both sides as has seldom been equalled. 

It has often been noticed that when people of the same race and country fight 
ap-ainst each other, they are always far more cruel than when they fight against 
foreigners, for added to the zeal for the cause there is bitter personal feeling which 
finds its expression in deeds of violence. 

David subdued the rebellious Hebrews, and was anointed king at Hebron, B. C. 
1095, about the time that the last Rameses ascended the throne of Egypt, and when 
Tyre was in its pride under king Hiram. This king became the 
friend and all>- of David, and it was from Phoenicia that the 
builders came who aided the Jews in after years to build the 
temple at Jerusalem. David was a warrior whose deeds form the 
favorite theme of the Hebrew historian, but it is as a poet and 
minstrel that he shows the noblest qualities of his great mind. His 
- ; , psalms are the grandest outbursts of genius, 

melody and poetic expression in any language, 
and all other poetry is dwarfed by comparison. 
Gr(;at as was the Hebrew David, he was not free 
from human weakness, and for one of his crimes 
the Lord punished him heavily in his latter days, 
by allowing the miserable contentions of his sons. 
David had in his army a brave officer named 
Uriah, who was married to a beautiful Ilittite 
woman named Bathsheba. Now David had 
several wives, but he coveted the fair Bathsheba, 
and to secure her for his harem caused Uriah 




Volumcn or Manuscript lioll mill Scrluium 111 Tl 1 

orcasc jorsMK-. j.^ \^^, trcacherously murdered. It was not bath 




Jewish Sbepberd. 



ASIA MINOR AND NEIGHBORING KINGDOiMS. 



9.S 



sheba's sons who conspired against David, nor was 
Absalom his best l^eloved child, who sought the king's 
life, causing him to flee from Jerusalem, the offspring 
of the lovely Hittite, but the wise Solomon who suc- 
ceeded David when his forty years glorious but troubled 
reign was over, was the son of his sin and his 
repentance. 

During the reign of Solomon the city of Jeru- 
salem eclipsed any city of the ancient world in its 
luxury, and a great temple was built to Jehovah. So 
celebrated was Solomon for his wisdom that the kings 
of all countries, and even the peoples of the islands of 
the Mediterranean sent ambassadors to his court, and 
his fame went abroad to all nations. He inherited the 
literary tastes of his father, and his famous "song" is a 
beautiful specimen of his poetic genius. His wisdom 
has come down to us in the book of "Proverbs," and 
has been incorporatetl in the literature' antl language 
of nearly every civilized people. 

In reading the early history of the Hebrew nation 
we notice how their kings repeated the mistakes of 
former rulers, taking no warning from their fate, and 
reaping no benefit from their misfortunes. Notwith- 
standing .Solomon's wisdom, he was not wise enough 
to remain true to the faith of Jehovah, and allowed the heathen wives that he had 
taken to corrupt his religion until he became an idolater. 

When he died his kingdom was shaken by a great revolt. The tribes of Judah 
and Benjamin had remained faithful to the God of their fathers, and refused to be 
ruled by idolaters, or hold commerce with them. Driving them out of their sacred 
places they crowned Rehoboam, one of the sons of Solomon, their king, while the ten 
other tribes, all idolaters, established themselves 
in another part of the kingdom, with .Shechem 
as their capital, and from thenceforth were 



i^ known as Israelites, while the 




.Jewisli Court Yard Scent!. 




Other two tribes bore the 
name of Jews, — a name after- 
ward made famous by many 
glorious deeds, — a people 
whose faith and patriotism 
were synonymous into their 
very life, and whose history is 
a noble yet pathetic one. 
Israel's kingdom lasted two 
centuries, in which they were 
forever at war with Judah. 
Then at the request of the 
king of Judah, the Assyrians, 
under Tiglath Pileser II., 




stoning to Death Among the Jews. 



go 



ASIA MINOR AXD NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS. 




-f :i!i'l lj-vH«'S. 



invaded the country of the Israelites, carried off many 
captives, and compelled the remainder to pay tribute. 

Allied with Egypt Israel threw off the Assyrian yoke 
after a time, but Sargon, of Assyria, reduced its capital 
Samaria, after a two years siege, and carried off all its 
people captive to Nineveh, colonizing distant parts of 
the dominion with them, and for centuries speculation has 
been rife concerning the location of the "lost ten tribes 
of Israel," and their final destiny. 

Relieved from the harassment of idolatrous Israel, 
after the fall of Samaria, Jerusalem rapidly increased in 
power. In the contact with Israel the two tribes, J udah 
and Benjamin, had received an idolatrous taint, but 
under Hezekiah they broke the idols which had been 
set up by former kings, puritied the temple, and returned 
to their old religion. 

I'Lncouraged by the favor of Jehovah, Hezekiah, 
allied with Egypt, cast off the yoke of Assyria which had 
long borne heavily upon the people, and it was he against whom Sennacherib led the 
vast army that was smitten under the walls of Jerusalem by the "might of the Lord." 
When Hezekiah died after a righteous reign of twenty years, his son Manasseh 
succeeded him, and never was there a more wicked monarch than this son of a holy 
God-fearing father. He brought into Jerusalem all of the old idols, persecuted and 
killed the worshippers of the true God. He even put to death the poet-prophet 
Isaiah, who ne.xt to David, more enriched the poetic literature of the Hebrews than 
any other writer of the Old Testament. 

After God had given Manasseh more than twenty years in which to change his 
ways, and the king still remained hard of heart, we are told in sacred history that 
the king of Babylon was sent against him as a punishment for his sins, and he was 
carried into captivity. After a sincere repentance he was returned to his kingdom 

over which he ruled as a father as long as he lived. 
It was during the reign of Manasseh that the vacant 
kingdom of Israel was ^ 

colonized by Assyrians, who 
are known in I loly Writ as 
the Samaritans, and were 
as bitter enemies to Judah 
as the Israelites had been. 
The remaining history of 
the Jewish people is bound 
up with that of Babylonia, 
Persia, Rome, and the other 
great empires who were at 
different times its masters, 
and under them the Jews 
yielded one by one their 
rights, privileges and terri- 
tory, until the Holy City 





Jewish Warriors and King. 



Wumau of Bethlehem. 



ASIA MINOR AND NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS. 



97 




alone remained to them. With the energy of despair 

they defended their city and temple against the 

Romans, and when at last it was taken, the hope of the 

Jewish race was crushed to the earth. The land which 

was given to Abraham as an everlasting inheritance to 

his descendants under .Saracen and Turk has become a 

desert, and yet no people has been able to build up in 

Palestine a civilization in the place of the noble one 

that they destroyed. They have not reckoned God's 

promise in making the attempt, for his "forever" means 

not a few puny centuries, but until time ends, and 

Christian and Jew alike, who believe in Jehovah, 

believe also that the time will come when the chosen 

people of God who have been despised, persecuted and 

reviled, the by-word of nations and the scorn of the Jewish Monicr and chiw. 

Gentiles, shall be gathered together upon the land which was given to their father 

Abraham, for him and his seed. 

To the jews the Christian world owes a tlebt of gratitude, and although that 
debt has been ill-repaid, in all the course of the centuries, the nations who have per- 
secuted the Jews have suffered disaster and tinaldestruction. Whether this destruc- 
tion was inherent in themselves, or whether God permitted them for the ends of 
righteousness to allow their evil to bear its fatal fruit who can say? 

Our Christian civilization had Judaism for its foundation, and Christ, the Saviour 
of the world, was of the mortal seed of David. We should therefore view with rever- 
ence the faith of the Jews, admire the courage which has led them through all 
persecution and danger to adhere to its tenets, and be proud of the unconquerable 
spirit of a race whom adversity cannot crush nor despotism's harshest scourge cause 
to recant and sympathize with them in their dream of Jerusalem restored to oower 
and glory. 



JS 1,1 



>u 



jifc-i:»,,!%_ 













Jewish Dwelling and Tent. 




ri/r),-i.ii}> f\ i'y^i, 'f, t.i tl l.ii.iJ.^<.i 




r i -r 1 1-^ 1-^ T ^ -1- . -I-. -i-i -I- i -r i •!• i -'- . -1- i n- > -1- i -r ^ 'l' t n- i •^ . -Ir I 1- . -1- . -i- . -1- i -^- 1 T ] •!• . T- . ^^ i ^^;-^ 




HEN THE Aryans beijan their ^rcat movement 
from the plains of Central Asia that resulted 
, in the peopling of Europe, Media and Persia, a 

s»*'^j?-^ ' certain portion of the race went southward over 

X-*^^ mountains and seas, until they came to the 

valleys of the Ganges, Godwari and other great rivers of the Southern Peninsula of 
Asia, and there they rested, conquering the Cushite people they found, making 
them slaves, and founding a new empire. 

l-'ully three thousand years before Christ came to earth, this Aryan people 
crossed the Indus, and those three thousand years are centuries of mystery, for 
although this branch of the Aryans, along with their other advances in civilization 
had an alphabet and written books perhaps a thousand years before the time when 
we first hear of them, they wrote no history, and thus left no such rich heritage to 
posterity as did the other great peoples of antiquity. 

In all history the priests of the nation are the first class that come to be recog- 
nized as a power, for they are the outward expression, the mouthpiece, as it were, of 
that hope of immortality which is so deeply implanted in man's 
nature. They are the link which binds the seen to the unseen, the 
interpreters of the will of the gods. Often these priests were 
mere pretenders, and often they had discovered seeds of truth, 
and among the Aryans they were usually worshippers of one 
unseen god whose powers and qualities they tried hard to make the 
people comprehend. 

The priests of the Aryan tribe that peopled India, had a power 
which belonged to no other priesthood in the world, for as long a 
time as they exercised it, because they took care, in the infancy of 
the nation, to plan a political system which should be a religious 
system as well, and would perpetuate their intluence. To this end 
they divided the whole nation into classes or castes. All originally 
were incorporated in the nation except the conquered Cushites, 
who chose to what class they would belong, but when once the 
choice was made it could not be changed, and the people of one 
class could not associate with any of the others upon equal terms. 
The sons were compelled to follow the business of their father. 




Parecc Merchant. 



INDIA. 



99 




and no crime, not even murder, 
was considered so great as a 
failure to comply with the rules 
of caste, and any one who 
broke those rules was con- 
sidered an outcast whom it 
was sin to notice or even look 
upon. As the priests made 

this clever plan, which allowed civilization to advance to a certain >^ 
degree, and there remain — neither going backward nor forward — they of 
course made the priestly caste the ruling one, and granted them pri\ ileges 
that were given to none of the others. 

The priests could be punished for no crime, could not be taxed, and held all the 
offices of trust in the gift of the king, ami thus became even more powerful than the 
monarch himself, who could not rule without them. How the worship of the one 
God in India finally became the most degraded form of idol worship we can not tell, 
but probably at first the people could not comprehentl an unseen God, and when they 
found by contact with the Cushite people, whom they coiK^uered, that they worshipped 
images which were symbols of their gods, they, too, began to make images, and 
finally from worshipping God in the form of a symbol, worshipped the image itself. 
Rameses the Great, Darius and Alexander, each in turn invaded India, for the mild 
climate, fertile soil, and above ail, mines of gold, diamonds ami other precious stones, 
and its fisheries of pearl, famous from the earliest times, excited the greed of 
conquerors. So the Hindoos were subjected to many influences calculated to make 
them idolaters, and idolaters they became, the priests worshipping Brahma, and the 
other castes worshipping Vishnu, the pre.server, Siva the destroyer, and other gods 
representing the sun, moon and the elements of nature. 

Their Vedas, that oldest of sacred books, written in the ancient Sanskrit 
language, which was the written language of the Hindoos, taught that man had 
nothing to do with the past, and that his earthly existence was of no account, and 
onl}' his future state counted for anything. There were thus no rock-hewn sculp- 
tured tombs, no great buildings to make evident to posterity the skill of their 
builders, no historical tablets, cylinders, scrolls, or monoliths, and India gathered no 
wisdom from those who had lived and died in ages past, cared 
little for the present, and thought only of the future. 

It was no wonder, with such a social and religious system, 
that the soldier class should soon degenerate into idlers, that 
the mechanics and tradesmen shoukl ply their business con- 
tentedly, and that all should bear the burdens of the caste in 
which they were born without murmuring, looking for a heavenly 
reward, and life was a long sadness meekly endured to the 
majority of the nation, for when the prospect of advancement 
is taken away from men there is little spur to worthy labor. 

Women were considered as slaves by all classes, and were 
mere chattels or goods of their male relatives. They were 
neither educated nor respected. As women are the mothers of 
men, and so the moulders of nations, by slow degrees the 
nation became lowered morallv to the level of the mothers and 




lOO 



INDIA. 








Serpent Charmer. 



wives, fur thus does Nature revenge her broken laws. No doubt 
you have noticed that the nations of the world who exalt 
their women, cherish them, educate them and respect them, 
become the great nations, for they recognize that the dignity of 
manhood is in the protection of the physically weak, while the 
inspiration to noble deeds is the woman who stands as the ideal 
of domestic love, and of spiritual beauty, the unseen ])0\vcr 
for good behind the throne. 

Through nature, from the humblest flower that grows in 
the dark forest to the crowning master-piece of creation, every- 
where the male and female principle is seen, and in our own 
nature it is typified by the union of mind and body, soul and 
sense, spirit and substance, everywhere two great principles 
equal, and necessary to each other, making one perfect whole. 
This man}- of the ancient nations could not or would not 
recognize, and by degrading their women prepared-the way 
for inevitable disaster. The ancient Hindoos were a thoughtful 
and imaginative people, and were literary, too, in their way, 
for they wrote many lengthy poems and works speculating upon 
the future of the soul. The Vedas of which I have spoken was 
their sacred book, or rather ft)ur books of moral precepts in 
one, but it would be a hard task to explain what Braiiminism, their religion, really 
was, it is so complicated and mystical a belief. At all events, Brahma was the god 
of prayer, and of course worshipped devoutly by the priests, but the people of the 
other castes worshipped the various gods with self-inflicted torture, feasts, sacrifices 
and all the other rites of gross paganism, their idols being such ugly and misshapen 
creations of wood and stone that they are ludicrous enough to our eyes. 

Hindoo tradition relates that about twenty-five centuries ago there was born to 
the kingof Oude, in Northwestern India, and his beautiful wife, Maya, a son, Sid- 
dartha Gautamana, who was destined to free his nation from idolatry, and to estab- 
lish a great religion. 

This prince, from the time he was very young, cared nothing for the splendor of 
his father's court, but loved to go away into the shadowy forest and pore over the 
Vedas, fast, pray, and think about the mystery of life. 

The king was very much grieved over this tendency of his son, and, to win hin.i 
back to the world, surrounded him with beautiful and splendid things, gave him a 

lovely wife and everything likely to make him 
happy, but still Siddartha would retire to the 
forest for weeks together, and at last told iiis 
father that he had decided to become a wan- 
dering searcher after truth, a beggar, and that 
he wouUI never return to the palace until Ins 
soul had found peace. 

In vain the king pieaded with Siddartha; 

he was firm in his determination, and j^iutting 

on the humblest dress he went and dwelt with 

the Brahmins for seven years, practicing all their 

rarseeccmetei? or Tower of Silence. fasts and penauces SO earnestly that he became 




INDIA. 



lOi 







Iliudoo Picctah. 



noted far and wide as a holy man, and tlisciples flocked about him to 
imitate him. Siddartha, however, found no peace, and leaving the 
Brahmins went again to the forest to meditate in silence and alone. 
A long time he meditated, and one day when he had been sitting for 
twenty-four hours motionless beneath a spreading Bo tree, a reve- 
lation flashed through him that peace was to be found in unshaken 
knowledge of truth, the power of seeing the unchanging 
laws of the universe. The first fruits of this knowledge 
to Gautamana, who was henceforth called Buddha, "The 
knowing one," was that existence in any form was an 
evil, and that the only perfect state was that in which 
there was neither pain nor desire, and this state could be 
reached by meditation and prayer, antl by perfection in 
good deeds, preserving the worthy and destroying the 
evil. 

Love to one's kind, charity and tenderness, were the 
doctrines of the Buddha, and he went from place to 
place preaching, becoming the first missionary of history. 
Wherever his creed was accepted it refined and purified 
society and made men better. All of the great religions of the world have played 
a distinct part in preparing nations for the acceptance of the religion of the true 
God, and in the early days of the race men were spiritually like infants learning to 
walk. First they crept gropingly through superstition and error; finally they made 
feeble, faltering steps toward the light, until at last the mind of man, mellowed by 
ages of trial and searching, was ripe for the truth, and was able to comprehend the 
purpose of his own creation and his final destiny. 

The act of faith in itself, no matter if that faith is in an error, is ennobling, 
and in religion as in agriculture, building, government, law and literature, no one 
can read history aright who does not see the development ever from lower to higher, 
until at last we have reached, shall we say the highest point? 

Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius, Christ, Mohammed, Luther, all were instruments 
of Divine will, as were, perhaps, other teachers of faith and practice whose names 
have long since perished from the earth. 

/Although no great religion spread so rapidly as did Buddhism, having no writ- 
ten scripture and giving man no God in whom to trust, but making the perfection of 
man everything, it gained no lasting holtl in any country; for who could be happy 
bound to a creed which makes annihilation its aim, and whose highest good is 
not to be. In Thibet and Ceylon Buddhism is 
still the national religion, although all of Eastern 
Asia and many of the islands near it have felt its 
influence in times gone by. The Buddhists, as a 
rule, gladly receive Christianity, which by the 
side of their gloomy faith is as the bright sun to a 
puny rush-light. I 

There are many stories told of Buddha, but 
of them all none holds a greater lesson than the 
one so beautifully related by an English poet who 
has made Eastern subjects a study. * ■n-ater-beanug ox. 



■■'<■>&'■ 




*Sir Edwlu Arniild i!i "Thi' Light of Asia.' 



I02 



INDIA. 





fr' 



.^Ji^ 



^'i>fSS^^ 



y^^^y^ 



A young mother whose babe had died, clasped the 

■^ KN dead child in her arms and in her sorrow went from 

:/ /^^ house to house vainly seeking some medicine to revive 

"^f^^^l it, unwilling to believe it was really dead. A wise man to 

_7^%whom the poor mother went, half-distracted, to ask for 

help, directed her to Buddha as one 
who would minister to the child, and 
to him she went and said: 

"Lord and Master, do you know 
any medicine good for my little 
one?" 

Buddha replied that if she would 
bring to him a handful of mustard 
seed, taken from a household that 
death had never entered he would 
restore the child, seeking thus to teach the mother that loss is common to the race 
and sorrow the portion of mankind. 

The mother went from house to house, but could tint! not one where death had 
never been, and returned empty-handed to Buddha, with a heart chastened and 
softened to learn the truth that "nothing earthly is lasting." 

Although during Buddha's life we are not told of any temples or elaborate cere- 
monials, in the centuries afterward there were many beautiful temples and shrines of 
Buddha in the far East, and the robes of the Buddhist priests and many of their 
practices so much resemble those of the Roman Catholic Church, that the earliest 
Jesuit missionaries in Ceylon, China and Japan could not at first believe that former 
missionaries had not taught them to the Buddhists, although it is now known that 
these same ceremonies were practiced by them long before Christ was born. 




Tiger Huutlug Id India. 









irw; 



m^M 



S34~>r:fc-:i 3 




'-iife'-^.:--' 



llludixj DwelUug. 







^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



x'^ 










O MOST of the inhabitants of the United States, the 
Chinese are a famiHar people, as they are engaged 
in commerce and industries of various kinds, and 
ministers from their nation to ours have for several 
years been sent to Washington. China is twice as large 
as the United States, and lies directly west of our country, being separated from it 
only by the broad Pacific and the Island Empire of Japan, and thus the oldest empire 
of the world and the first great republic are neighbors. 

When the pyramid kings reigned in Egypt, and Europe was a vast wilderness, 
China had an organized government, and had advanced sufficiently in civilization 
to be a commercial nation, for in the oldest Egyptian tombs Chinese bowls and vases 
have been found exactly like those made in China 
now. These were no doubt carried to Egypt by 
the early conquerors of the Nile valley, who had, 
even in those remote times, probably made voyages 
to China. Isolated as China is from other coun- 
tries, it must have taken the slow-going Chinese 
a long time to perfect pottery, and therefore the 
nation must have been old when Egypt was young. 
Indeed Chinese historians claim that China was 
settled ninety-six million years ago, but allowing for their extravagance and anxiety 
to prove themselves the most ancient people upon the earth, they can hardly justly 
lay claim to more than six thousand years' residence in China, for it was about that 
long ago that they left their home in Central Asia, and driving out the savage 
Tartars from Eastern Asia began to build cities and practice certain trades. The 
Chinese are a Semitic people, and in many respects 
differ from most of the other Semitic peoples of 
which we have any knowledge. They are a 
mixture of barbarism and civilization, ignorance 
and wisdom, and are probably to-day in appearance, 
dress and manners much as the Chinese have been 
for thousands of years. All the arts common in 
the countries of Africa and Western Asia and 
some of those considered an essential part of modern civilization 
have been practiced for ages in China. Printing, weaving, metal- 




Cbinese Coolie. 






( Inuv-'f "^omaD 



(Jbiuesj lUeiCliaut. 



I04 



CHINA AND JAPAN. 





working, ivory-carving and coin- 
ing money date back beyond 
their written history, and they 
made paper out of the bark of 
a certain tree boiled and mixed 
with rice flour paste, dug canals 
and artesian wells, almost as 
long ago. The Chinese manu- 
factured gunpowder and knew 

.Japum.seMan-8Sl,„e. ^£ j.j^^ cirCulatlon of the blood Shoe of .lapanese Woman. 

at least five hundred years before they were known in Europe and had printed books 
a thousand years ago. 

The first emperor of China, who we are certain was a real person, and not one 
of the impossible creations of the mind of the people, was Fo Hi. who reigned at 
least four hundred years before the first brick was laid in ancient Babylon. 

Fo-Hi, it is said, invented writing, instituted marriage, and divided the year into 
months, although it is not probable that either he or the kings who came after him 
invented the works that the Chinese historians say they did, for we know that writ- 
ing and all the other arts are developed slowly by the people themselves. 

It was probably during Fo-Hi's reign that the Cushites, perhaps the Phcenicians, 
first made a voyage to China, carrying with them their knowledge of astronomy, 
which gave the Chinese an idea of dividing the year. Tiie second emperor, we 
are told, taught his people how to till the soil, although it is not explained where 
he himself learned it. He taught them medicine, too, which we can more easily 
believe, for the Chinese science of medicine is so absurd that ^t might have been 
invented by a very ordinary person. It consists in so-called 'charms" in cauterizing, 
pricking with a needle and blood-letting, and therefore if the Chinese wlio are sick 
do not die of the noise of the "charmer," Ci from the other j^rocesses of the 
doctors, they either get well again or succumb naturally to disease. The third 
emperor of China was far more inventive, according to their historians, than those 
who preceded him, and must have been a greater genius than any living man before 
or since, for they tell us he invented clocks, weapons, wheeled 
^^''''^^^'>>v. vehicles, ships, musical instruments, coins, weights and measures, 
. j\^^p^^~ although it seems scarcely fair to credit him with what must have 
been the life-long labors of scores of people who may or may not 
have lived in his reign, and achieved the works which he is saitl to 
have done. 

The fourth emperor established schools and was the first to 
marry more than one wife. After him his son sat upon the throne", 
and iiis grandson, Yu the Great, made himself High Priest of the 
nation, and founded the lliu dynasty, wJiich ruled with a strong 
hand for more than four hundred years in China, while Thebes 
was growing into a great city, while Memphis was declining, through 
the dreadful rule of the Shepherd Kings, during the decline of old 
Chaldcca and until about the time when the last of the Rameses was 
ruler of Egypt and Tiglath Pileser sat on the Assyrian throne. 

It was then displaced by the Yin dynasty, and during the reign 
of one of the later of the Yin rulers, 571 B. C, Confucius, the 
great Chinese moral teacher, was born. The Chinese have never 




1**7 it; 



Japauctec Daiiclui; Cilrl. 



CHINA AND JAPAN. 



105 




Cliluesp nwi'lliug 



been a nation of builders, but one of tlieir archi- 
tectural works ranks with the Great Pyramid, and is 
the most stupendous work of defense ever made by 
human hands, and with the exception of the pyra- 
mids the oldest product of man's labor upon the 
globe. This is the Great Wall of China which was 
built by the emperor Ching-Wang, who reigned from 
246 B. C. to 210 B. C. It was erected to protect the 
northern frontier of the empire from Tartars. 
Twenty feet high, and with an average thickness of 
twenty-five feet, built of brick on a stone foundation, 
it extends for fifteen hundred miles over mountains 
and rivers, is double in many places, with towers a 
thousand j'artis apart for guard-houses and sentry 

boxes. To build this wall every third man in the empire was required to labor as a 
slave, receiving only his food, and it required the work of millions of human 
beings for thirty years to complete it. Ching-Wang was the first Chinese king who 
took the title of Emperor, and so anxioils was he that Chinese history should date 
from himself, that he caused all the historical books to be burned, not sparing even 
the works of Confucius, only fragments of which have come down to us, and buried 
four hundred learned men alive, fearing that they might in some way disprove his 
claim to being the founder of the nation. 

After all the pains he took, however, he could not kill or burn facts, and those 
remaining, long after he himself was dust, the broken links in the chain of Chinese 
history were pieced together. The line of kings founded by Ching-Wang only lasted 
forty years, and was followed by one which reigned 400 years, and among whom 
there were some weak and cruel kings, and others who were warriors, who conquered 
surrounding tribes, and statesmen who made wise laws. 

Buddhism was introduced during that time, and spread rapidly. The Sung 
Tse, Ziang, Chin and Hang dynasties followed with varying fortunes until 1215 A. D., 
when the Mongol Tartars under Zenghis Khan, of whom we shall hear more in the 
future, overran ami conquered all China. The Chinese people, in 
spite of all their great inventions in the past, have not for many 
ages been a progressive people. They are physical cowards, hating 
war, fearing the dark, shrinking from any form of pain or punish- 
ment, and extremely superstitious, for the nation is still pagan. 

They are the opposite of the Caucasian race in nearly every 
custom. Their soldiers wear petticoats, and the men dress in baggy 
trousers, antl several shirts of plain or quilted material worn loosely, 
flapping about their limbs. 

They are fond of fireworks, which they set off in the tlaytime, 
and in kite-flying and other childish sports they take a great 
delight. In shaking hands the Chinaman offers his left hand instead 
of his right, and he places his surname ahead of his Christian name, -.-i^.^ff ;'?.■ 
The choicest present a Chinaman can offer to a friend is a camphor 'J;}t^^M' '0i;>r'-. 
wood coffin, and when he rides out on land his carriage is sometimes "• ' 
moved by sails, while his boat on the river is pulled by men. In spite ^^&^«e^^^ 
of these singularities the Chinese nation is a great one. Its love ^^!XS^^":-^^^ 
for literature extends from the Emperor upon the throne to his chmese prayer wheei. 




io6 



CHINA AND JAPAN. 




Cbiucse Weddlug Prucesislon. 



'-■'^'■i<if»vii^ 



lowest subject, and only through proficiency in learning 
can a Chinaman expect to receive honor or public office. Throughout the whole 
empire there are schools and colleges whose students are carefully selected by the 
Mandarin governors of provinces are called, and, like students, are publicly examined 
from time to time in history and sacred literature. 

All classes of people except boatmen, barbers and actors, may be selected as 
students, and by their proficiency become the aristocracy of the empire. 

The Kmperor lives secluded, and is obliged to govern according to the ancient 
laws, failing in which he may be deposed. The humblest subject has the right to 
complain to the Emperor against any official of the government, and if he has been 
wronged the Emperor himself redresses it, although 
should he complain without just cause he is severely 
punished. 

japan, known to the old geographers as Cipango, 
was peopled by Chinese, and its history has had so. 
little influence upon the civilization of the world that 
we will not consider it at length. I'nlike the Chinese, 
the Japanese are progressive, and within our own 
times have made considerable advances in Chris- 
tianity and cixilization. 

Their literature is richer, their physical and moral 
character far above that of the Chinese, and even their government, society and 
laws, are more like those of Europeans, from their more favored geographical 

position, their contact with foreign nations and their natural 
adaptability. 

Japan and China have done little; for the civilization of 
the world, and it is only within our own century that thi-y 
have opened their seaports to the commerce of European 
nations, and have been influenced by European civilization 

^ J and Christianity. The empire of Western Asia had com- 

I-- _ I paratively a brief yet brilliant existence, whose rise, glory 

and decline we have traced; while China, the great empire 

.^^^.^w-^ ..Ln^ -_.'^^'..l of Eastern Asia, still exist, as it did in the days of early 

^^^^^ ^ „ Egvpt, and may continue to exist long after the present 

CliliKse street Soup-Seller, »- • -' != 1 v, ,. 





CHINA AND JAPAN. 



107 




t b uebc Fi utral Prutt luu 




Public LetttT-Wriler, Cblua. 



kingdoms and republics of Europe and America have passed, 
away. The Empire of Japan lies in the Pacific ocean, and consists of several large 
islands and many smaller ones, deeply indented by the blue water and covered with 
lofty mountain chains. This island empire is called "The Home of Earthquakes," 

for the great forces which tore the islands from the 
mainland of Asia are still at work, and from the 
earliest times destructive earthquakes have been 
frequent. The climate of the country, modified 
by warm ocean currents, is e.xceedingly mild, and 
though there are dreadful storms of wind and 
rain at certain seasons of the year, for the most 
part the skies are blue, the sun shines brightly and 
the islands are clothed with bloom and beauty. 

With the advantage of climate and the encir- 
cling seas to stimulate in them the adventurous 
and imaginative, the Japanese are very superior 
in every way to their Chinese neighbors. In appearance the Chinese and Japanese 
are similar, but the latter are taller and more imposing: Some historians tell us 
that they are in reality the same people, and that Japan was peopled by an emigra- 
tion from China. Like most people whose origin is shrouded in the mists of remote 
antiquity, the Japanese claim that the gods were their ances- 
tors. They declare that the sun goddess looked upon the fair 
islands lying lovely and uninhabited in the ocean, and sent 
down her grandson to take possession of them. Accom- 
panying him was a train of celestial beings, and these and 
their descendants peopled the islands. The Columbus, as it 
were, of Japanese history, lived 310,000 years, and one of his 
sons lived twice as long, and it was that son who became the 
father of the first historic Emjjeror Jinimu. According to 
Japanese history Jimnui was fifty years old when he set out to 
conquer the original inhabitants of the Japanese islands, for 
like most other countries known to history, the islands of 
Japan had a native people, when its history begins. These 



rs— . 




Ctiiuese FiLmi.ljmeut for Stealing. 



io8 



CHINA AND JAPAN. 




/ 






Chioese U'^tr Juuiv. 



Jimmu conquered and founded the first historic 
line of kings. The Chinese say that one of their 
emperors had three sons, between whom he 
divided his possessions. One of these sons was 
displeased witii his share, and taking his family 
and friends sailed away to japan, conquered 
and colonized the country and founded a line 
of kings. As nobody knows for certain the 
beginning of Japanese history, we will be 
obliged to content ourselves with one of the 
many legends of the origin of the race. The 
history that is certain begins about seven hun- 
dred years before Christ. From that time 
until Buddhism became the religion of the 
country, 571 A. I)., the greatest of the Emperors 
or Mikatlos was Sujin, the civilizer of the 
countr)-. He was born about a hundred years 
before Christ, and when he became a man he 
learned manj' things from his Chinese and 
Corcan neighbors, and these he taught his 
subjects. Even as late as the beginning of the Christian era the Japanese were half 
savages. Their religion was a complicated idolatry known as Shinto, and they lived 
upon the natural productions of the soil. Sujin taught them how to worship the gods 
acceptably, to till the soil, and to dig irrigating ditches to lead the water from the moun- 
tain streams and lakesacross the rice fields. The legends tell us that when Sujin was a 
very old man he was unable to decide which of his two sons should follow him as 
Mikado. 1 le told them one day that the next morning he desired to hear what each 
had dreameil during the night that lie might be able by the interpretation to decide 
between them. The j-oung princes washed their bodies, changed their garments and 
slept. The next day the elder son said: "1 dreamed that I climbed a mountain and, 
facing East, I cut with my sword and thrust with my spear eight times." The younger 
said: "I dreamed I climbed a mountain and, stretching snares of cord on every side, 
tried to catch the birds that were destroying the grain." Sujin said to the elder: 
"You will go to the east and become its ruler." To the younger he said: "You shall 

become my heir, for you will be peaceful and indus- 
trious." This story shows that the succession to 
the throne was not as it was among most Aryan 
races, but that the Emperor named his successor. 
Sujin devised a military system, for the 
Japanese, having to maintain their conquest of the 
islands by force of arms were, from the earliest 
times, a military people, ami in that respect they 
were different from the other nations of Eastern 
Asia. The profession of arms was hereditary. In 
the course of time Japan sent out conquerors to 
the continent. Corea was invaded by them under 
Japanese jiDrikUha. One of their early empresses, for women held a 




CHINA AND JAPAN. 



lOQ 








Japaiie.se T^vu-SwordtMl Noble iu Court Costuiiu' 




T;ipauL'6e Peatiaut in Winter DrcBS of 
Straw. 



high place in ancient Japan, and 
it was by contact with Corea and 
China that Japan learned writing, 
architecture, religion, law, medi- 
cine, philosophy and art. From 
the third century to the eighth, 
these influences from Asia devel- 
oped the national character of the 
people. Buddhism was peculiarly 
suited to the needs of the nation. 
It gave them something tlehnite as 
a belief instead of the okl myths. 
The doctrines of Confucius, too, 
found manv believers, and along 
with these new religions came 
improvements in manner of living, 
the Chinese love of literature and 
altogether a new civilization. 1 
can only give you a very general 
outline of Japanese history, for until within recent time it forms so little part in the 
chain of the story of nations, that for all practical purposes it is of little use. Prom 
the beginning of the Chinese Empire, about 600 B. C, until the century after 
Buddhism became the national religion, the Mikados were the real rulers of 
their people. The palace was free to all, and the Mikado went about 
among his subjects, leailing his armies, directing the government, antl carrying 
out all his enterprises in war and peace like the rulers of Western Empires, 
Gradually there grew up in Japan a class of nobles. As the territory over 
which the Mikado held sway increased, he was obliged to appoint others to direct 
certain government affairs, and still others to lead his various armies. This state of 
affairs developed a civilian class of nobles and a military class. The Mikado was 
more and more secluded from his people, and his power declined. After a time he 
had two Capitals. From the time the civilization of China and Corea began to 

make headway in Japan in 571 to 
1 198, A. D., tifty-three emperors 
reigned in Japan. In the sixth cen- 
tury regular orders of nobility were 
instituted, and from that time until the 
'■■'"'■ twelfth century, the progress of the empire 
was slo-w and steady. About that time the 
country fell under a military despotism, which 
lasted until our own times. War became the 
.^1 trade of the Japanese, famine followed in the 
Wr^-i*SS--^^ footsteps of war, and pestilence was close behind 
famine. Villages, cities, temples, and 
libraries were burned. Civil strife was 
interrupted only by foreign struggles, 
Japanese pirates lurked under every bold 
headland of the islands, and swooped 







i$ 













Japanese Barber. ' 



Great Wall of Lbiuu. 



no 



CHINA AND JAPAN. 




down upon the coasts of China and Corea, 
just as the Danes and Northmen terrorized /^ 
France and England. People inclined to , fj 
peace were obliged to flee to the shelter 
of huts or caves among the mountains. 
Education was neglected, and reading 
and writing became lost arts e.xcept to the 
priests. Those were sad cen- 
turies for Japan, and added to 
murder, thieving, and constant 
war between the factions, were 
earthquakes tornados, and tidal 
waves. Religion and civilization 
were almost wiped out. The 
emperors were in a deplorable 
condition. Their capitals were 
usually in possession of one or the 





CWncsf ExecuUuD. 



Japmrse "Warrior. 

Other hostile armiesand they were inconstant personal danger from thieves and murder- 
ers. One of those emperors was so poor that his nobles had to feed and clothe him. 
Another died of starvation, and his body lay unburied for several days. This period 
is called "the days of the Ashikaji," because nobles of that name were the real rulers 
in Japan, and the confusion lasted until 1573. One of the Ashikaji sent an embassy 
to China in i40i,and acknowledged the authority of the Chinese over Japan, an 
insult to the dignity of the Japanese as a nation that they never forgot. I lis name is 
hated to this day as that of King John is hated in England, as a traitor and a tyrant. 
In the dark days of war and tumult the power of the Buddhist ]>riests was very 
great in Japan. Their monasteries were enormous stone — walled fortresses filled 
with weapons, and they assisted one faction or the other as policy might dictate, and 
at times withstood and conquered both. In 1571 the monastery of Hiyeizan, the 
strongest in Japan, was destroyed by a chieftain named Xobunga. a warrior who had 
grown up among the Buddhists. Hiyeizan was surrounded by beautiful grounds and 
gardens, and its domain was comprised in thirteen valleys, in which there were more 
than five hundred shrines, temples and priestl}' dwellings. The religion of Buddha 
was no longer the simple ceremonial forms of ancient times. Fhe priests wore 
.splendid robes, chanted a litany, and their forms of worship were so much like those 
of the Catholics that the early Christian missionaries to Japan could hardly believe 
that the Buddhist faith had not the same origin as their own. I'Vom the time of 

the destruction 
of this famous 
monastery dates 
a persecution of 
the Buddhists in 
Japan that 
finally destroyed 
their influence. 
When Colum- 
bus sailed away 
from the harbor 
of Palos on that 




CHINA AND JAPAN. 



I ir 



memorable voyage that resulted in the discovery of 

America, it was in quest of a wonderful land 

described by Marco Polo, a Venetian traveler who 

in the thirteenth century had found his way to the 

court of the Tartar Emperor, Kubla Khan, and had 

there heard of a land far to the east called Jipango, 

from which our modern Japan is derived. He did ""^ /, , /_ 

not find the country, but he inspired a Portuguese v "^"flJ 

mariner, Mendez Pinto, to search for the fabled 

islands. Mendez was the first European who landed 

on Japanese soil. When he returned to Portugal he 

told so many marvellous stories of Japan and its 

people, that he was nicknamed Pinto the Liar." 

As the coming of the Spaniards brought disaster 
and sorrow to the people among whom they prose- 
cuted with such cruelty their search for gold, so the 
advent of the Portuguese in Japan brought sorrow 
to the natives. Other adventurers followed. The 
natives were taught to make firearms and gun- 
powder. Slave traders and missionaries followed, 
and in 1581 there were two hundred Jesuit churches, and one hundred and fifty 
thousand Catholic natives in Japan. Catholicism was so nearly like Buddhism that 
the natives readily acceptetl it. Then began a persecution of the Christians by the 
heathen Mikado which lasted one hundred years, and almost resulted in their exter- 
mination. As late as 1829 seven persons were executed in Japan for being Christians. 

In 1853 Commodore Perry, on the good ship Susquehanna, sailed into Yeddo 
Bay, and through his influence and the naval power of the United States, the Japan- 
ese ports were opened to commerce. Since that time Japan has steadily progressed, 
and to-day, with its European manners, customs, constitutional government, its 
improved laws and its acceptance of the Protestant faith, is the most promising and 
remarkable of all the Empires of the East. 




LliiiiL'hf Wainurs. 




Sanipau or Kiver Boat. 






^1 







L ....■ 




OMKTHIXG less than nine hundred years before Christ 
was born, and in the days when the city of Tyre was 
great and powerful in Phoenicia, King Matgen of Tyre 
(lied, leaving his kingdom to his son and daughter, Pyg- 
malion and Elissar, or Dido, as she is commonly known. 
Dido was married to the high priest Zicharabel, who 
was next in rank to Pygmalion. Zacharabel was probably as clever 
a knave as the pagan high priests of those tlays usually were, tor he had grown 
enormously rich, and had chests and casks full of gold and jewels. In some way he 
had become unpopular in Tyre, and the people, knowing that if Dido was pcrmitteil 
to rule jointly with her brother, she would be under the dictation oi her husbanti, 
decided that one rider was quite sufficient for them, and named Pygmalion as their 
choice. 

Zicharabel was a nobleman, and as there was a chance of his coming to the 
throne, Pygmalion, wishing also to possess himself of the high priest's wealth, 
ordered him to be quietly killed, and an assassin was found who was willing to do 
the deed. Dido, thus robbed of her husband and her inheritance, planned with the 

Phtrnician nobles to dethrone her brother, antl when her jjlot 
X/^ failed she professed to repent of her tlesign. To throw her 
"y" brother off his guard, she told him to send for her to come and 

live with him. Thinking he would thus come into the possession 
of all Zicharabel's treasures, Pygmalion was very gentle with his sister, 
and brought her home to Tyre. When he was no longer suspicious of 
her. Dido and some three thousand of li<r friends seized upon some 
vessels l\ing in the harbor of Tyre, and sailed away to the northern 
coast of Africa, with all their goods and treasures, to found a new city. 
There is a tradition which relates that when Dido landed in .\frica, the 
Berbers or Moors of that part of the coast refused to sell or to give her 
any land, but finally agreed, at Dido's suggestion, that she should have as 
much of their country as could be enclosed in an o.x's hide. Dido was as 
crafty as the Phctnicians usually were, so, we are told, she cut the ox's 
hide into small strings and enclosed a large piece of ground along the 
sea coast. The natives consented that she might build a city on con- 
dition of paying a yearly rental for the ground. The fugitives, so runs 
the tale, at once began to excavate for the foundation of buildings, but 




Woman of Carthage 



CARTHAGE. 



113- 




Hanullial CroasiUf^ tbt- liliuue. 



the first man to strike ^. 

spade in the soil found 

an ox's head buried in 

the ground. The priests 

who made up and "in- 
terpreted" the omens 

declared that a town 

built in that place would 

be unlucky, so the Phoe- 
nician adventurers went 

farther up the coast until ^^--;' 

they came to a beautiful " "^ ** 

semi-circular bay with 

a fine deep harbor sur- 
rounded by rich plains. 

As anyone could see 

with half an eye, that 

it was just the place a 

seafaring people like 

the Phoenicians would 
naturally choose for a city, the priests, after much divination and solemn nonsense, 
declared that the Tyrian colonists might begin to excavate. When they did so 
and found just below the soil a horse's head, probably placed there by the priests, 
the "omen" was declared lucky, although how or why a horse's head was supposed 
to be luckier than that of an ox, either on or off the living animal, I am sure I 
cannot say. 

The country in which their new city,— they called it Carthage,— was founded 
is in the modern State of Tunis. All along the Mediterranean shores of Africa there 
had long been Phcenician colonies. Utica, Hadrumentum and Leptis, were quite 
large towns, but Carthage soon eclipsed them all and became the mistress of 
Northern Africa, and of Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic and Canary Islands, and many 
small islands in the Mediterranean sea. The harbor of Carthage was the best in 
Northern Africa, her people the greatest traders and manufacturers of ancient times, 
and with the rich soil and advantages for commerce, wealth flowed into the city from 
a thousand channels. With this wealth the Carthaginians hired tribes of Arabs, 
Numidians and other natives to fight their battles, and bought numerous slaves to 
row their galleys and triremes. Carthaginian ships soon sailed to every port of 
Asia. Tyre was always friendly toward the new city, and to show that the Cartha- 
ginians still loved the home of their ancestors, was yearly presented with a shipload 
of presents. 

The fame of IJido's beauty reached the ears of Sarbus, King of the Moors, 
in the early days of the city, and he demanded her hand in marriage, threatening 
war if it was refused. When Uido was urged to accept, it is said that she built a 
funeral pyre, sacrificed to the gods, and then, because she had so dearly loved her 
■ dead husband, killed herself. After Dido's death Carthage became a Republic. In 
modern republics the people first elect their government officers and then pay them 
a salary, and any one may rise in politics who becomes a favorite with the people, but 
in Carthage only the richest men could afford to hold office, for the government 



114 CARTHAGE. 

officers received no salary, and must spend large sums of money feasting and 
bribing the voters to elect them. Instead of a President, Carthage had two 
Suffets or Judges, who were military officers as well, and a Council of several hundred 
rich citizens who filled all the public offices.' As the vices of the rich in olden times 
were very great, Carthage soon became a corrupt State. Its great wealth from the 
mines and fields of conquered nations, and its numerous avenues of industry prevented 
any abject poverty, and gave its people the pride and patriotism which is usually the 
result of successful and wise government. Carthage was built upon a peninsula, 
connected with the mainland by an isthmus. West of the city was a point of land 
extending out into the sea making this a double harbor. Across this isthmus was a 
triple wall, eighty feet high and thirty feet wide, built of freestone in two stories, 
the inner containing, it is said, stables for three hundred elephants, four thousand 
horses, and barracks for twenty thousand soldiers with their arms, provisions, and 
material for war, and provided with numerous towers. The citadel of Byrsa also 
guarded the isthmus, while along the sea was a single wall. 

The city itself rose from the center to the walls somewhat like an amphitheater, 
and the houses, lofty like those of Babylon, were built of stone, planks, shingles, 
reeds, or a mixture of shells and beaten earth. They were magnificent or squalid, 
according to the means of their owners, but as no ruins remain I cannot accurately 
describe them. 

There were no doubt many beautiful temples, Tor the Carthaginians worshipped 
not only the gods of Tyre but those of Greece also, and the rich had fine gardens and 
pleasure grounds. Of the Carthaginian people all that has been learned we have been 
told b}' their enemies, the Romans, and granting that they do nou paint them in the 
best light, it is certain that springing as they diil from Tyre, they were crafty, deceitful 
antl cruel. The same bloody and debasing religion practiced in the mother city pre- 
vailed in Carthage. The chief god was Moloch. A horrible statue of this god, made 
entirely of iron, stood in the temple of Saturn, in the midst of the city. This statue 
was hollow inside, and there were holes in the breast large enough to admit a human 
victim. The sacrifice was placed on the movable arms of the figure, and by a mechanical 
device were worked rapidly back and forth, causing it to disappear in the hollow 
inside the statue, where a very hot fire was built. Mothers were expected to witness 
the sacrifice of their children without a tear or sigh, and the public, hardened to sights 
inhuman and cruel, could not be expected to be otherwise than it was hard-hearted 
antl perfidious. 

When a Carthaginian general was defeated in war, no matter how brave a man 
he was or how many victories he had previously won, he was either killed orbanislied. 
For two hundred years Carthage had pursued a career of conquest. W' hen we first 
hear of her in history it was under the rule of Malchus, who after conquering several 
tribes on the African and Spanish coasts, and subduing Sicily, was defeated in Sardinia. 
Returning to Carthage he was sentenced to banishment, but as he still had command 
of the army he refused to go and led his troops against the ungrateful city. Of 
course the Judges, having no army to man the walls, were in a great state of alarm. 
Thinking that Malchus might be influenced liy his son, the Suffetes sent the young 
man to.pl'^ad with his father to spare the city. The unnatural father crucified the 
messenger from the Judges in the sight of the anxious watchers upon the walls, 
stormed the city, took it, and silenced his enemies most effectually by putting them 
each and every one to death. It was ivhile Mago, the successor of Malchus, was 



CARTHAGE. 



1 !• 




the ruler of Carthage that Cambyses would have marched against it had not the 
Phoenicians refused to aid him. If he had done so perhaps the story of Northern 
Africa would have been very different. In the days of Xerxes, Carthage sent a 
fleet to help that famous Persian king in his expedition against the Greeks, agreeing 

to harrass the Greek ^^^^^^.,^,^,_,____„ , ... ,.,.,- .„ .,, . ,.^ 

colonies whileXerxes 
proceeded against 
Greece. Sicily was 
very valuable to the 
Carthaginians as a 
naval station, and 
several flourishing 
Carthaginian colo- 
nies were planted 
upon the island. 
Then Carthage un- 
dertook to subdue 
the entire country, 
which contained sev- 
eral free Greek cities, 
Syracuse, noted for 
its art and learning, 
being one of these. 
On the day when the 
Greeks won immor- 
tal glory at Ther- 
mopylae, the great 
Carthaginian arm}' 
was defeated in Sic- 
ily, and for seventy 
years Carthage was 
too busy conquering 
African tribes to ven- 
ture to attack the 
island. When the 
people of the Greek 
city of Segasta asked 
Carthage to bring an 
army into Sicily to 
help them conquer 
Syracuse, the Cartha- 
ginians were glad 
enough to seize upon 
the pretext to con- 
quer the whole island. 
After battles and 
sieges lasting seven 
years, they were will- 



no CARTHAGE. 

ing enougli to leave Sicily for the time in possession of the brave Greeks, excepting 
only a half dozen Carthaginian walled towns. Eight years afterward, Carthage was 
again fighting Sicily and for the next fifty j'ears Syracuse and the other Sicilian cities 
were comijelled to defend themselves against Carthage, and at last beaten and 
defeated at every point, threatened with rebellion at home, the haughty African 
Republic asked for peace. Again after a few years the Greek cities fell to quarrelling 
among themselves and, taking no warning by the past, invited Carthage to interfere. 
This time the Syracusans invaded Carthaginian territory, defeated their generals, and 
although Agathocles, the Greek commander, bj- his unwise conduct lost all the advan- 
tage of his victories, Sicily after two hundred years of war was still unconquered. 
Carthage had poured out freely her blood and treasure to win the island, and was 
still determined to possess it. Carthage, as we have said, bought the services of 
soldiers to fight her battles, and Agathocles, the Greek, did the same in this Sicilian 
war. A company of Agathocles' hired soldiers, some Campanians from Italy, seized 
the city of Messana in Sicily, and killed or drove out all the people. Calling themselves 
by a high-sounding name, "The sons of the war-god," they fortified themselves in 
Messana, and held fast to what they had gained. The King of Syracuse, the wise 
and brave Hiero, marched against these Mamertines or "Sons of the war-god," and 
in a great battle beat them so soundly that they were glad to get behind the shelter 
of the walls of Messana. It is said that when "thieves fall out, honest men get their 
dues," but this was hardly the case with the Mamertines. Th(;y fell to quarreling, 
and while one party sent across the sea to ask aid of Rome, tiie other sent to 
Carthage. When the Romans responded by sending soldiers and supplies, they found 
the Carthaginians already at Messana eager to begin again their war for the conquest 
of Sicily. 

By a clever trick the Romans captured the two Carthaginian generals in com- 
mand, and they agreed to surrentler the fortress of the city if the Romans would 
allow them to go free again and withdraw their forces peaceably. Thus Rome 
gained Messana without bloodshed. As soon as the released generals returned to 
Carthage they were crucified for their blundering and new generals appointed, but 
these new generals, instead of fighting Hiero, joined with him to fight the Romans. 
The Romans agreed to leave Sicily if Hiero would promise not to molest the 
Mamertines, which Hiero, being a just man, although the historians call him a 
tyrant, refused to do. 

The Romans had no fleet, and of course could not hope to hold any power in 
Sicily without one. Good fortune threw a stranded Carthaginian vessel into their 
hands, and working hard, with the captured vessel as a model, in a few weeks they 
had built a hundred like it. The Carthaginians jeered at the Romans for hoping to 
be successful against the greatest naval power in the world, and thought them fool- 
hardy for attacking them in such rudely built ships of green timber. Nevertheless 
at Myla;, the Romans defeated the Carthaginian fleet, and afterward landed an 
army in Africa, plundered the rich provinces of Carthage to the very walls of the 
city, and leaving an army before it, sailed back to Rome with the ships laden with 
booty. 

Rome and Carthage had long been jealous rivals, and the return of the Roman 
ships created great rejoicing in the capital. The joy was increased when it was 
known that the army the Romans had left under Regulus in Africa was carrying 
everything before it, and had brought Carthage to humbly ask for peace. Regulus 



CARTHAGE. 117 

made such hard terms that Carthage would not agree to them, and sent for aid to 
Sparta, the home of the greatest fighters in the world. The Greeks had little love for 
Carthage, but they had less for Rome, and moreover Carthage offered such a good 
sum for fighters that Xantippus, and his band of free companions, professionals and 
tried soldiers every one. went at once to Africa. After drilling the Carthaginian 
troops awhile they fell upon Regulus' army, cut it to pieces and took the Roman 
general prisoner. 

The Carthaginians sent him to Rome with terms of peace, making him promise 
to return to Carthage if the Romans refused them. His countrymen would have 
honored him as he certainly deserved when he reached his native city, but he 
reminded them that he was the slave of Carthage, and refused to enter the walls but 
waited outside for the senators to meet him, as though he were an ordinary foreign 
ambassador. This Regulus was a true hero — as we would like to believe all the old 
Romans were — a man worthy of his reputation for truth and patriotism. 

After presenting the terms offered by Carthage, Regulus made an eloquent 
appeal to his countrymen to continue the war. He then returned to Carthage as he 
had promised, and died, so we are told by the Roman historians, of the awful tortures 
inflicted upon him by the enraged Council, although later historians tell us that the 
Romans merely invented the horrible story of I^egulus' death to exasperate the com- 
mon people against Carthage, and make them willing to renew the war. At any rate 
the war was begun again as soon as Regulus returned to Carthage, and for eight 
years more cruelty and bloodshed, battles, sieges and marches are the chief events in 
the history of the rival republics. Hamilcar Barca, one of the Suffetes of Carthage, 
was stationed with a fleet off the coast of Sicily, and he swooped down again and 
again upon the unprotected portions of the Italian coast, carrying off slaves and 
treasure from plundered cities, until the Roman Senate was almost in despair, for it 
had no money wherewith to build a fleet to oppose him. 

The patriotic citizens of Rome, notwithstanding the fact that for several years 
they had been heavily ta.xed to carry on the w-ar, built two hundred ships at their 
own expense. When these at last blockaded Hamilcar, Carthage, defeated at every 
point, again asked Rome for peace. Rome granted it, Carthage agreeing to give up 
all her islands and to pay Rome a large sum of money. 

As soon as this war, called in history "The first Punic war," was over, another 
danger threatened Carthage. Its immense army of hired soldiers had not been paid, 
and instead of disbanding and returning to their homes to wait until Carthage could 
recover sufficiently from the war to pay them, they demanded their money and would 
not be pacified though they were given fair promises. At length this unruly army — 
among whom were Gauls, and Iberians or Spaniards from Europe, and Numidiansand 
other African tribes — began to plunder the towns and villages of the republic, and to 
burn, slay and destroy. They besieged Tunis and put to a cruel death thousands of 
people of surrounding villages, who had not time to retreat to the walled cities. They 
surrounded Utica, too, and even Carthage itself. The terrified Carthaginians shut 
themselves up in their city and besought their gods for help. Three hundred children 
of noble families were offered to the dreadful Moloch, and many victims voluntarily 
threw themselves into the sacred fire, foolishly thinking that thus they might please 
their offended deity. Instead of attributing their troubles to their own bad policy, 
the Carthaginians thought that Moloch was angry with them and had taken this 
manner of punishing them. In the midst of all this terror and confusion, Hamilcar 



ii8 



CARTHAGE. 



returned. With his courage and genius he soon reduced the rebellious soldiers 
to such distress that they surrendered and were, no doubt, cruelly punished. In 
Sardinia, too, the hired soldiers revolted, and Rome, in violation of the tceat\- of 
peace with Carthage, seized the island and held it. knowing that Carthage was pow- 
erless to resist. 

Hamilcar Barca was a proud and patriotic man as well as a great general. The 
surrender of Carthage to Rome at the end of the First Punic war had bitterly 
grieved him. The conduct of Rome while Carthage was making such a valiant 
struggle against the revolted soldiers, filled the heart of Hamilcar with implacable 
hatred, and he vowed upon the altar of Melkarth, the Tyrian Hercules, to devote 
cvfTv encrtrv of his mind and power of his bfidy to the restoration of his country to 




i;c«Uir»liuii ui Uic Hafljur «i,ii Iv,HU 1^1 i, l.tu. 



such a pitch of prosperity that it would be able to win back what it had lost. 

Across the Mediterranean lay Spain, a country peopled by half-savage Gaulish 
tribes known as Iberians. Carthage had long possessed colonies on the Spanish 
coast, and knew that the interior was rich in minerals, and had a soil of great fertil- 
ity. It was Spain that Hamilcar designed to use as the country through which 
Carthage was again to become rich and powerful. He raised an army to conquer the 
inhabitants of Spain, and before he sailed away from Carthage took his little son 
Hannibal, a boy nine years of age. who had pleaded so hard to accompany him 
that Hamilcar at last consented, and made him also swear upon the sacred altars of 
Carthage undying hatred to Rome and devotion to his country's cause. 

For nine years Hamilcar commanded the Carthaginian forces in Spain, sending 
home rich treasures to Carthage, and keeping always before him his one idea of 
making Spain the hammer wherewith to strike Rome. As soon as he conquered the 



CARTHAGE. ii9 

people of a tribe, he tried to make friends with them, treating them with great kind- 
ness, and showing them how to till the soil, to build cities, and, above all, drilling 
them so that they could successfull}' fight civilized enemies. Often he made friends 
with tribes without first fighting them, signing treaties which gave them all their 
liberties, left them their chiefs, and disturbed none of their laws while they agreed to 
furnish him a certain amount of grain or other goods, and to allow him to drill the 
able-bodied men for war. 

In the year 227 B. C, Hamilcar was killed in a battle with one of the savage 
Iberian tribes, and when he fell his young son Hannibal was bravely fighting by his 
side. All these years Hannibal had been with his father in -Spain, and war had been 
his nurse and foster-mother. We may be sure that he hatl not forgotten his vow 
against Rome, and in the nine years in the camp he had been trained to endure cold, 
hunger, sleeplessness, tlanger and all the hardships of soldier life. He had been 
practiced in running, leaping, shooting the bow, hurling the javelin, handling the 
spear, and could ride like an Arab. Beside these warlike accomplishments, Hannibal 
had learned all that was usually taught Phcenician youths, and in addition to mathe- 
matics, astronomy and other such branches, he could speak the Greek language and 
many Iberian dialects as well as he coultl' his native Punic. At the time his father 
was killed, the young Hannibal was already famous as a cavalry leader. His 
brother-in-law, Hasdrubal, succeeded to the command of the army, and Hannibal, 
although onl)- eighteen, was given charge of the whole cavalry force. He trained it 
in such a way that it afterward became famous throughout the then civilized lands of 
Western Asia and Southern Europe. 

Hasdrubal was a clever statesman, and it is almost certain that he intended 
making Spain an independent Republic. To this end he married the daughter of a 
Spanirh King, and founded a magnificent new capital, now called Carthagena. His 
ambitious plans were all frustrated by the dagger, which cut short his life, for he was 
murdered by a Gaulish slave and Hannibal, already the idol of the army for his skill, 
eloquence and bravery, became commander of the Carthaginian forces in Iberia. 
Hannibal was but twenty-eight years of age when he became the head of the Cartha- 
ginian army, and the Roman historians who were chary enough of praise for an 
enemy, declare that he was gifted with a rare power of inspiring the confidence and 
affection of men. 

In person, like nearly every great general of ancient or modern times, Hannibal 
was small of stature and slight of build. Nature rarely lodges the great nervous 
energy for long protracted effort, extraordinary quickness, cleverness, and those 
other qualities necessary to a great general and conqueror in a large bodily frame. 
Rarely, indeed, do we find that the heroes of history are the majestic individuals in 
appearance that our fancy conjures. Hannibal, Alexander, Cyrus, Grant, Napoleon, 
and scores of others who have achieved immortal fame as leaders of men and as 
military geniuses were small and slight of body. The energy, courage and training, 
of the young leader was well known to the Roman Senate, and it knew, too, the vow 
he had made of relentless hatred and vengeance. Thinking to turn him from his 
purpose, when it was rumored that he was about to cross the Ebro, Rome sent him a 
stern message to observe the treaty which Hasdrubal had signed when Rome threat- 
ened Carthage if he refused. 

This treaty confined the Carthaginian dominion in Spain to the west bank of 
the Ebro. Hannibal probably remembered how Rome had seized Sardinia, and car- 



I20 CARTHAGE. 

ing little for treaties that interfered with his plans, when he had conquered the 
remaining tribes of hostile Iberians, crossed the Ebro and laid siege to Saguntum, a 
Greek city on the eastern coast of Spain, under Roman protection. That Hannibal 
did not do this without an understanding with his government is certain. The Car- 
thaginians were again eager to engage in a war with Rome, and encouraged Hanni- 
bal to provoke it, that they might win back .Sardinia and humiliate the haughty 
mistress of the west. As soon as it was known in Rome that Saguntum had been 
besieged and was taken, the Roman Senate sent ambassadors to Carthage demanding 
that Hannibal and his whole army be given up to them for punishment. The Car- 
thaginian Council had already received and distributed among the people of the city 
the rich spoil of Saguntum, and rejected the Roman demand, accepting the war which 
the ambassadors offered with a right good will. 

Thus was begun the second Punic war, and in all history there is nothing just like 
it, for it was the struggle of the genius of one man against the power of the most 
highly civilized nation in the world, the patriotism and vengeful spirit of a single 
individual against the patriotism of a whole people. Hannibal knew that should 
Rome invade Northern Africa, Carthage, with no means of supply, besieged by sea 
and land, would fall. He determined, therefore, to engage Rome upon her own soil, 
and to stir up her recently conquered provinces against her. The Carthaginian 
power was firmly established in Spain, but in Italy the brave Gauls of the north 
hated the Romans with a hatred as implacable as it was powciless against Rome's 
trained legions. These Gauls Hannibal iioped to win to his cause, and Rome was 
not so sure of the Samnites, Etruscans and Lucanians that successful campaigns by 
the invaders could not tempt them to rise and throw off the yoke. 

The Roman Senate had not dreamed that Hannibal would invade Italy, and 
making leisurely preparations for a war with Carthage, had ordered one of their 
generals to prosecute a campaign in Spain when the news was carried to the Capital 
that Hannibal had crossed the Rhone. Hannibal had left his brother, Hasdrubal, in 
command in Spain, and with ninety thousand infantry, twelve thousand cavalry and 
thirty-seven elephants left New Carthage, and crossed the Pyrenees. Here his 
army plundered the rich valleys, and Hannibal dismissed nearly half of his force 
laden with booty to return to Carthagena. promising the other half that in Italy they 
should find a field for plunder unequaled m the world. 

It was late in October when Hannibal with his fifty-nine thousand men and 
thirty-seven elephants, guided by Gauls, began the ascent leading across the Alps. 
The troops he took with him, born and bred under the blue skies of the Mediter- 
ranean lands, must have thought those bleak and terrible mountains, with their 
bitter winds and drifting snows, the very gates of death, and such, intleed, they 
proved to many a brave warrior. Not only cold and hunger, snow and desolation 
confronted them at every step, but from the cliffs the Boii, a mountain tribe loyal to 
Rome, hurled stones upon their heads, struck them down with arrow and javelin, 
barricaded the passes, and did everything their ingenuity could devise to harass 
them. 

It is a remarkable fact that amid all these dangers the armj' was faithful to their 
leader, and although their comrades dropped by the thousands, and their bones were 
left upon the icy summits or bleak slopes, the remaining troops eagerly pressed on, 
inspired by the example of Hannibal. At last, after fifteen days of suffering, reduced 
to barely twenty thousand foot and six thousand horse, they saw below them the 



CARTHAGE. 121 

green valleys of Italy. How the dauntless heart of Hannibal must have thrilled 
when he beheld at last the land which he had risked so much to reach, for now he 
would avenge his country's wrongs and would find death or glory face to face with 
the Roman legions. 

He was disappointed in his hope that the Gauls would hail him as a deliverer, for 
when he reached the plain where his weary troops rested and refreshed themselves, 
not a Gaulish tribe showed him signs of friendship. Therefore Hannibal was anxious 
to gain a victory which should show the Gauls that he was able to succeed in the 
enterprise he had undertaken. Scipio, the Roman general, was equally anxious to 
fight, and the two armies soon came to blows. Scipio being totally defeated, the 
Gauls, as Hannibal had foreseen. Hocked to join him. 

Mago, Hannibal's brother, with his cavalry ambushed themselves soon after near 
Trebia, and when the Romans attacked the Carthaginians and thought themselves 
certain of victory, Mago and his horsemen broke from their concealment and routed 
or cut to pieces the Roman army. The news of this second defeat caused such alarm 
in Rome that Flaminius, a brave soldier and talented general, but a man personally 
unpopular with the Roman nobles, was given command of a new army. Hannibal's 
forces were rejoicing in plenty in the heart of the most fruitful portion of Italy, and 
Hannibal, true to his vow, slew every Roman that fell into his power, and burned, 
plundered, and destroyed Roman property, taking good care to spare that of the 
Gauls and of the provinces that he hoped to win to his cause. 

The Numidian cavalry struck terror to the Romans everywhere, for they rode 
their perfectly trained horses without saddle or bridle, and their onset was so fierce 
and irresistible, that both the Roman defeats were due to them. Flaminius kept 
well out of their way upon the high ground as he followed Hannibal, watching his 
every movement, and waited for a favorable place and time for attacking him. 

Hannibal avoided a battle until he had decoyed the Romans into a narrow 
pass between Lake Trasimenus and a mountain, then turning he fell upon them with 
such fury that the Romans were cut to pieces or put to flight, and Flaminius himself 
was killed. 

All Rome was moved to tears and lamentations when the news of this dreadful 
disaster reached the city. The temples were crowded with citizens, who implored 
the gods to save the Republic. Hannibal took from the bodies of the Roman 
soldiers their armor and weapons, re-organized his army, drilled and equipped it in 
the Roman manner under the very eyes of Fabius, who had been sent to follow him 
and attack him. 

Fabius was a cautious soldier, and disposed his forces in such a way upon the 
high ground that Hannibal was hemmed in, but Hannibal outwitted and escaped him 
in the following manner. 

Among the plunder of the army were two thousand oxen. One night when 
Hannibal's army seemed utterly surrounded in a narrow valley, and hopeless of 
breaking through to the plains beyond, the Carthaginians, by Hannibal's orders, 
bound to the horns of every ox a bundle of faggots, lighted them, and while they 
were driven toward the Roman camps in the hills, the army quietly prepared to 
move. Terrified by seeing a column of flames rushing upon them, the Romans fled 
in a panic, and in the confusion the Carthaginians marched past them to the plains 
and were soon out of danger. 

Victory after victory followed, and Hannibal rapidly made himself master of the 



12; 



CARTHAGE. 



fairest portion of Italy, sending home shiploads 
of plunder to Carthage. Capua hailed him a^ 
savior, but in the 
while Hannibal 
devastated Italy, 
it was retaken, 
and except tht 
t w e n t y - s e V e n 
Senators who 
poisoned them- 
selves rather 
than submit to 
Rome, the in- 
habitants were 
either put to the 
sword or sold as 
slaves. Hanni- 
bal seemed to 
bear a charmed 
life, and al- 
though his sol- 
diers deserted by 
hundreds to the 
Romans, and 
Mago who was 

sent to Carthage to ask for aid was detained there until it was too late for 
him to be of any assistance, Hannibal, by his swift movements and wonderful 
generalship, kept the Romans in a constant state of anxiety and alarm. Every- 
where except in the heart of Italy Rome was victorious. Upon the seas the Roman 
fleets defeated those of Carthage, and in Spain Hasdrubal, too, was defeated. He 
marched with his army to the aid of Hannibal, was met by Nero, his army routed 
and he himself slain. At last Rome sent an army under the Scipio, afterward called 
Africanus, to attack Carthage. When he had taken Utica the Council summoned 
Hannibal to aid in expelling the foe, or if that were not possible, to protect Carthage. 

It was with the deepest grief Hannibal retired from Italj', but his vow had not 
been ill-performed, lor in the seventeen years that he had commanded the army in 
Italy, he had slain 300,000 Romans, sent home vast treasures, and had drained the 
Roman resources by compelling .the Roman armies to constantly be upon the alert. 
Hannibal's fame had long preceded him, and when he landed at Leptis, after thirty-six 
years' absence from his native land, thousands flocked to join him. It was with only 
a handful of his veterans and these raw recruits that he was expected to front and 
conquer Scipio. 

Hannibal knew that no amount of experience or military genius could insure his 
success with such soldiers, and he attempted to negotiate peace with Scipio. The 
Roman made such terms that Hannibal could not honorably accept them and he 
reluctantly determined upon battle. It was at Zama that the Carthaginians utterly 
defeated by Scipio, saw the sun of their hope go down in blood. Nothing was left 
but to accept the peace offered by Rome, giving up her ships, her army, her foreign 




CARTHAGE. 123 

possessions — even Spain, and promising to make no war without Rome's consent, and 
to pay an immense yearly tribute to the victor, Carthage, at the end of the second 
Punic war was humbled to the dust. 

Carthage, true to her ungrateful and cruel character, drove Hannibal into 
exile, but although his conqueror, Scipio, received the greatest honor from his 
countrymen, he, too, died a wanderef from his native land about the same time that 
Hannibal, houndeti from every refuge by Roman vengeance, at last took poison to 
escape capture, dying as he had lived Rome's enemy to the last. 

After the second Punic war Carthage was harassed by her foes at home, but 
Rome always sided against her when she complained to the Senate. These humili- 
ations were borne until the Numidian king, instigated perhaps by Rome, seized upon 
some of the territory of the Republic, when the Carthaginians resorted to arms in 
defense of their rights. The Roman Senate, influenced no doubt by the eloquence 
of Cato, who hated Carthage, declared war upon the republic, pretending that it had 
violated the treaty. Carthage hastened to throw itself upon Roman mercy, whose 
quality is now pretty well known, and was not very different from what Cartha- 
ginian mercy might have been under the same circumstances. After banishing three 
hundred of her citizens and giving up all their arms, the Carthaginians thought Rome 
would be pacified, but when they were commanded to leave their city forever that it 
might be burned to the ground, and to build a town without walls ten miles from the 
sea, the Carthaginians, made desperate by such a cruel demand, determined to die 
beneath the ruins of their city with weapons in their hands rather than submit. 

They had neither arms nor military stores, but they turned their temples into 
workshops, tore down public buildings to provide wood and metal, and made cata- 
pults for their walls, arms and munitions, for their troops. Men, women, and even 
children, who were old enough, aided in the work, the women cutting off their long 
hair to be twisted into bow-strings, and inspiring the men to defend them and their 
homes to the bitter end, all alike knowing that the end would be death and destruc- 
tion to their capital. During all this time the Romans lay but six miles away at Utica, 
and when they advanced against Carthage expecting to find the walls without 
defenders, they were astonished to see that Carthage had still left some of that 
martial spirit that had won her renown in the olden days. For two years Carthage 
repulsed every attempt of the I^omans to take it, but in the third year it was cap- 
tured, the inhabitants fighting the Romans in the streets and from the house-tops, 
until Scipio, the adopted son of Africanus, set the city on fire. Even then the Car- 
thaginians refuseil to surrender, and not until the flames had raged for six days did 
the fifty thousand surviving men, women and children give way and deliver them- 
selves to the Romans. 

One of the Suffetes, a certain Hasdrubal, deserted his countrymen just after the 
Romans called upon the citadel to surrender, and submitted to Scipio. The conqueror 
made him sit at his feet in sight of the Carthaginians, who reviled him as traitor and 
coward. His own wife cursed him, killed her two children before his eyes and cast 
their bodies into a burning temple, flinging herself also into the flames rather than 
submit. 

Thus after seven hundred years of wealth and prosperity, Carthage was destroyed 
and her whole people, that had not perished by fire and sword, were sold into slavery. 
All the towns that remained faithful to her were treated in the same way, and Rome, 
now undisputed mistress of the West, was fully launched upon the flood-tide of 



I^+ 



CARTHAGE. 



conquest that led her to glory and ruin. At the time its destruction was decided 
on by Rome, Carthage had 700,000 inhabitants, only 50,000 of whom surrendered to 
the conquerors, the others having fallen in the siege or voluntarily sought death 
in the flames of the burning city. Carthage died in the noontide of its glory, for 
its vigor had not passed away and it would for a thousand years have ruled the 
commerce of the world and held an honorable place among nations, had not lust of 
wealth and power dominated it. The rivalry with Rome was its doom, for never yet 
did an Aryan nation struggle in vain against Shemite or Cushite, and never yet did 
the strength of the North meet the fire of the South but that it eventually quenched 
its brightness. The old gives way to the new, and thus is written "The story without 
end" — the world's history. 




^'-^^ 



>ia«\. 




r==Mr==Jr=i r==lr=^r=Sr=lr==ii==li==:ir=lr=lr==M m 




Y OW that we have told you the chief facts in the 
early story of Asia and Africa, from Egypt, the 
oldest founded of dead empires, to Carthage the 
latest, we will turn our eyes to the northward, 
1 to the continent of Europe, the stage upon which the 
f'J great Aryan race has played the chief part in the drama 

of history. Look upon the map and you will see that the 
southern part of Europe is made up of three bodies of land, 
whose ragged and irregular outlines would almost lead us to 
think that some dreadful force within the earth had torn them from the continent of 
Africa, and that the sea, the blue Mediterranean, had rushed in to fill the rift thus 
made. Fragments of land — little islands — everywhere dot this sea, as though they too 
had been torn from the one continent or the other. Long, long ago, before men or 
animals lived upon the earth, there might have been such a convulsion, and when the 
earth recovered from it, the appearance of the various bodies of land and water was 
very different from what it had been. At all events, the three peninsulas of southern 
Europe were formed in some way, at some time, and the most western, Spain, the 
country known to the ancient world as Iberia, is a rough square. The central pen- 
insula, Italy, is long and narrow, shapetl something like a boot, with Sicily lying very 
near the toe, and separated from it only by a narrow strait. The most Eastern 
peninsula of the three is so strangely penetrated by the sea that its lower half is 
nearly an island, while islands lie clustered about it so thickly that there is hardly 
room upon the map to print their names. This di\ision of the Eastern Peninsula is 
made by a long narrow gulf sweeping so far into the land that the southern part 
hangs only by a slender isthmus to the northern. Upon the coast-line of this south- 
ern peninsula the sea has worked its will, notching its edges and cutting far into its 
sides, until it has given to it very much the shape of a mulberry leaf, the isthmus 
being the stem and the lofty mountains which cross it the veins and ribs, holding, as 
it were, the land together. The northern peninsula, too, is scarcely less indented, 
but while we might imagine the lilue sea creeping to the edge of the land and shout- 
ing defiance to the mountains, contesting with them tor the lovely green valleys and 
fertile plains of the south, the nornhern peninsula is less plowed and furrowed by 
mountain chains, and gradually widens to the mainland, pushing back the eager arms 
of the ocean that so lovingly embraces its southern neighbor and all the fair little 



126 



GREECE. 




Grecian Ht'liiiet 




Pandean Pipes. 



isles to the East. This is the land of 
Greece, and not only the peninsulas and 
the islands, but the coast of Asia beyond 
them, have been made famous in song and 
story. There lived the Greeks, a people 
whose character, religion, love of nature 
and freedom, we may better understand if 
we will try to remember that they were 
cradled between seas and mountains, and 
had thus ever before them two of nature's 
most inspiring aspects. These two penin- 
sulas, together with the islands, are no 
larger than the State of Pennsylvania, but the land of Greece, small as it is, may be 
compared to a great light set upon a tower on some lofty rock of mid-ocean, for it 
cast a reflection not only upon the lands of the Mediterranean, but to the very heart 
of Western Asia ami the limits of Egypt, in its own day of glorj . That light has 
come down to us with undiminished brightness, as rays from stars that have been 
quenched for ages are still traveling through space to reach the earth. 

Unlike the rays of those vanished stars of the astronomers, the light from the 
fallen star of Greece is not scattered and lost in the world's darkness, but has been 
gathered into our literature, art and building, inwoven in our thoughts, laws, and 
customs and will grow brighter and brighter as the centuries of the world's civilization 
pass. The Greeks were an Aryan people, and it was probably from Phrygia, in Asia 
Minor, where this branch of the Aryans rested, when the movement began that 
peopled Persia anil India, that the Greeks came, founding near the Hellespont on the 
"ilion plain," the city of Troy, thence crossing over into Europe. How long they 
remained in Asia is not known, but long enough, no doubt, to have changed by 
contact with the pagan nations they found there, their notion of one God, an unseen, 
all-wise Creator, and to gather other ideas that they afterward worked out in their 
civilization. 

I do not mean that the Greeks would ever have been like the Cushite or Semite 
peoples, had they always lived among them. There was something high and noble 

in the Greek mind, 
even in its early 
rude days, which 
refined and beauti- 
fied that which was 
coarse, and took de- 
light in nothing bru- 
tal or savage. It was 
long before the He- 
brews went down into 
Egypt that the first 
Achaean and Ionian 
tribes of Aryans peo- 
pled Greece, and 
when the two tribes 
of Dorians and 




WW 

lOItk 







Grecian Dwclline. 



GREECE. 



127 




Greciau Head-Dress. 




lonians, who claimed descent 
from Hellen and Ion, crossed 
the Hellespont, carrying with 
them their knowledge of Phoe- 
nician culture and arts, and 
perhaps some ideas, too, that 
they had gathered in their travels 
in other portions of Asia, they 
found some of the country alread}' occupied, perhaps 
by Celtic races. These people they conquered, taking 
their lands and either driving them out or making 
them slaves. 

The Dorians settled in the north and the lonians 
along the coast, while in some parts of the southern 
peninsula the old Achaean population lived and built 
cities, and early began, as did the lonians, to show 
what remarkable people they were. Tt is through 
the Greeks that we have received all that was best 
in the ci\ilization of Egypt, Babylonia, Assj-ria, and 
perhaps older empires still, and what the}' bequeathed 
us the}' so refined by their touch that we have been 
unable, in spite of all our modern cleverness, to add 
much that is valuable. The Greeks imitated nothing. 

but were able to sift out and use the best of every- Demeu=r „r ceres, oodde^ of Agncmmre. 

thing in the civilization that lived upon earth in their da}', and it is not God's plan 
that the worst shall ever be preserved. You will be able to trace, as you follow 
civilization from the banks of the Xile to Asia, Europe, America and Japan, where 
only China and Russia intervene to break the complete circuit, back to the pre- 
historic empire of Central Arabia, how^ "truth crushed to earth" has risen again, and 
how error has been sifted out and thrown aside. 

Every civilization that we have studied is an improvement upon the one which 
went before it, for men's minds grew little by little until in the Greeks a natural 
genius for civilization led them on to accomplish in comparatively few centuries 
more than all the other nations combined had done for the world in all foregone 
times. The Greeks called themselves Hellenes, from their ancestor Hellen, and every 
country in which the Greeks settled was called Hellas. They called all other people 
'barbarians," even the Phoenicians, their neighbors in the early times, and later, the 
Remans, who were of their own blood but did not speak the language of Hellas, that 
being their manner of judging barbarians. Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia, are mostly 

level countries, with a large river for a natural highway, 
and no mountain barriers. On this account the people 
of each of those countries mixed freely together, and 
early became a united nation under one ruler; but Greece 
has not a single river that can be navigated, and is 
crossed by mountains lofty and almost impassable, which 
separate completely its different portions, therefore it 
was natural that Greece should have many states, all 
independent and often unfriendly to each other, and every 




Grecian i:ead-Dress. 



128 



GREECE. 




The Gliltou lis Worn by Men and Women. 



one holding itself strictly and proudly apart. These states were 
so small, with so few people and little wealth, that the king could 
not be surrounded with a splendid court and hold himself 
above the people, keeping himself secluded. Thus certain of 
the people consulted with him as to the best laws, and the 
idea of government which was maintained for the sole pleasure 
and benefit of the ruler, gave way after a while to the idea of 
government of the people — an entirely new one in the ancient 
world. 

Where there were so few people each individual was of 
importance, and his rights were regarded, while in Egypt, Bab}-- 
lonia and Assyria, where there were so many millions, the king 
could do about as he liked with the lives and property of hii; 
subjects without fear of rousing rebellion. 

It was not long after the Greeks established themselves in 
their new home in Europe that they came in contact with the 
Phcrnicians, who were even at t'lat early day sailing the seas to 
distant countries, bringing home in their ships gold, silver, dye- 
wood, wool, and the thousands of things they needed in their manufactures. 

The little Greek communities, although separated from each other by mountains, 
were nowhere distant from the sea, and there was but one Hellenic State that had 
no sea coast. Being the cleverest, keenest-witted and mose ingenious nation that 
ever lived, the Hellenic people soon learned all that the Phoenicians knew. They 
had already invented a language whose richness and eloquence were wonderful; and 
the alphabet which the Pho-nicians taught them enabled them to write their songs 
and stories, although at first they cared little for writing. They did care for ship- 
building, though, and built crafts modeled after those of the Phoenicians, and in 
time became great sailors. They may have learned of them too, how to build houses 
of stone, as they certainly did how to weigh and measure articles and to do other 
things just as useful. When the Greeks first began to sail the seas it was not for 
trade, but they would shelter their vessels in some snug island bay, and swoop down 

upon the Phoenician merchants ships, capture and plunder 
them, or descend upon the coast towns and villages of 
their neighbors, carry off the goods they found, and make 
slaves of the people. This pirate-life was not considered 
at all disgraceful, for those were the daj's when miglit 
was understood as right, antl those early Greeks probably 
thought piracy far more honorable than trade. 

We cannot go back to the very beginnings of the 

Hellenic people in Greece, because for hundreds of years 

nothing was written of their history, and event 1 lonur's 

poems, from which we learn so much about the early 

Greeks, were for centuries unwritten, and were merely 

\, related by those who had in turn received them orally 

from others. Who Homer was, and when he was born 

we do not certainly know, but as the Greek word "homer" 

, ,^„ means blind, he is supposed to have been a blind Greek 

ut>.aoith<,^^u^oi'imrlI^r^pZi,~ poet, born in some portion of Asiatic Hellas long before 




GREECE. 



I2g 




David, the poet-king of the Hebrews, reigned over the Jews. He is 
often called "the father of poetry," for he is supposed to have been 
the first poet who composed reallv great works. The two poems of 
Homer that have come down to us are the Iliad and the Odyssey, 
and as they tell not only of the great deeds of Greek heroes but 
explain also the nature of their gods, the Greeks prized them 
highly as sacred history somewhat as we do the Old Testament. The 
Iliad tells of the siege of the city of Troy, which, according to the 
reckonings of historians, occurred 1500 B. C., and the Odyssey 
describes the wanderings of Ulysses after the city was taken. 

Although the Trojan war occurred before Nineveh was founded, 
ant! but fifty years after the children of Jacob went down into Egypt 
and pitched their tents in the Land of Goshen, the Greeks must :e^^ 
have been even then a civilized people, for not only did they know 3^^-^^ 
how to build vessels, but to manufacture arms and armor, to build 
cities with walls, and to carve images of their gods. To explain to ueaiBu.stc.inomer. 

you how the Trojan war came to be fought I must tell you the story of the creation 
that the Greeks believed, and give you some idea of the gods they worshipped, for 
the early history of Greece is so inwoven with their religion that we cannot separate 
the two. Perhaps you have noticed that 
the higher idea people have of deity, the 
higher respect they have for their fellow- 
men, and when you understand the 
Greek ideas of the gods, you may be 
able to comprehend why the Greeks, 
in spite of their genius and reason- 
ableness, thought it no harm to lie, 
steal, and practice many other vices. 

The land in which the Greeks lived 
was made up of verdant valleys that in 
the spring were gay with violets, prim- 
roses and rare and beautiful flowers, and 
crossed by mountains whose summits 
seemed to touch the blue sky. The mild 
climate and pure air, made them not 
only vigorous, strong of body, and beau- 
tiful to look upon, but imaginative as 
well. Every clear stream slipping through 
the groves anil meadows, every fountain 
and forest nouk, they believed to be pre- 
sided over by some unseen spirit, and the 
fair islands l)'ing in the shining seas, upon 
which the sun smiled so lovingly and the 
moon shone with such a mellow light, 
they peopled with creatures of their fancy, 
and this same imaginative faculty they 
exercised in accounting for the creation 
of the world. In the beginning, so the i^ocaou. Rhodes, 2uo c.utury,B.c.^^to_M.- c^^^^^^^ 




I30 



GREECE. 




Zri.s. tliL- Mipri 



Greeks believed, all was confusion, and chaos and darkness 
covered all the universe. After awhile the earth separated 
itself from the sky, and over it there was a goddess, Ga^a, 
while over the sky was a god Uranus, both having been born 
of Chaos. Uranos and Ga^a married, so runs this story of 
the creation, although they were so different fron: each 
other that they could never agree. They had many chil- 
dren, seven of them beautiful and some hideous, and they 
all lived together on a high mountain, the most unruly 
family I think that can be imagined who cjiiarreled and 
fought much like half-savage humans. One of the sons, 
Kronos, whom we represent as "Father Time," at the com- 
mand of his mother Grea killed his father, Uranus, with a 
sharp sickle, and became king of the gods in his stead. 
>iA f . Kronos married one of his beautiful sisters, Rhea, and she 
was the first goddess or mortal to have a mother-in-law, and 
Gaea was as bad a mother-in-law, according to the Greek 
fable, as has ever been since, for after causing Kronos to 
kill Uranus, she told him that he should lose his kingdom 
through one of his children. To prevent this, Kronos swal- 
lowed each child that was born to Rhea as soon as it came 
into the world. At last Rhea, by Gx's advice, wrapped a stone in a cloth and gave it 
to Kronos to swallow instead of one of her children, and so saved one of her sons, 
which she carried to the island of Crete, where he was cared for by a beautiful 
she-goat. 

This son was named Zeus, and when he grew up, he was so grateful to the 
goat that had nourished him that when she died he took one of her horns and made 
a magic horn of it, that yielded to its owner whatever he wished for, to eat or drink, 
so you see the "horn of plenty" or cornucopia which we use as a symbol of abund- 
ance is very ancient. Rhea, so we are told, as soon as Zeus was well grown, gave to 
Kronos a drink that made him sick, and he threw up the five children he: iuul swal- 
lowed, all now full grown, too, and these Poseidon, Pluto, Here, Demeter and Hes- 
tia, led by Zeus, began to war against Kronos, and the other older gods and 
goddesses. W hen they had chained their enemies in Tartarus, guarded by the 
ugly monsters who had helped them in their battles, the six young gods fi.xed their 
dwelling in the skies and began to reign over men, for men had in the meantime 
been created. Ga^a could not bear to see the young gods peaceful and happy, so she 
created a race of giants to fight them. These giants tore up great rocks to fling at 
the gods, but in spite of their efforts, for they piled Movuit Pelion upon Ossa, they 
could not throw far enough, and Zeus at last crushed them under those very moun- 
tains, where they lay groaning forever after. 
\ /"xri ~ 7V\ Gaea then created a dreadful monster, but when 

^=--he, too, was about to be vanquished by Zeus 
^^2s--.»,.o'.s^:=^ I she threw him into Tartarus, and did nothing 



more to annoy the gods, who had many children 
who were also gods. Next to Zeus were Apollo, 
the god of music and of the sun, Athene, goddess 
of wisdom, Artemis the goddess of the chase, 

Greek TTO-TVheeled now. ait- i i i i- i i r \ 

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, ami Demeter. 




GREECE. 



131 




IK-ail of HcrliK-s. llic Messcusfr <if tliC * 
the Statue by Praxitellfs. 

the sun, moon and 



goddess of the fields, whose care was the flowers, grain and 
fruits of the earth. 

It would take a very large book to tell you all the fables 
or myths as they are called, about these gods, their loves, 
hates and adventures, but all of these stories have a moral. 
To us this religior of fable seems very strange, and we cannot 
understand how men as wise and clever as the Greeks could 
believe such nonsense, but when we examine it a little closer 
we find that it is not so unreasonable after all. Nature was to 
the Greeks a sealed book, and as little children watch with 
wonder the rising and setting of the sun, the twilight glow 
upon the western sky, the great round moon, twinkling 
stars, the darkness of night, and see in them something 
marvellous, so did the Greeks, and believed that creatures 
much like men, but with grand forms and beautiful faces, 
caused all these changes to happen. In other words, 
the Greeks saw something divine in^ every movement of 
stars, in the winds and waters, the daylight and the night time, and so may we 
even though we know they are but elements governed by fixed laws, many of 
which we know. It is not hard to see in the marriage of Gaia and Uranos the union 
of good and evil in the nature of men, as well as the union of night and day, which 
makes what we call time, for Kronos meant Time. Kronos, swallowing his infant 
children, Time swallowing up the hours, or Death swallowing up all men (for earth- 
life is but the infancy of man and eternity, 
where he will gain his growth), and delivering 
them up full grown, points to the immortality 
of the soul, while the victory of the beautiful 
and strong god, Zeus, is a symbol of the vic- 
tory of goodness, even over time as well as 
over all difficulties and dangers. The changes 
in the earth by convulsions of nature, earth- 
quakes and tempests, find their symbol in the 
contests of Zeus with the giants, and so we 
may find, if we search carefully the little 
seeds of truth among the errors of those old 
Greek fables. 

One of the fables of this old Greek 
religion or mythology, as it is called, tells 
how Athene — who, being the goddess of 
wisdom, should have known better — invited 
all thegods and goddesses to a wetlding feast, 
but slighted Eris, the goddess of Discord. 
When the gods and goddesses were seated at 
the banquet, the malicious Discord stole slyly 
up and threw upon the table a golden apple, 
upon which was written "For the most fair." 
Here, the queen of heaven, Athene and 
Aphrodite all immediately claimed the apple, ^^^^^^ ,j„^ u,ct..aui w.r. 




GREECE. 




HOil.l .)1 An. lu.>. 



and as the gods, very wisely I think, refused to decide the 
question, the three goddesses called upon Paris on Mount 
Ida, the shepherd son of Priam, king of Troj', to judge 
which of the three was " the most fair." Here promised 
Paris power and riches if he would decide for her, Athene 
offered him wisdom, but Aphrodite whispered that she 
would give him the fairest and most loving wife in Greece 
if he would award the apple to her, so Paris decided for 
X'enus, and to get "the fairest and most loving wife in 
Greece," sailed at once to that countrj\ 

He landed in Laconia, on the southern coast, and 
led by \'enus, went direct to Menelaus, the king, whose 
wife Helen was not only the most beautiful woman in 
Greece, the land of beautiful women, but in the whole 
world. As Paris was very hantlsomc and winning he soon 
jiersuadcd Helen to go away with him to his father's court 
of Troy. Before Helen married Menelaus she had many 
lovers, and when she finally chose the Laconian king for her 
husband, these lovers vowed to be her friend until death, and to fight for her cause if 
need be; then like the sensible Greeks that that they were, they each and every one 
went about their business, fell in love with somebody else, married and " settled 
down." 

These former suitors were unwilling enough to help Menelaus bring back his 
fickle Helen, but when he called upon them for help, Ajax, a very giant in size, 
Ulysses, Diomedes, and Xestor, the oldest Grecian chief, are said to have finally 
placed themselves with their followers under Agamemmon, brother of Menelaus, 
although we can hardly believe that in those rude days of war and violence the 
Greeks forgot their jealousies of each other and did what they never woukl do after- 
ward, all unite under one leader for any purpose whatever. We are told that with 
their followers they sailed away to Troy and besieged the city for ten years, doing 
there such great deeds, that even now the valor of Achilles and Hector, as painted 
by the glowing strains of Homer thrills the most unwarlike reader. The gods 
were mixed up with this siege, some fighting upon one side and some upon 
the other. The Trojan hero. Hector, was killed by Achilles, and his naked 
body dragged at the chariot wheels of his slayer, three times around the city's walls. 
Achilles himself, was struck in the heel by a poisoned arrow from the bow of Paris. 
Ajax killed himself because the armor of Achilles was given to Ulysses rather than 
himself, and his blood wherever it fell, so runs the tale, caused hyacinths to spring 
up from the ground those beautiful fiowers bearing upon their leaves the Greek 
letters Ai, the first two of the name of Ajax, and meaning also " woe," as symbolizing 
what Ajax felt in seeing wisdom placed before bravery. Still the Greeks could not 

take Troy. There was within the city a statue of Athene 
which was said to have fallen from the skies, and as they 
believed that this statue prevented the capture of the 
city, Ulysses and Diomedes disguised themselves, passed 
by night into Troy and stole the statue, but were no more 
successful afterward in the siege than they had been before. 
At last the Greeks built a huge wooden horse, filled it 




Grecian Slioe. 



GREECE. 



'00 




Greek Warrior. 



with soldiers, and pretending to leave it as an offering to Athene to 
win her from the Trojans, sailed away, not very far, however, but 
just out of sight, and lay with their ships behind an island. 

The Trojans, in spite of the warnings of Laocoon, priest of 
Neptune, dragged the horse into the city, and made a great feast of 
rejoicing over the departure of the Greeks. At night when the 
Trojans were asleep the Greeks who had sailed away, sailed back 
again, the soldiers came out of the wooden horse, opened the gates of 
the city, and Troy was taken, Paris and king Priam being killed and 
Helen given back to her husband. Ulysses wandered a long time and 
finally reached home safely. 

For centuries historians did not believe the story of the siege of 
Troy as told by Homer in the Iliad, and as some of it is certainly 
fable, thought that it all was untrue. In our own times a learned 
German, Dr. Schliemann, has found the ruins of an ancient city 
buried deep under the mold anil dust of ages, at the place where 
Homer describes Troy as having been, and bearing marks of having 
been destroyed by war, so we may really consider the Iliad as a 
mixture of history, fable, and mythology, and learn much of the manners and customs 
of the early Greeks by reading it. 

From Homer we learn that the Greeks in very early days had kings who were 
also the priests of the people, just as all nations do in their beginning, but in Greece, 
the kings had a number of chiefs for their counsellors. Although the kings did not 
always follow the advice of the chiefs, who told the common people the will of the 
king, their advice always had weight with him. The common people had no voice in 
anything that concerned the government. 

The southern peninsula of Greece whose outline is so much like a mulberry leaf, 
was called the Peloponessus. There is a legend that declares that long before the 
dawn of history, Pelops, son of the Phrygian king, Tantalus, brought thither the 
great wealth he had received when his father died, and founded a kingdom, so the 
southern portion of Greece, like the northern, traced the descent of its people back 
to Asia Minor, where so much of Hellenic history began and ended. Just south of 
the Peloponessus, is Crete, an island shaped much like a sickle, and it was there that 
Minos, a great and wise king is said to have lived and ruled before the clays of Pelops. 
It was not until long after his time that Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks in 
the Trojan war ruled in Argolis, but that the many cities of Argolis had thick walls for 
their defense against plunderers and pirates we know, for their massive ruins are still 
standing. 

The Peloponessus, is about as large as the State of New Hampshire, and had 
long been inhabited by the Achseans and lonians when the Dorians, who had grown 
into a hardy war-like tribe in the mountains of Northern Greece, left 
their homes, entered the Peloponessus, and after many years of war 
captured the strong castles and walled towns of Argolis. Just when they 
did this is not known for certain but it is supposed to have been about 
the time when the Trojan war ended. Leaving bands of their com- 
rades to hold what they had taken, the Dorians moved southward, con- 
quering as they went, either driving out the Achaeans and lonians or 
making slaves of them. To these more refined Greeks the Dorians must 




Grtclau Heud-Dress. 



134 



GREECE. 




have seemed rude and half barbarous, and rather than submit 
to them many left their homes and sailed to the islands and the 
coast of Asia Minor. It was then that Miletus, Eph'esus, and 
manj' other cities of Asia Minor that became famous and splendid 
were founded, and all along the shores of the Mediterranean 
sea Greek colonies were planted, and Greek influence began to 
make itself felt in the world. 

The Dorians, too, made foreign settlements, and when the real 
history of Greece begins we find them masters of the Pelopo- 
nessus, having little by little conquered it all except a mountainous 
State in the center of the peninsula called Arcadia and the State 
of Acha^a in the northwest, botli peopled by the tribes who had 
once been all powerful upon the peninsula. The Dorians had 
made slaves of thousands of the conquered people, but unlike the 
lowest caste in India who were made slaves in the same way, the 
conquered Acha;ans were Greek like their conquerors, and like 
them, had the pride and independence of the Aryan race. The 
poorer classes were matle Helots, and were compelled to work the 
land of their owners without reward, while those who had been land owners were 
allowed to hold their land but not to sell it, were compelled to give a certain portion 
of their crops to the support of their conquerors, but had no voice in the govern- 
ment, and like the Helots were forbidden to marry Dorians. On account of the 
nature of the country the invaders were obligctl. in making their conquests and 
settlements, to divide mto bands and as these bands increased in numbers, new 
States were formed and new cities sprang up. These States were small, often no 
larger than a county in our own country, and the citizens could all meet at some 
place to decide upon matters of public importance. xAlthough the people of these 
little States spoke the same language and worshipped the same gods, their laws and 
customs were very different, anil there was never a union between them, such as we find 
between the States of America, but they would often join each other in celebrating 
religious games and festivals, and would agree no matter what cause they might 
have of quarrel, to lay it aside during such time as the festival was being 
held. 

Worshipping together at the altars of the same gods, finally led 
several of the States to form a league to preserve the temples of these 
gods, and although these States might quarrel or even fight, they made 
a solemn vow, which they faithfully kept, that they would not destroy 
each other's towns, nor cut off the running water from each other's cities 
in time of siege, thus robbing war of much horror. Besides their deities 
the Greeks had heroes from whom the kings were descended, and these 
helped by the gods, performed marvellous deeds. One of these heroes, 
Hercules, the son of Zeus and Alcmena, a mortal, was hated by Hero 
from his birth, and through this hatred he was compelled to perform 
twelve labors, among which were the strangling of a lion, killing a 
monster, and doing various other difficult things. When these labors 
were all performed, Hercules, like Samson of old and many common men 
of modern times, was brought to grief by a woman. His wife was jealous 
of her great lord, and gave to him a shirt which she had dipped in the 




Tlic Comblii.Ml Clilton and 
CliuUugs worn by Womeu. 



GREECE. 



135 




Greek Peasants. 



blood of a dying- Centaur whom Hercules had killed, 
for she thought the shirt thus dipped would prov^e 
a love charm to win Hercules back to her, but 
instead it was deadly poison, and killed him. 

In the wanderings of Hercules he had been driven 
out of the Peloponessus, and as the leaders of the 
Dorians who invaded that peninsula, claimed descent 
from Hercules, their conquest of the Peloponessus 
was known in history as "The Return of the Here- 
clida;." The Aetolians who helped the Dorians in 
their conquests were given a small State in the 
western part of the peninsula which theycalled Elis, 
in which grew up several cities. Achaja had twelve 
cities. These cities, the Dorian city of Argos (which 
was very rich and owned a fertile strip of territory 
down the east coast,) the two Dorian cities, Corinth 
and Sikyon, and nine others joined in a league to 
protect the temple at Argos — Argos being the leading 
State in this league. The Delphic oracle had long 
been protected by such a league, and gained great fame all over the ancient world. 

Among the many bands of Dorians that founded cities in the Peloponessus, there 
was one that seized upon the wheat fields that had long been cultivated by the 
Acha^ans at the foot of Mount Taygetes, on the banks of the river Eurotas in the 
southern part of the peninsula founding the city ami State of Sparta. * 

Each of the Dorian bands in the Peloponessus had lieen obliged at first to live 
in the conquered communities as bands of soldiers, but after awhile they made 
friends with the conquered people, gradually took up peaceable ways and lived in 
their cities more like city people live in our own day, Sparta alone being always at 
war with the old Achaean population and neighboring Dorian colonies. 

The tendency of Sparta to rule the Helots harshly and to quarrel with her 
neighbors, compelled the Spartans to always be on their guard against dangerous 
uprisings, and so they lived in their city much as soldiers live in a camp, ami every 
man was trained for war as his chief occupation in life. The city was built without 
walls so the people should be compelled to rely upon their own bravery to defend 
their homes, and as it was so far from the sea, and was surrounded by mountains, 
their Achecan slaves and their neighbors were the foes they most dreaded, since there 
was little in Sparta to tempt a foreign conqueror. 

The Spartans were a remarkable people, and the laws and customs which formed 
their character made them different from the other Dorian tribes, and from any 
other nation, ancient or modern. These laws are said to have 
been founded by Lycurgus, one of their earliest law-makers, but 
when we study them, we find that they arose one by one out of 
the necessities of the people, surrounded as they were by 
enemies, and they are probably not the work of any one mail 
or any one period of Sparta, but grew up little by little. 

Lycurgus, then, while he may have been a wise and great 
man who did much for his country, could not have been the 
founder of Spartan laws and customs, any more than IMenes 




' Sparta meaus the "sov/u lacds." 



Doric Capital. 



136 



GREECE. 




could have taught the Egyptians everything that was unknown before 
his time, or the Chinese Emperors could have invented all the won- 
derful things attributed to them; for laws like other human institutions 
are of slow growth, and keep pace with the development of nations. In 
all countries the citizen of a State is taught that he owes a certain duty to 
his country, but he is supposed to consider his family and his personal 
affairs, in time of peace, of the chief importance. In Sparta the citizen 
was taught that his whole life belonged to his country, and that society, 
business, his family or personal affairs were not to be considered before 
his duty to the State, and in fact, were not to be considered at all, as the 
State would take care of them. 
'■'"" "'"" Upon the sea coast the Dorians soon became rich, for they traded 

with the Phoenicians, and learned to manufacture articles for commerce. Riches 
brought luxury, and contact with Asiatic civilization in time, changed the old simple 
manners of the people, and the military spirit so far declined, that the Dorian rule was 
broken, and the old Achrean population mixed in the government and gained power. 
Sparta was so placed that it could keep itself free from foreign influences, and when 
it was seen to what a pass the Dorian rule in other parts of the Peloponessus had 
been brought by the growth of riches, the Spartan law-givers determined to prevent 
their people from engaging in trade at all. 

To this end they coined iron as money, a metal so heavy that one person could 
not carry very much of it about with him, and so common that the neighboring States 
would not take it in payment for anything. Thus the Spartans were themselves com- 
pelled to make the few articles of clothing, arms antl furniture that they used. As 
the Helots tilled the soil to supply them with grain, vegetables and fruits, and as 
wild game was plentiful upon the mountains and in the forests, the Spartans were 
enabled to get all the necessaries of life, their iron money being as good as any 
other for the little trade in the articles of daily use that they required. 

The Spartans, having but few household goods, built plain and simple houses. 
Yet the Spartans were Greeks and the Hellenic genius for the beautiful tinged their 
plain dwellings ami their simple furniture. Their chairs, vases, cups and utensils 
were of the most graceful patterns, exquisitely made, and everything served the 
double purpose of use and ornament. 

It was this appreciation of the beautiful, that kept the Spartan character from 
growing, under their singular laws, as cruel and unlovely as that of the Carthaginians 
and made them always sympathize with the noblest strains of the poets and the 
grandest efforts of the sculptors of Hellas. From the hour of his birth to the hour 
of his death, every Spartan was considered a citizen of the State, and he early 
learned to prize that citizenship above everything else in the wt)rld. C)n]y strong and 
healthy infants were allowed to live, and the puny and misshapen babes were exposed 

naked, to die in a deep chasm 
- on the mountain side. The 
^ Spartans had an idea that it was 
a real kindness to a deformed or 
sickly child to take its life in 
that way. and thus save it from 
suffering, and a duty to the State 
to bring up only strong, hearty 




(From u Vase PamUng.) 



GREECE. 



137 




and well-formed children. I 
suppose Spartan children were 
loved as children are the world 
over, for there is no law that 
can govern mother-love or 
fatherly pride, but Spartan 
parents were forbidden to 
show affection for their chil- 
dren, or to pamper them in 
any way, for it was not desired 
that children, especially boys, 

should form an affection for DuncAi.luir.l,,.,-. <,k.bk- and Ktozc. FromthfTcinpIcof Mim.rvaatAfsni.l. 

their home, or parents, that might rise above their love for their country. When the 
Spartan boys were seven years old, they were supposed to know enough reading and 
writing to answer every requirement they would have for such an unwarlike accom- 
plishment, and they were then put in charge of a " boy-leader " and trained. The 
Persian training was mild compared to the Spartan, and the boys who lived through 
it, grew up so hardened to suffering, that they could endure hunger, cold, weariness, 
pain and sleeplessness with indifference, and they had been so accustomed to danger 
from babyhood, that they feared nothing. 

Their beds were made of reeds which they gathered with their own hands from 
the river banks, and for blankets they could gather dry grass and thistle down if they 
were so luxurious in their tastes as to want to sleep warmly covered. Their clothing 
thin and scanty, was the same both in summer and winter, and frequent bathing was 
discouraged as too effeminate. The Spartan lads ate their meals at public tables, 
fifteen boys at each mess, and their chief article of food was black broth with now 
and then a few figs or olives or a little meat or fish, and the portion served to each 
was so scanty that the boys of our day would hardly think it deserved the name of a 
meal. 

While they ate, the boys were questioned by their pedagogue and their answers 
were e.xpected to be sharp and ready, and they were encouraged to joke each other 
without giving offence, sing songs, dance and recite poetry when assembled for the 
public meals. 

Their whole time during the day was spent in gymnastic exercises, such as 
running, leaping, wrestling and hurling the javelin, and they were sometimes publicly 
flogged before the altars of the gods, until the blood flowed from each stroke, and, 
though they might die under the torture they uttered no complaint. The Persian 
boys were taught to speak the truth, but the Spartan lads were taught to lie and steal 
and fearfully punished if they were discovered in eilher, so they grew up few of 
words, bold of deed, hardy, courageous and crafty, and although they had little love 
for learning and no family affection, they possessed veneration for the old men of the 
city, and a passionate devotion to the State that had been such a hard task-master to 
them. 

When they were grown up, however, the training of the Spartan citizen con- 
tinued much the same. When he arrived at the proper age, twenty-five, he was 
obliged to marry or was compelled to do disgraceful acts of penance for beino- 
a bachelor. When he was married he was not allowed to live at home with his wife 
and little ones, but was compelled to eat at the public table, sleep in the barracks 



138 



GREECE. 



and spend his leisure time, when not drilling, in hunting, dancing at the festivals of 
the gods, or in some public affair, and could not idle away his days or evening hours 
at home. 

The Spartan girls were trained as much as were their brothers, except that they 
ate and slept at home. They grew up healthy, strong and beautiful, with a hatred 
for cowards and a love for brave men. The Spartan women were not kept in seclu- 
sion, as they were in most of the Greek States, but attended all the festivals ami 
public gatherings, and were present at the gymnastic contests, and they had so mucii 
of the patriotism and high spirit of the men, that they were far more like the women 
of .America and England to-day than any women of ancient times; the Spartans and 
Roman matrons being the most attractive of historj'. The Spartan laws were 

enforced by two kings, and a 
senate of twenty-eight old men, 
all beyond si.xty years of age, 
but in course of time they had 
also Ephors or Judges who per- 
tormed all State business, and 
were not called to account by 
anybody. Having always a large 
body of soldiers, the Spartans 
began slowly to conquer the 
country eastward, and soon took 
some of the coast territory of 
Argos, and made of that State a 
rival and enemy by driving the 
.Argives completely out of La- 
conia and making all the land 
between Mount Taygctus and 
the sea, on the east, her own. 
.Sparta became the leading State 
in the Peloponessus. 

Most of the Grecian States 
were not long in getting rid of 
kings, (although they only had 
one at a time.) and establishing 
the rule of either the nobles or 
the people, but Sparta had two 
kings for centuries, who acted 
as a check upon each other, and 
this is how it came about, if we 
are to believe the story. 

The chief of that Dorian 
band that founded Sparta, had 
twin sons who were mere babes 
when their father died. The 
Dorians sent to Delphi to ask 
the oracle which of the infants 
they should make their king. 




IiiteriMr of Itie .Jupiter TiUifte at < 



;lter Statue of Pleidlas. Keslored. 



GREECE. 



139 



and the oracle, always clever and two-sided, sent back the reply that they should 
make them both kings but give the eldest most honor. The mother of the twin sons 
pretended that she did not know which was born tirst, and so the Spartans were in a 
dilemma. Finally theyset a watch upon her, and noticed that she washed and fed 
the same child first every day, so they concluded, stupidly enough I think, that this 
was the elder, brought him up in the palace as king, and when he was grown up, his 
envious brother hated him. and they quarrelled and plotted against each other as did 
their descendants ever after. 

Perhaps the Spartans thought that two kings were better than one or even none, 
for they were so busy hating each other and planning to limit each other's authorit}', 




Olympian Games. 



that they had no time to interfere with the liberty of the State. At anyrate it usually 
happened that way, and the little authority divided among two, became very small 
indeed. One of the honors vouchsafed the Spartan kings would not be very eagerly 
sought after by most kings, that was leading the advance in battle, and being the 
last in retreat, but to the glory of Sparta's kings be it said, they prized that honor as 
they did their crown. 

Sparta, as the leading State of the Peloponessus, put itself at the head of the 
eighteen cities that were united for the protection of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, 
in the northwestern part of the peninsula, and instituted a festival and games in 
honor of the gods which became famous throughout all Greece and Asia Minor. 

This festival was celebrated every four years and lasted from June 21 to Jul}- 21, 
the victors in the contests of strength and skill receiving a crown of wild olives as the 



I40 



GREECE. 




victors In the Olymptan Gamc» 

was called) from 776 13 
The games 



had been 



prize. The most powerful princes and even kings 
tried hard to win this prize, and every State took pride 
in the victory of one of its citizens, the Spartans 
allowing such victors to fight side by side with their 
kings. 

In time all the roads leading to Olympia were 
improved and the grounds whereon the festival was held 
were adorned with statues of the victors and of the 
L^ods. A magnificent temple and statue of Zeus, and 
:reasure houses of the different Greek States were 
also located on the grounds and every device of art and 
nature employed to make them attractive. 

Once in four years the Greeks felt that they were 
a united people, for they laitl aside all bitterness, 
quarrels and warfare, and mingled their prayers to the 
same gods in the same language, felt a like eagerness 
for the victory of their champions and a like joy in 
their success. Time came to be reckoned by Olym- 
piads, (as the period of four years between the games 
C, forty years before the Spartans took the lead, 
celebrated for so long a period before the first 
recorded Olympiad that the Greeks declare that Hercules instituted them. After 
the conquest of Laconia and being acknowledged the leader of the religious 
league, martial Sparta decided upon the conquest of the Dorian tribe that had 
established a State west of Sparta, which they had called Messenia. Two long 
and bloody wars lasting nearly forty years were fought, and though the brave 
Messenians struggled manfully they were at last overcome. 

We are told that the Messenian hero, Aristomenes, whose daring deeds inspired 
again and again the courage of his countrymen, entered Sparta by night and nailed 
hTs shield upon the walls of the temple of Athene as a token of defiance, and to show 
the Spartans how little his countrymen feared them. 

In the second war the Messenians gained victory upon victory, and the Spartans 
were almost in despair when the lame Athenian poet, Tyrtncus came among them. 
Tyrta^us was a school-master, a character not very highly esteemed in Sparta, and we 
are told that when the Spartans despairing of success sent to Athens for a leader in 
the war, the Athenians sent Tyrtseus to them, meaning thus to mock and insult them. 
Lame, though Tyrta^us was, however, he had the sacred fire of poesy burning within 
his deformed frame, and his martial songs so fired the imagination and roused the 
battle frenzy of the Spartan soldiers as they sang them before the tent of the king 
and on the march, that the decision to conquer or die, to vindicate the glory 
of the Spartan name or fall beneath the swords of their enemies, urged them 
to deeds of valor that turned the tide of war and made them victors. 

The wisest and most skillful Athenian general that could have been sent to 
Sparta in her hour of peril could not have done more for the State than did the lame 
school-master, for the sword strokes of the Spartans were timed to his poetry, and 
the victory that neither patriotism nor skill could gain, was won by song. No doubt 
the Messenians, who were all made slaves, hated Tyrta^us right heartily. Certainly 
they hated their conquerors, and with good cause. For three hundred years the 



GREECE. 



141 



Messenians were Helots, and so many and dangerous were their insurrections, that 
from time to time bands of Spartan youths were secretly sent out to murder the most 
intelligent and able bodied Helots, both Dorian and Achaean. The Spartans with all 
their cruelty, could not crush the spirit of liberty which dwelt with the Messenians in 
their slavery, for no Aryan people ever yet tamely submitted to such a fate, nor ever 
will. The heritage of the Aryan race is a freedom that brooks neither the tyranny 
of kings nor the pride of conquerors. 

Could the story of the Spartan Helots have been preserved to us, the deeds of 
Homer's heroes, who fought more for the love of battle than for a cause, would no 
doubt seem tame when compared with their heroic but useless struggle against their 
hard fate. What poets, artists, sculptors and warriors were crushed by Sparta's iron 
hands! What genius was forever silenced! WHiat creations of fancy stifled in the 
brain of the slave who toiled in the fields, that his fathers had reclaimed from the 
wilderness and dwelt upon a free man! In the veins of the Helots the Doric blood 
may have been as pure as in those of his master, or perhaps Achaean valor, and 
Dorian subtlety were the motive power, which, tempered by the Hellenic genius, might 
have evolved civilizations as glorious as as that of Athens, and might have left to the 
world new forms of worth and beauty, instead of that spectacle of a Spartan 
military despotism which conferred no blessing upon the world. Sparta, as a State, 
left no worthy example for the world to follow, and although its sway lasted for 
centuries, it made no lasting impression upon the history of the human race, and that 
only is the true test of greatness. 

The history of Sparta is not all of the story of the Dorian race in the Pelop'o- 
nes^us. In the northeast corner of the peninsula were two little States, Sikyon 
and Corinth, and Megara on the isthmus Joined the two peninsulas. In all of these 
States bands of Dorians lived among the old Achaean population. These various 
Dorian communities soon did away with kingly rule, and the nobles took the govern- 
ment into their own hands, and, keeping themselves apart from the common people 
over whom they ruled, considered themselves the State. Not only were they a law 
unto themselves but they worshipped the gods in a manner not allowed to the com- 
mon people, and would not even fight side by side with them against their enemies. 

After enduring these haughty and unreasonable nobles for a long while, the com- 
mon people of Sikyon put themselves under the leadership of Orthagoras and made 
him a king or tyrant, the Greek word tyrant meaning not one who is necessarily cruel, 
but who reigns contrary to former laws. For a hundred years the descendants of 
Orthagoras ruled over Sikyon, one of them being Cleisthines, the wise and gracious 
tyrant from whom many famous Greek poets and Statesmen were descended. 

At Corinth, too, kings gave way to nobles, who were as haughty and foolish as 
those of Sikyon and were overthrown in the same way by a certain Cypselus, whom 
the ever-convenient oracle was said to have declared at his 
birth to be the future ruler of Corinth, although it is my 
humble opinion that the oracle, who always favored the richest 
inquirers, was bribed to give the prophecy about the time 
Cypselus made up his mind to become tyrant of Corinth. 
When Cypselus, who was a wise and good ruler, died after a 
reign of thirty years, he left his kingdom to his son, Periander, 
who was a tyrant indeed, as bloody and cruel as any Asiatic 
despot. Periander murdered his wife, Melissa in a fit of 
jealousy, and then claimed that he was commanded to do so 




Ionic Capital. 



142 



GREECE. 




by the oracle, who was obliged to shoulder most of the sins of the 
Greeks, and was willing enough too, perhaps, if richlj' rewarded. 
His son, Lycophron, refused to have anything to do with his 
inhuman father and fled to Corfu where he became king. When 
Periander grew to be a very old man he repented of his evil deeds, 
a sort of repentance that counts for little I should say, for a man 
who has grown too feeble to do evil finds it easy enough to refrain 
from it and to repent. Periander then sent to Lj-cophron and 
asked him to come back to Corinth, so that he might inherit his 
kingdom, but when Lycophron steadily refused to return as long 
as his father was king, Periander offered to give him Corinth and 
in exchange receive Corfu. The Corfuans, when they heard of 
the proposed e.xchange of kingdoms, killed Lycophron to escape 
piat^toeGi5^th?^^rR^^to^ having his bloody-minded old father for their king, so Periander 
haviniT no son to whom he could leave Corinth, left it to Gordius, one of his relatives. 
Sparta saw with much uneasiness the Dorian rule broken down at Corinth, Sik- 
yon and elsewhere in the Peloponessus, and the seating of tyrants by the revolted 
Achaian and Ionian common people. Determined that they would never permit such 
a state of things in Laconia, they executed their laws very strictly and after tlie 
death of Periander decided to drive the tyrants from the Peloponessus. For this 
inir[)ose Sparta sent to the States of Northern Greece proposing an alliance and 
when these alliances were made the dauntless Spartans drove the tyrants from Sik- 
yon and Corinth, about the middle of the Sixth Century B. C. and became supreme 
in the Peloponessus, although tyrants continued to reign in the Greek cities of Asia 
Minor. 

By this time the Greek cities planted around the Mediterranean were rich and 
flourishing. Massalia (Marseilles) in Southern Europe, Saguntum in Spain, Syracuse 
and Agrigcntum in Italy, Cyrcne and Naucratis in Africa, Sinope and Trebizond on 
the shores of the Black Sea, and other cities upon the islands and coast of Asia Minor 
had risen into power. It was about this time, too, that Cambjses, the Persian king 
invaded Egypt, and when Samos revolted from the Persians and set up a tyrant, 
Sparta, dreaming of island conquest sent a Corinthian fleet against Samos. The 
tyrant, the famous Polycrates, patron of arts and literature, defeated the Spartans, 
and considerably humbled in their own estimation they returned to Laconia. 

Just across from Argolis is Attica, a peninsula, shaped something like a shoe, 
which is surrounded on three sides by water. This peninsula, mountainous, poorly 
watered and barren, attracted little attention from foreign conquerors. It is but fifty 
miles long and thirty wide, and contains only about 700 square miles all told, in 
which there is not more tillable soil than is comprised in one of our great Dakota 
wheat farms. Small and barren though it is Attica has a climate of such wonderful 
mildness and evenness, an atmosphere so jnire, transparent and in\ igorating, such 
blue skies and encircling blue seas, and such beautiful landscapes that it was just 
the place for the development of an artistic people. It was there surrounded by 
beauty, the mountains, seas and nature's most enchanting loveliness that the greatest 
noblest-soulcd, most reflective, deepest and yet keenest and cleverest people the 
world has ever seen built up a remarkable civilization. 

From very early times Attica had cities, and long before the Trojan war, Cecrops 
the Egyptian, sailed away from the Nile valley and carried to Greece the arts and 



GREECE. 



143 




civilization of his native land. This new and powerful influence 
quickened the artistic impulse of the people, and gave a new 
direction to their genius. Egypt was then in the golden afternoon 
of her day of glory, and her arts and building had reached their 
perfection, but to the Greek mind the rudeness of Egyptian 
sculpture was offensive and the hideous features of their gods 
inspired neither respect nor reverence. 

We can see the real greatness of the Greeks in the way in 
which they adopted Egyptian architecture and art and made it 
characteristic of the Hellenic people, by gi\'ing new form and 
e.xpression, grace and beauty to it. They purified and idealized 
the gods by giving to them instead of monstrous animal shapes 
the most perfect and beautiful human forms and calm, majestic 
countenances, endowing them at the same time with feelings and 
passions that brought them into sympathy with men. 

Cecrops then, was like the rain or sunlight that calls forth 
from the earth the germ that lies hidden in the rich mold. In the 
Greek mind lay enfolded, as the oak lies in the acorn, that which 
only needed the sun and rain of a quickening power to make it 
blossom and bear fruit', and rich fruit indeed it was, for Attica 
soon became the heart antl brain of Greece, the voice of Hellas. He.-.>, or jmio, tho quccd of Heav™ 
Tradition says that Cecrops divided the Attic people into twelve tribes- instituted 
marriage and the worship of the gods; did away with bloody sacrifices; founded 
Athens five miles from the sea and planted upon its sacred hill the altars of the gods; 
but all these things are so far back in the history of Attica that we do not know just 
when they occurred. 

There is a Greek myth that relates that when Zeus saw the city which Cecrops 
had founded in Attica he knew that it would become great and powerful, and called 'a 
council of the gods to give it a name. Poseidon god of the sea that embraced all the 
Attic land, and had given favoring winds to Cecrops, claimed that he should have the 
city named in his honor, while Athene, goddess of wisdom, who loved the Attic people 
no less than did Poseidon, wished to have the city named for her. Zeus decided that 
if Poseidon should be able to bring forth out of the earth a gift for man, which the 
assembled gods should declare was better than that which Athene could produce, 
the city should be called Poseidona, if not, its name should be Athens. Upon hearing- 
this decision of Zeus, Poseidon struck the earth with his three-pronged fork, and the 
hill, the Acropolis of Athens opened, and from the chasm, which closed after it, 
sprang the most beautiful snow-white horse that ever was seen. The horse galloped 
proudly over hill and valley, admired by all the gods, and Poseidon felt certain of 
victory. Athene stooped down and planted in the ground a little seed. The seed 
threw up stem, leaves, branches and grew high with dark green, clustering foliage, 
amid which gleamed an oval fruit. 

"My Gift, Oh Zeus," said Athene, "is the olive tree, which shall bring peace, 
plenty and happiness to mankind, and shall give health, strength and freedom, while 
the horse shall bring only war and strife to men." The gods with one voice decided 
for Athene, and the city was called Athens. 

We know of course that this story i,s only a myth, for horses careered over the 
plains of Central Asia, and olive trees grew wild in the valleys of Syria and upon the 



144 



GREECE. 



banks of the Euphrates ages before the first Greek set foot 
in Europe, but the Athenians believed it and to prove it 
pointed out an olive tree growing upon the Acropolis which 
they declared to be the verj^ tree Athene had brought forth 
before the assembled gods. 

From the days of Cecrops to the time of Theseus, who 
lived just before the Trojan war, the legends tell little about 
Athens. Theseus was the hero of Athenian legends, as Hercules 
was of the Dorian, and there are many beautiful stories told of 
his loves and adventures. He lived aboutthe time Minos reigned 
in Crete and it was he who freed Athens from the tribute of 
seven youths and maidens that it was obliged to send every nine 
years to Minos who sacrificed them to a monster, called a 
minotaur, as propitiation for the blood of his son who had been 
killed by the Athenians. 

From Cecrops to Theseus kings reigned in Attica, and from 
Theseus until the Dorians swept down from the north to find 
new homes in the Peloponessus other kings ruled, Codrus being 
king at the time of the Dorian invasion. Coldrus sent to the 
oracle at Delphi to ask how to protect Athens from the 
Dorians who were sweeping everything before them, and the 
i^riestly humbug who pretended to be an oracle, probably having 
reasons for desiring the death of the king, replied that if 
Codrus were slain bj' the enemj', Athens would be saved. 

It is not at all likely that the invaders had any idea of 
attacking poor and insigniiicant Athens or barren Attica for the 
rich plains to the south beckoned them, nevertheless Codrus 
e.xposed himself to the enemy and was killed, and the Athenians 
deciding that there was no one worthy to reign in the place of 
such a self-sacrificing patriot abolished the kingly office, and 
• jimerv»,thooodaes3of wMom. ■ ^^^^ Cedron his SOU, Archou for life. 

The Athenians were probably ready anyway to abolish kingly rule at this time, 
for they had outgrown their ancient form of government. Their king, like those of 
the other early nations, was their high-priest as well, ami in his double character of 
law-giver and the religious head of the nation had great influence and power, and a 
chance of accumulating much wealth from the offerings of the people at the shrines, 
as the nation mcreased in numbers, that would enable him to be a despot. There- 
fore the heads of several noble families took upon themselves, after the death 
of Codrus, the priestly offices and made the king simply a ruler, thus robbing him 
of a share of his influence and revenue and taking a step toward that kind of 
"government by the few" which existed at Corinth and Sikyon. 

From the year 753 B. C, a little before Sparta began to reach out after 
Messenia, the Archons at Athens held ofllce for ten years, but seventy j^ears 
later they were chosen for one year only. Nine such Archons from among 
the nobles ruled at once, each having separate offices in the nation and being 
judges, commanders of the army and having charge of other branches of the 
government. All thi.; time the common people, farmers, artisans and laborers, had 




+ This statuette, made of PeutlicUc iimrble. Is supposed Xd be a copy of the famous Mi'^t-rvu made for the Partheuon, \^y PhtUlos, 



GREECE. 



'45 



no share in the government. As there were no written laws and the judges were all 
chosen from among the nobles, they could neither get justice in the courts nor out. 
The people complained bitterly of the oppression of the nobles, and these complaints 
become so loud that the Archons, influenced, perhaps, by bribes from some of the 
common people who had grown rich by trade, appointed Draco one of the citizens 
from among the common people to collect and write all the laws then in force, and 
record also the legal punishments for all offenses. When this was done there was 
more dissatisfaction than before, for the laws were so unjust, so severe upon the 
common people and easy with the nobles, that the people were determined that the 
laws must be changed. At the height of this popular outcry against the nobles, a 
certain Cylon, himself a noble, seeing a chance to gain power declared himself 
for the common people, and told them that he was so grieved for their 
wrongs and so anxious to see them well-governed that he would sacrifice himself 
upon the altar of his patriotism and govern them himself. He then called upon 
them to drive out the Archons and Nobles, and with a few followers seized the 
citadel upon the Acropolis and there fortified himst^lf. The Athenians were a 
sensible people and saw at once that 
they would gain nothing by ex- 
changing their nine Archons and 
whole class of nobles, whom they 
could set upon each other and divide 
their plans of tyranny, for one 
tyrant who could do as he liked 
Therefore they refused to help Cylon 
and his followers, and they were so 
closely besieged that finally they were 
forced by famine to surrender. In 
Greece, no matter what crime a 
person had committed should he take 
refuge at the altars of the gods and 
plead for their protection and mercy, 
no one would lay hands upon him to 
arrest him. On the Acropolis were 
several altars, and Cylon escaping, his followers took refuge there. At last 
when they were nearly dead of hunger, Megacles, the Archon in command of the 
troops, solemnly promised that if they would leave the altars no harm should be 
done them. They yielded to his persuasion and every one of the worn out and 
defenceless men were killed by the soldiers, commanded to do the deed -by the 
treacherous Megacles. 

This atrocious massacre roused the common people to fury. They declared that 
Megacles and his whole clan, the Alcmseonidse, should be punished, and that if they 
were not, the curse of the gods would surely rest upon Athens. The nobles refused 
to bring Megacles to trial, and for several years the common people were so violent 
against the nobles, that the city was on the verge of civil war. Some years before 
(about 679 B. C.) Solon, then about forty years of age had returned from his travels 
and settled in Athens, his native city. He was a noble who traced his ancestry back 
to good king Codrus, but when he grew up was so poor that he was obliged to engage 
in trade. As a merchant, he traveled in Greece, Asia, Egypt and many foreign 




The Sacrifice to the Miuutaur. 



146 



GREECE. 




GREECE. 147 

countries, and had acquired not only a fine education, but wliat was better, a know- 
ledge of human nature. He had learned what was calculated to raise man in the 
scale of civilization and what should be avoided. 

When he had accumulated a comfortable fortune, Solon retired from business to 
enjoy his wealth and the society of his friends. It was about the time that he did so 
that .Athens lost the island of .Salamis. So severe had been the Athenian reverses 
in the war with Megara on account of the island, that when it finally ended in 
Athenian defeat the State made a law that whoever should even hint that Athens 
ought to attempt to recover Salamis, should be put to death. This law Solon thought 
shameful, so he wrote a stirring poem which set forth how disgraceful it was for 
Athens to submit to Megara. Pretending to be insane, he rushed into the market 
place, gathered a great crowd and read his poem to such good purpose that the law 
was revoked and an army raised and placed under his leadership. 

With this army Solon retook Salamis and became the most popular man in 
Athens, being considered wise, brave, and patriotic by all classes of the people. It 
was Solon who at last persuaded the clan of Megacles to allow themselves to be tried 
by a council of three hundred citizens. They were found guilty and banished. It 
was considered that Athens was still under the displeasure of the gods, so Epimenides, 
a wise man from Crete, was called to the city, by the advice of the Delphic oracle, 
and he performed certain ceremonies that were supposed to remove the curse. By 
the advice of Epimenides, Solon was made Archon and given power to reform the 
State, which by this time so much needed reforming, that it would have soon been 
destroyed by the quarrels and fights between the nobles and common people had not 
the Ijad and unjust laws been changed for better ones. For centuries the rich had 
been growing richer and the poor poorer, until matters at this time seemed almost 
hopeless. The common people were deeply in debt to the nobles, and when they had 
mortgaged their farms and goods to pay these debts, were often obliged to mortgage 
themselves also and their wives, sons and daughters. Failing to pay, whole families 
were sold as slaves. 

This state of things made the common people hate the oppressive nobles, who 
had so little regard for them as to treat them as though they were mere chattels. 
When Solon took the government he had a hard task to perform in setting matters 
rio-ht. He was so well beloved that he might have made himself king, but he was too 
wise to do so, and not only refused to exercise such power, but so formed his laws as 
to educate the people in ideas of self-government. His first act was to raise the value 
of the money of the State so that each coin had a much larger purchasing power. 
His next was to declare that all mortgages were unlawful. He forbade any man to 
pledge himself, his wife or children for a debt, and made it a crime for anyone to 
receive such a pledge. All who were slaves for debt were made free, and those who 
had been sold out of Attica were bought at public expense and brought back. 

Solon saw that it was wrong for any one class to be allowed all the offices in the 
State and use the public money, so he divided the people into four classes, according 
to their wealth, taxing highest the richest, relieving the poor entirely from taxes, and 
allowing all who had a certain amount of property to be eligible to ofiice, the poorest 
classes only excluded. The poor might rise to the other classes by accumulating 
property. To encourage the Athenians to manufacture articles which they needed, 
he prohibited the export of any of the products of the country except olive oil, and 
Athens soon became noted for its manufactures. Solon made a wise law which com- 



148 



GREECE. 



pelled a man to take one side or the other openly on political questions, and either 
be for the government or against it, so there was no "fence" upon which demagogues 
could perch in Athenian politics. Every man, rich and poor, high and low had a vote, 
and was obliged to exercise it, an excellent provision against indifference to the 
public goo^l. 

Before Solon's time it was the custom in Attica as in nearly all ancient countries 
to look upon marriage as a sort of money bargain in which the wife was sold to her 
husband, or the husband paid by her relatives to take her. Solon saw what a wrong 
idea such a bargain was, and how it placed the wife at disadvantage, making her an 
article of merchandise, so he made a law forbidding both customs in Attica, making 
marriage more dignitied. I should like to tell you more about Solon's laws, they were 
so wise and good, and many of them so curious, for they regulated private life as 
well as religion, and the behavior of public officers, but you will be more interested, 
1 think, in Solon himself. When he had seen his laws all firmly established, he left 

Greece, to escape the 
questions and criticisms 
of the Athenians, trust- 
ing that time would 
prove the wisdom of 
the constitution he had 
formed for them. He 
traveled about in Asia 
and Egj-pt for ten years, 
but when he returned 
he found that although 
his laws h^d been kept, 
there was much dissat- 
isfaction. One of the 
party leaders, Peisis- 
tratus was so crafty and 
clever in his dealings 
with the people that he 
would tinally be able to 
make himself tyrant. 
The pjthiBn omcii- PropiK'syiiig. Solon, now an old man, 

tried in vain to show the Athenians the folly of yielding to the plans of Peisistratus 
and endeavored to stir them up to take arms to defend their laws. They would not 
heed him, so he went sadly away to his own house, placed his weapons outside of his 
door, saying: "I have done all in my power to defend my courrtry and its laws," and 
never again raised his voice in public for Athens. He died in the first year of 
the reign of Peisistratus, who succeeded in making himself tyrant in 560 B. C., 
having realized nothing from his labors for Athens but anxiety, vexation and disap- 
pointment, but the world is indebted to Solon for many of its best institutions. 

Peisistratus, like the first tyrant of the other Greek States, in each case proved 
themselves, was a wise and vigorous ruler. He not only preserved the laws of Solon, 
but he made Athens the most beautiful city in all Greece, building artistic temples 
and public buildings which v/ere adorned by the most famous artists, erecting statues 
to the gods, and gathering about him learned men, poets and statesmen. It was 




GREECE. 149 

Peisistratus who collected Homer's poems, and caused them to be preserved in writing. 
After a reign of thirty-two years, Peisistratus died and left his kingdom to his two 
sons, Hippias and Hipparchus. To one of these, Hippias, many of the disasters that 
afterward overtook Greece maybe traced. 

Hipparchus was killed by an Athenian father and son whom he had insulted, and 
Hippias, who had-until that time reigned jointly with his brother, became sole ruler. 
He was so cruel and tyrannical that he rivaled in his atrocities the deeds of Periander. 
All this time, the clan and descendants of Megacles were in banishment. They 
had asked the Delphic oracle how to atone for the killing of the followers of Cylon, 
and the reply given commanded them to rebuild the temple at Delphi, which had in 
the meantime been destroyed by fire. This they did, and not only erected a far more 
beautiful and costly edifice than the former, but faced it with snow-white marble, 
adorning it with sculpture and a splendid shrine, for they were very rich. Of course 
the oracle was thereafter the sworn friend of the Alkmseonid^e, and when they 
requested that to every question asked by Sparta, the answer should be given 
"Athens must be freed," the oracle willingly agreed. The Spartans sent rich offer- 
ings with every question, but no matter what they asked, not a word good, or bad, 
could they get in reply but these, " Athens must be freed." 

They hesitated for some time, but at length, fearing the gods would punish them 
if they did not obey, they marched to Athens, accompanied by the exiled clan which 
was headed by two chiefs, Cleisthenes and Isagoras. Hippias was at the height of 
his unpopularity, and the Spartans and Alkmjeonidje had little trouble in overthrow- 
ing his government. They seated Cleisthenes in his place B.C. 510. Hippias and 
his sons were banished from Athens and when the city was thus freed, the oracle was 
satisfied and the Spartans returned to their country. 

Although Cleisthenes was a noble, he was of a far different stamp from his 
ancestor, Megacles, and was more like the wise Solon whom he greatly admired. 
Convinced that Solon's laws were the best his countrymen could receive, he enforced 
them strictly, and so amended them that the common people were given more privi- 
leges and a greater share in the government. He institutecl trial by jury and the 
payment of private citizens as representatives and jurors, thus enabling the poor to 
serve in such capacity. He also formed a council of five hundred citizens of all 
classes to serve as a Senate and perform all public business. This council was em- 
powered to determine at any time, whether the State was in tlanger of falling into 
the hands of an ambitious individual, and the people were to decide by vote who the 
individual might be, and banish (or ostracise as it was called,) such for ten years, six 
thousand votes being required for the banishment of the dangerous person. Anyone 
who desired to become Archon was obliged to submit his name to the assembly which 
selected a number of persons who drew lots for the offices, so demagogues had no 
chance of success. Ten generals or strategi, each commanding the army for twenty- 
four hours every ten days, took the place of military archon. 

Athens was now tree indeed, a true democracy, the first known to history. The 
Spartans witnessed with alarm the reforms of Cleisthenes, regretting that they had 
taken the advice of the oracle, and they were as anxious to overturn the democracy 
as they had been to unseat tyranny in Corinth and Sikyon, for both had been an 
expression of the will of the common people. 

Sparta's common people were Achcean and Messenian slaves, and should they get 
the power, as they would in case democracy became so strong in Greece that it could 



15° 



GREECE. 



help them, Sparta's own fate would be swift and certain. Sparta sent an army to help 
Isagoras, the other chief of the Alkmaeonedae, who was jealous of the popularity of 
Cleisthenes, to crush the new constitution. Coming suddenly upon Athens, unpre- 
pared to resist, the Spartans banished Cleisthenes and seven hundred citizens, and 
proclaimed Isagoras tyrant. .A.thens had been cowed once by a tyrant, and had 
submitted peacefully to the rule of his sons, but Cleisthenes had given the Athenians 
a taste of that larger liberty for which they thirsted, and they were done with tyrants 
and tyranny. 

They said as much to the Spartan king Cleomones, when he called upon the 
Council of Five Hundred to resign, and they backed up their arguments with such 
sturdy blows that when they had closely besieged Cleomones. his Spartans and 
Isagoras, in the ,'\crop()lis for three days, the invaders were glad enough to march out 




Th(_' Pirm-ns uf Athfus TlliK' vt IV-Iupuiu-^luu War, 

of Athens and return to Sparta, leaving Isagoras and his followers to be put to death 
as traitors. Cleisthenes and the seven hundred banished citizens returned and the 
new constitution, cemented by blood and the strokes of swords, stood more firmly 
than ever. 

Again, Cleomohes determined to seat a king at Athens, and this time he sent for 
help to the Boeotians, to Chalcidia and Thebes and several smaller States, jealous 
rivals of Athens. The Bccotians joined Cleomones to revenge themselves because 
Athens had freed Plata-a from Boeotian rule. The soldiers from some of these 
smaller States, when they had advanced as far as Elusis, and were told they were to 
march against Athens, refused to aid Sparta, and turned back. As the others were 
not strong enough without them, the expedition was abandoned. In Athens all 
classes of people forgot their quarrels and offered themselves to the State to pre- 
serve it from destruction. War, the stern w-ork-man, who has done so much good and 
evil for the w-orld, was preparing the. \thenians to receive the idea of Greece as a nation 



GREECE. 



•51 



rr >f 








Hi'ail of Baciriius, tlu' liod ot Wiue. 

of Cyrene. Carthage 
had for years waged 



so that when the hour of peril for Hellas, now near at 
hand, should come, they could do as a city, what they now 
did as individuals — renounce small rivalries and join 
hands for the common defense. Great was the rejoicing 
in Athens when the failure of the Spartans to hold their 
allies was known, and the Athenian army promptly 
marched out to punish the Thebans and Chalcidians. 
which they did right well, and then continued their war 
with Aegina which had been carried on for some years. 

To explain how this war began, I must go back a few 
years in Athenian history. You will remember that Cyrus 
the Great conquered Croesus about 546 B. C.,and you will 
remember too, that he made himself master of all the 
beautiful cities of Ionia, in Asia Minor. These cities 
revolted again and again, but could never free them- 
selves. The Persian conquests extended to several islands 
lying between Greece and Asia, and Athens was naturally 
anxious for her own safety, all the more so after they 
banished Hippias, and his two sons found refuge with the 
Persian king. Cambyses succeeded Cyrus as a conqueror, 
and his first victory in Africa was over the Greek city 
had by this tim.e become mistress of the West, and 
war with Sicily, so between Persia and Carthage, Greece had cause for 
anxiety. When Darius crossed over into Europe to overcome the Scythians, 
he took with him troops from the conquered cities of Ionia, and skirting 
the fair islands and peninsula of Greece, dreamed perhaps, of European conquest. 
The losses in his Scythian expedition were so great and his empire so unsettled, 
that he postponed for the time, an attempt upon European Hellas. When he 
returned to his capital, having left trusted officers at Sardis, the Ionian cities 
saw an opportunity for revolt. They sent to Cleomones, king of Sparta, to ask 
his help, but he steadily refused to listen to their prayer. They then sent to Athens 
and there they had better success, for realizing that the independence of the Ionian 
cities would form a barrier between Persia and Greece, Athens sent a fleet and thirty- 
thousand men who assisted in the capture and burning of Sardis, 

Aegina offered to aid Darius to "remember Athens" and the Athenians, who 
never before would acknowledge Sparta as having the greater power, sent to 
the Lacadjemonian capital, representing that Aegina's treachery endangered 
Greece and asked Sparta to punish the islanders. The Spartans promptly marched 
to Aegina, made the people recall the treaty they had just signed with Persia, and 
carried a number of their noblest citizens to Athens as a pledge for the future good 
behavior of the rest. 

After the wrecking of the fleet sent by Darius against Greece, the people of 
Aegina went to war with Athens to free the hostages, and this war dragged on for 
several years, was laid aside during the Persian invasion and renewed afterward. 
Darius, far from having given up his idea of punishing Athens after the destruction 
of his fleet, was more determined to invade Greece and more enraged than ever 
against the Athenians. It was not until 490 B. C, seven years after the first expedi- 
tion, that he carried out his plans. Hippias had then been for fifteen years at the 



152 



GREECE. 



Persian court, and had done everything in his power to aid the designs of Persia 
against his country. When Darius compelled the Ionian cities for whom Athens had 
fought, to furnish six hundred ships and a large number of men to attack Athens, 
Hippias sailed with the Persian generals, Datis and Artaphernes, to witness the 
humiliation of the Attic capital. 

Darius had previously sent his heralds to all of the Grecian States, requesting 
earth and water as tokens that they were the property of Persia. Several of the 
smaller States had sent the tribute. Athens threw the herald into a deep chasm 
behind the city, and the Spartans cast the messenger sent them down a deep well, 
telling him there was earth and water, to take his fill. This still further angered 
Darius, and he commanded his generals to punish every State that had not sent earth 
and water, but to destroy Eretreria, an Athenian colony in Euboea, and to level Athens 
to the ground, sending the people of both cities as slaves to Persia. 

Eretreria was the first to feel the Persian wrath. After a heroic defense of 
si.\ days it was betraj'cd by one of its own traitrous citizens, and fell into the 
hands of the enemy, its beautiful temples were destroj^ed and its people carried 
into slavery. Never doubting that .Athens would fall just as easily, the Persians 
sailed tor Attica and landed at Marathon, on a plain twenty-two miles from the 
capital. When the news that the Persians were coming, was carried to Athens, a 
courier, Pheidippides was sent to ask Sparta for help, and traveling the 150 miles in 
48 hours, he eloquently represented the danger in which Athens stood, and begged the 
Spartans to send immediate help. The Spartans promised to do so as soon as their 
feast to Apollo was over, and with this reply Pheidippides returned to Athens. The 
Athenians waited for five days. Then the ten generals of the army met in council 
and gave their commands into the hands of one of their number, Miltiades, whom 
they knew to be brave and skillful, and surely bravery and skill were sorely needed 
when Athens stood face to face with such peril. 

Miltiades had accompanied Darius as far as the Danube when he marched 
into Scythia. He and several of the Greek allies stood guard over the bridge 
of boats. It was Miltiades who advocated destroying the bridge, and leave the 
Persian king to perish in the wilderness, for he did not return at the end of 
sixty days, the time at which he promised to be again at the bridge. The other 
Greek generals would not consent. Darius returned in a few days and learning 
of Miltiades counsel, would have taken his life had he not escaped him and fled for 
safety to his native .Athens. His bravery had often been demonstrated, and upon 
him now hung the fate of Greece. It was he who was to lead Athens to victory or 
defeat, but Providence had not willed that the fair flower of Hellenic civilization was 
to wither beneath the heel of Persian despotism. 

The Persians leisurely made their preparations to besiege Athens, never dream- 
ing that the nine thousand troops who had posted themselves' the very day of the 
Persian landing, in such a position as to prevent the enemy marching upon Athens 
without first giving them battle, a mere handful compared to the hundred and fifty 
thousand Persians, would dare to hurl themselves upon the vast horde of invaders. 
Upon the tenth day Miltiades received a reinforcement of one thousand Plateaus, 
every fighting man in that plucky little city, and as the day had now come when 
Miltiades was lawfully in command, he gave the word for battle. 

The Persians, when they saw the Athenians rushing down upon their camp at a 
run, thought that they had gone mad and were courting death, but so impetuous was 



GREECE. 



153 




Cupriimes f)f Grecian Generals. 



the charge and conducted with such wonderful discipline 

that the Persian soldiers were thrown into hopeless con- 
fusion. The heavy Greek weapons, metal armor and 

physical 'itrength bore down rank after rank that was 

drawn up to oppose them, until at last, defeated and panic- 
stricken, the Asiatics fled to their ships, the Athenians 

wading into the sea to slaughter the fugitives, until not 

one was left alive on shore, and the fleet had put out to 

sea. 

Fifteen to one was the fearful disadvantage at which 

the Greeks fought, and thousands of the foe fell under 

their blows, while only one hundred antl ninety-two of the 

defenders were left dead on the field that red with blcod 

and heaped with corpses bore witness to the valor of 

Athens and Plata^a. 

In Athens, w^hile the men fought the women prayed, 

and anxious eyes turning toward Marathon saw at last an 

armed man running wearily as one who has come fast 

and far. The women rushed to the market-place where 

the men too old and the boys too young to fight had already assembled to hear the 

news of the herald, for he came from the battle-field, twenty-two miles away. 
"Victory is ours" gasped the herald as he sank dying from exhaustion to the ground, 
for he had made his way clad in his heavy armor, from Marathon to Athens in four 
hours, and was no doubt willing to welcome death since his had been the privilege 
of carrying such glorious tidings. 

" Victory is ours," the people shouted and wept in their joy, but at night-fall their 
joy was changed to anxiety, for news had been brought that the Persian fleet was 
approaching the Pirasus. Miltaides, had however, seen the direction the fleet had 
taken, and marshalling his heroes, trudged over the stony road back to Athens, 
beyond the city to the very shores of the Piraeus. When early the next morning, the 
Persians prepared to land thinking Athens would now surely fall into their hands, for 
they supposed the army was encamped at iMarathon, what was their confusion to see 
drawn up on the shore in grim array, the dauntless band that had dealt them such 
disaster the day before, ready again to do battle. 

Such courage seemed to the Persians more than human, and fearing again to 
meet the men whom no danger daunted, and no exertion seemed to weary, fearing 
too, the spears and swords of patriots whose watchword was "victory or death," they 
put back to sea, and humbled and beaten retired to Asia. 

Marathon! No wonder that its story thrills the soldier's heart, and that the 
echo of the blows there struck for freedom have rung down through all the ages to 
make music for the patriot soul, a music before which tyrants tremble. There the 
host that had conquered Egypt, laid Babylon low and subdued alike the proud cities 
of Ionia and the rude Scythians of the north was scatteretl like chaff before the wind 
by a brave little band to whom the liberty painfully won was so precious that rather 
than have lost it they would have dietl not one death but many had it been possible 
thus to save their beloved country. 

Alone and unaided Athens stood with splendid heroism and devotetl constancy 
to receive the shock of war, and w-hen the Spartans, a pitiful two thousand strong. 



154 



GREECE. 




and tyrannical and 



arrived on the evening of the day the Persians sailed 
away, their soldier hearts must have grieved that they 
too had not been there to share the glory and to help 
drive into the heart of the Persian monarch the bitterest 
disappointment and chagrin that ever vexed a despot. 
No need now to ask Darius to "remember Athens." 
The flower of his army lay dead at Marathon and he had 
placed the brightest laurel in the Athenian victor's crown. 
That twelfth of September, 4Q0 B. C, was a black day to 
Darius the king. Five years after Marathon we tind 
Darius sLraining every resource of his vast empire to 
again invade Greece, but death interfered and Hellas 
enjoyed a brief interval of rest. Miltiades, the brave 
Athenian general, who commanded at Marathon had 
been at one time ruler of the Thracian Chersonese and 
had commanded men nearly all his life. It was not 
unnatural that he should have been somewhat haughty 
should have had, after the victory of Marathon, a 
rather high opinion of himself. N'evetheless Athens, in spite of all Miltiades had 
done to save the city from the Persians, could not overlook what he did soon 
afterward that was contrary to Athenian law. Without gaining the permission of the 
State, he took the soldiers under his charge to the City of Paros and besieged it, 
because he had felt himself insulted by the ruler of that State. He was defeated and 
wounded but to punish him as he merited, the Athenians tried him for the offense, 
found him guilty and sentenced him to pay a heavy line, but he died of his wound 
soon after, some historians tell us, in prison. Two other Athenian generals, The- 
mistocles and Aristides, who fought bravely at Marathon had for several years 
been great favorites with the citizens, and they now became popular leaders. They 
had such widely different ideas upon the subject of the best way for Athens to pro- 
tect itself from the invasion which they had learned Darius intended and each had 
such a large following that the arguments and quarrels of the two parties alarmed 
the council and an ostracism was ordered, Aristides being banished. Themistocles 
was a clever far-sighted man, and knew that Athens could never hope to be safe 
from invasion so long as she had no fleet to defend her harbor. The war with 
Aegina, too, was dragging on and Athens needed ships for immediate use. It was 
Themistocles' idea that the proceeds of the public silver mines should be used to 
build two hundred trieremes and that a great wall should be built from Athens to 
the sea, enclosing also the Piraeus, thus enabling the city to get supplies by water 
should it be besieged by land. 

When Aristides had so bitterly opposed these two plans it was not because he 
was unpatriotic in his way, but because he believed that Marathon had proven that 
the Greeks could whip the Persians on land, no matter what odds were against them. 
We shall soon see how mistaken Aristides was. Again, Aristides was a noble, 
and was the kind of man who believed that new-fangled notions were all wrong, 
because they were new. He, like many others of his class, disliked the idea of 
having the people along the coast of Attica, become a trading sea-faring population, 
adventurous and fond of change, for they would soon abandon the good old Attic 



GREECE. 



155 




manners and customs if they sailed to foreign lands as 
did the Phcenician traders, and were constantly brought 
\h contact with foreign merchants. 

He had still another objection to the fleet, one 
rather unworthy of a patriot. He thought in case the 
fleet were built, it would be manned by poor people, 
and that should it succeed in winning battles at sea, the 
poor would naturally think that sin_ce Athens owed 
victories to them, it must give them more share in the 
government, and they already had greater share than 
pleased the nobles. 

When Aristides was ostracised and Themistocles 
had thus proven that he had the majority on his side, 
his plans were adopted. The fleet was built and the 
harbor deepened. He now turned his attention to 
making the Greeks feel that they were not a number 
of petty States, hanging as loosely together as beads 

on a string, but that they were a nation', and that they I JS , i > _. o*- ,-^ 

must unite for the common defense or all perish. To ""^^ ''^^"^^^^poiio';'the'^Gjrd"of musr-. 
gain Sparta ambassadors were sent from Athens to the Lacadaimonian capital. 
Their eloquence convinced Sparta and caused her to join with Athens in calling 
a congress of all the Greek States to meet on the Isthmus of Corinth in the 
autumn of 481 B. C, to agree upon some plan of defense. This congress met, 
and deputies came from all southern Greece e.xcept Achaea, who could not and 
would not join in any such congress unless all the other States of the Peloponessus 
would acknowledge Acha^a as leader, and of course they would not. Argos refused 
to have anything to do with a congress in which Sparta joined. Athens, Plataia, 
Thespia?, Thessaly, and Aegina took part. Thebes favored the Persians, out of 
hatred to Athens. So only a small part of Greece was sufificiently patriotic to 
answer the call to the common defense. 

Athens had won great glory in the last Persian war, and Sparta had done 
nothing. Yet, the Athenian deputies felt that the time was perilous for disputing 
which should be commander of the forces, and with tact and patriotism agreed that 
Sparta should command the allied armies by land and sea. This done, all the States 
represented in the congress made a solemn vow to resist the enemy to the last, if 
successful to devote one-tenth of the plunder to the Delphic god, and to make war 
on every State that had helped the Persians or yielded to Persian demands for 
tribute. 

Xerxes had now been king of Persia nine years. For five years he had been too 
busy putting down rebellions in Egypt and other parts of his empire, to give any 
attention to his father's plan of invading Greece, but for four years he had been 
making the most remarkable preparations. At the time of the congress on the 
Isthmus of Corinth, he was assembling his forces at Sardis. I have told you else- 
where how, in the spring of 480 B. C, the Persian host began its march to the Helles- 
pont, and crossed the strait on the boat-bridge. When Xerxes reached Macedonia 
he sent his heralds thoughout northern Greece, excepting only. Attica, and many of 
the States returned the tribute of earth and water. The congress had decided to 
protect the Pass of Thermopylae, a narrow road running between the mountains and 



156 GREECE. 

the sea at the head of the Malian gulf, and the only place Xerxes could enter that 
portion of Greece south of Thessaly. This road or double road, for there were 
really two running side by side a half a mile apart, was bordered on the east by 
an impassable morass stretching to the sea, and ran in such a way that a small army 
could hold it against overwhelming numbers. It was in June when Xer.xes began his 
southward march, and throughout all Greece preparations were being made for the 
Olympian festival. The news from the north about the movements of the Persian 
army divided the interest with the games, and many of the Greeks who had been 
looking forward for four years to the festival, could not bring themselves to the 
point of giving up the e.xpected pleasure for the camp and the field. 

The Spartans were particularly anxious not to miss the games, and in place of 
a strong army sent only three hundred soldiers under their king Leonidas, to aid 
in defending Thermopylae, These three hundred Spartans were joined on the way 
by troops from Phocis, Thebes, Thespi:^e, Locris and Bceotia until fully seven 
thousand men were comprised in the force, hastening forward to bar the southward 
passage of Xerxes. At the same time the Athenian fleet with sixty thousand soldiers 
of the allied armies, twenty-five thousand of them from Athens, was sailing up the 
eastern coast to prevent the Persians from landing troops south of Thermopylae, and 
thus entering Greece from the sea. 

Xerxes' great army moved slowly southwanl through Thessaly, but when near 
Thermopylae it halted, for out upon the waters a fierce storm was raging that might 
destroy the Persian ships, as once before they had been destroyed, and without his 
fleet Xerxes would not attempt to conquer Greece. The little Greek army had 
arrived at Thermopylae some time before, and thus the Persian and Greek camps 
were in sight of each other, but the great host confronting the Spartans and their 
allies could not daunt them. They remembered Marathon and went calmly about 
their duties awaiting the assault with confidence. The Spartans combed their long 
locks, drilled, exercised, and behaved exactly as if they were at home in their own 
city, but the king preserved the strictest discipline among the troops watching the 
five hundred Thebans especially, for he doubted their faithfulness. 

There was a narrow pathway leading across the mountain, that gave Leonidas 
some uneasiness. Of course only a person who knew the country thoroughly had 
any idea of the path, nevertheless the Phocians, one thousand in number, were 
posted on the mountain in the best place to drive back the Persians should they 
attempt to gain it, for a traitor might be found willing to act as their guide. For 
four days the wild storm raged upon the ocean. The Greeks believed that Posei- 
don, the sea-god, was thus aiding them and showing his friendship for their cause. 
The Persian king no doubt wished he had spared the wine, the golden bowl and 
jewelled sword that he had cast into the Hellespont as an offering to the god, who, 
in spite of them was showing himself so unfriendly. 

After four hundred of the Persian ships carrying soldiers had been sunk and 
fifteen had fallen into the hands of the Greeks the storm passed over and Xerxes, 
learning that he still had three thousand vessels left, gave the order for battle. 
Leonidas had in the meantime sent messages to the Greek States earnestly urging 
them to send him more men, but no reinforcements came. Nevertheless, when the 
Persians advanced to the assault Leonidas was ready to meet them. Across the 
pass, on the Thessalian side was an old wall, and this the Greeks had repaired so 
that it became an effective defense. It was behind this wall and across the roads 



GREECE. 



157 



that Leonidas posted his forces. The Persians were confident of victory, for what 
was the handful of men before them when compared to their great army. Xerxes 
singled out the Medes to take the pass and commanded them to bring to him alive 
the Greek defenders, not knowing that he now stood face to face with foes who 
differed as widely from the Asiatics and Africans whom he had been accustomed to 
terrify into submission by a show of power and cruelty, as the day differs from the 
night. Proud at being chosen for the duty, and of obeying under the eye of the 
great king the Medes advanced to the attack but soon found that it was no easy task 
their king had laid upon them, and that they could neither bring to him the 
Greeks alive nor dead. They fought valiantly, for the Medes were renowned 
throughout all Asia for their courage. They fell in great numbers, their comrades 
pressing over their bodies to renew the attack, and thus the whole day passed, 
Xerxes watching the stubborn fight, marveling no doubt at the fierce courage and 
perfect discipline of the defenders. At last he recalled the Medes and ordered his 
"immortals" the ten thousand who were the fiower of the Persian army, to undertake 
the task. 

Led by Hydarnes, their commander, the "immortals" pressed forward and hurled 
themselves against the Greeks, but multitudes fell at the first onslaught. The rest 
recoiled, renewed the effort, again retreated, and again threw themselves upon the 
foe, reddening the road with their blood and piling it high with their corpses until 
Xerxes in terror for the safety of those that were left, recalled them too, and the 
battle for that day was lost to him. Within the pass but few lay dead, and when 
these were given burial, the Spartans combed again their long hair and slept upon 
their arms. The next day fresh Persian troops advanced to the attack, the Persian 
king hoping by keeping the defenders constantly fighting, to wear them out. 
Leonidas, however, had provided against this plan, and dividing his army into 
relays, a certain number fighting while the others rested and refreshed themselves, 
was thus being able to present always vigorous defenders, and at nightfall the Per- 
sians were in despair. 

Ephiaites, a treacherous Malian Greek, whose name is remembered onl}^ to be 
hated for ever, hoping for a large reward, made his way to Xerxes, told him about 
the secret path and offered to guide the Persians thus across the mountains, that they 
might fall upon the rear of the defenders and hem them in. Hydarnes and the "im- 
mortals" were sent under his lead to thread the narrow pathway, and all night they 
toiled behind their guide until at day-break they came face to face with the Phocian 
guards, who fou<3ht bravely, but were overwhelmed by numbers, and compelled to 
retire to the crest of the mountain where they waited for the Persians, ready to sell 
their lives dearly. The Persians, however, struck off, led by their guide, down a side- 
path, and thus gainetl the plain. 

Leonidas learned that he had been betrayed, soon after the immortals lef: their 
camp and began the ascent. Calling his allies together, he told them how hopeless 
further struggle would be, and charging them to hasten home and prepare to defend 
Greece elsewhere, for Thermopvki^ w-as lost, he said farewell to them and sent them 
away, keeping however, the Thebans as hostages, for Thebes had shown itself 
altogether too friendly to Persia in times past. Leonidas had declared his intention 
of remaining with his Spartans, to seek death at the hands of the foe, since he nor 
they would retreat in the face of danger, nor would care to live when Thermopylae 
was lost. Seven hundred brave Thespians declared that they too, would voluntarily 



,58 GREECE. 

lay down their lives for Greece, and remain with Leonidas to share his fate, whatever 
it might be. 

Up to this time Leonidas had directed all his energies to defending the pass, and 
had remained within its walls but the third day, early in the morning he called his 
Spartans about him and gave the word to charge the Persian columns, already in 
motion. Did they look at the blue sky above them, the shining sea and the land they 
loved so well? Did they give one thought to their wives and little ones, their sweet- 
hearts and mothers, before they grasped their weapons more firmly, and led by their 
king. Spartan and Thespian side by side, uttering the same war cry, rushed down 
upon the foe? Or did they only think of the death that awaited them, and spring to 
it as a babe to its mother's arms? 

To the surprised barbarians, thrown into utter confusion by the wild onset of the 
little band, they were like avenging angels, striking for Hellas. Stalwart, fair and 
beautiful, they dealt such blows as the old Greek poet tells us, Achilles and Hector 
struck, each man a hero that would shame the bravest Trojan of Homer's song or 
the doughtiest Greek who fought on Ilion's plain. Desperation nerved their arms, 
and they struck down the barbarians, drove them into the sea, slew them without 
mercy. Oh, what a tight was that, and how even the glory of Marathon pales before 
it! Hand to hand with the foe, face to face and giving no quarter. Spears fell 
splintered and broken from the hands of the brave little band, stemming so nobly the 
whole red tide of battle, and swords were snatched from their sheaths and w-ielded 
swift and merciless until they too, were bent and battered, unfit for weapons, or lost 
beneath the trampling feet of the Asiatics who surged about the Greeks, urged by the 
lash to close with them and pull them down. When all weapons were torn from 
them, or too far spent to be of use, still they fought on, those men from Thespia; and 
from Sparta, their clenched fists giving blows that sent their foes to earth, where they 
were soon trampled to death. 

Leonidas fell at last, worthy of his name of Sparta's king, worthy cjf the warrior- 
race from which he sprang, fighting until death stilled his arm, and cheering with his 
last breath, his brave followers. Round his corpse the wave of battle dashed high 
and dreadful, the Greeks fighting for the body of their noble leader, the Persians 
determined to bear it to their king, but at last a little band of Greeks, all that were 
left of the valiant thousand, bore it in triumph back into the pass. 

The day had worn on, and it was now noon. Looking to the southward, the 
Greeks saw advancing the ten thousand immortals who had gained the plain, and 
looking to the northward, the great Persian host. Then they knew the last hour had 
come. With reverent hands they lifted the bloody body of Leonidas and bore it to 
a little hillock, closed up their ranks about it, and prepared to yield up their lives as 
brave men should. Back to back they stood, grim of countenance, stained with blood 
and dust, yet as undaunted of soul as ever. Showers of darts and javelins pierced 
them, and attacked both in front and rear, overborne by the trampling thousands, 
they went down fighting still, and not a man of them was left alive to tell the talc of 
how Leonidas and his thousand fell. 

Had Xerxes been a brave man, with a soldier's heart, he would have had respect 
for so brave a foe as Leonidas hatl shown himself, but Xerxes had not the soul of 
Cyrus nor of Darius, his father, but was cruel, and cowardly. He caused the dead 
body of the Spartan king to be beheaded, and impaling it upon a sharp stake, left it 
to pollute the air, and to show to all Greeks what were the fruits of resistance to 



GREECE. 159 

Persia. The Thebans surrendered to the " immortals " without striking a blow, 
thus buying their dastardly lives, but Xerxes caused them to be branded as royal 
slaves, and surely they deserved slaver)^ Their living example was to Greece far 
more shameful than any indignity that could be wreaked upon the dead of glorious 
Thermopykc. The news of the defeat at Thermopylae was carried by the allies 
throughout Greece, but the disaster had within it the seed of after victory. The 
voluntary sacrifice of the Spartans and Thespians thrilled every loyal Grecian heart, 
showing to every patriot his plain duty. 

There have been battles without number in the history of this war-worn world, 
battles where every passion, good and bad have had their play, but never was there 
a battle where men hopeless of victory, confident of death, went more joyously tO' 
their doom, or were more willing sacrifices to duty and honor. Twenty-three cen- 
turies span the gulf of time lying between us and Thermopyla;, and over that span 
many a heroic soul has i)assed to the eternity where the brave are rewarded, but the 
heart throbs of all those brave men, bind us to Leonidas, the Spartan, with electric 
cords that thrill when we read of battle and glory, and Thermopylai is sacred to 
those who love noble deeds, and to whom patriotism is something more than an empty 
name. 

Sparta wrote u|>on a memorial column the names of the three huntlred who fell 
at the fatal pass, ami but one man who went forth with Leonidas returned to the city,, 
and he was henceforth shunned and reviled. It is related that he, Aristodemus, and 
another Spartan, Eurytus, were sick at Alpeni, near Thermopylae, when the news was 
brought that the battle had begun. Ill as he was, Eurytus rose from his couch, put 
on his armor, made a slave help him to the field, and plunging into the action was 
killed. Aristodemus remained at Alpeni until he recovered and then returned to 
Sparta, but everywhere reproach and scorn were heaped upon him, and he only 
redeemed his character from the stain of cowardice by his heroism and death at the 
battle of Platea, of which I will tell you something hereafter. 

While Leonidas was keeping the Persians at bay at Thermopylae, a few leagues 
away, a sea fight raged through those three memorable days, but when the fleet 
learned that Thermopylae was lost, it put back to Salamis. 

Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, had been requested to send an army to aid Greece,, 
and the wisdom of his refusal was evident upon the day when Leonidas fell, for he 
that day defeated a Carthaginian army in Sicily, making for Greek valor another 
glorious record. Now Sparta, always timid in aiding Athens, left that city to its fate, 
and with its Peloponessian allies, began to build a wall across the isthmus, sending no 
land troops to co-operate with the fleet. Xerxes was marching southward, and the 
three hundred and sixty-six vessels of which the fleet was now composed, lay in the 
narrow strait between Athens and the island of Salamis whither all the women and 
children had been removed. 

Some of the commanders were uneasy antl wanted to get out into the open sea, 
but Themistocles knew that once out in the open sea, the fleet would scatter, each 
contingent of ships return to its own State, and Greece would be lost. This must be 
prevented, and to do so, he sent a slave to Xerxes, and this Helot pretending to 
desert to the Persians told them that the Greek fleet was about to escape, and would 
do so if not attacked. 

Upon the night of the da> when the Athenians saw the Persians march into their 
beloved city, and devote to the flames the beautiful temples and homes, the fleet had 



i6o GREECE. 

about decided to leave the strait in spite of the utmost eloquence of Theihistocles, 
but the next morning before it was light the banished Aristides, who had made his 
way with great difficulty and danger through the Persian lines to let Themistocles 
know that the Persian fleet had surrounded the Greeks, and would give them battle, 
arrived on board the vessel of his former rival. All rivalries were now forgotten. 
Themistocles told Aristides of his trick to force the fighting, and Aristides ap- 
proved it, kept the secret and announced to the commanders who were thus early in 
council, the news he had brought to Themistocles. 

At first the Greek commanders were much alarmed, but they soon rallied, 
decided on a plan of battle, and prepared for action. At sunrise the Persian fleet, 
one thousand three hundred ships and two hundred and fifty thousand men were 
seen drawn ujj in line of battle, while upon the shore Xerxes' army watched the com- 
batants, ready to aid their comrades if opportunity offered. The Greeks began the 
battle, but resisted every effort of the Persians to draw them out into wider space. All 
day long the fight raged, Artemisa, the queen of Halicarnassus being one of the Persian 
admirals, and doing valiant service as did many another Asiatic commander, but 
at night the Persians had lost two hundred ships with their crews, and sailed away 
obeying the command of their disheartened and discomfitted king. 

Xerxes now determined to return to Persia, and soon began his retreat to the 
Mcllespont, with sixty thousand men, leaving Mardonius and three hundred thousand 
soldiers to continue the war. Forty-rive days were consumed in this retreat, and 
as Xerxes had made no provision for defeat, his army suffered dreadful hardships. 
When they arrived at the Hellespont the Persians found that the bridge had been 
destroyed by a storm. The king was so anxious to be once more safely in Asia, thai 
he crossed the Hellespont in a fishing boat. 

Mardonius, with his three hundred thousand men wintered in Thessaly, and in 
the spring again marched to Athens and destroyed the city which the inhabitants had 
again deserted, but at Plala;a, in September of the same year, 479 B. C, the Persian 
army was defeated and destroyed by the allied Athenians and Spartans, Mardonious 
was killed, and only about fortj'-three thousand of the three hundred thousand 
Persians who had a year before comprised the Persian army, escaped to Asia to 
bear the news of Persia's disaster and Grecian victory. The sea battle of Mykale 
completed the Persian reverses, and Greece was at last free from the spectre that for 
fifty years had haunted it. 

Athens now put itself at the head of a great religious league, called the Con- 
federacy of Delos, which favored democracy. Sparta and Aegina were jealous of 
Athens, and while Aegina renewed the old war on account of the hostages, Sparta 
desired to see established at Athens the old government by the nobles. Athens did 
everything to pacify Sparta except relinquish her constitution, and for some time 
warded off war, but at length Pericles became prominent, and by his advice Athens 
went her own way regardless of Sparta. Themistocles had fallen into disgrace. 
With all his talents he loved power and wealth, and when he had seen that he 
might receive both by betraying Greece to Persia, and in spite of all he luul done to 
save his country from Xerxes, he entered into a plot to give up Greece to the Per- 
sians, was discovered, and fled to Asia. Pericles was of very different mould, a man 
whose genius and cleverness equalled those of Solon and Cleisthenes, and whose 
character was as noble as his mind was great. Aristides was now dead as was also 
Cimon, son of Miltiades, who had risen to high power after his father's unhappy 



GREECE. i6x 

death, and the forty years of whose pubHc career was the most glorious period of 
Athenian social and literary life, and is often called "the golden age of Pericles." 

Pericles was the greatest orator of his time, imaginative, poetic and of wonder- 
fully sound powers of reasoning, and drew about him the greatest men of the day. 
There was a certain famous philosopher, or reasoner, Anaxagoras, who was his 
intimate friend, as were also Protagoras, Zeno, and a clever and beautiful woman, 
Aspasia, at whose house the brilliant company of great men often met, Aspasia 
refusing to keep herself secluded as did niost of the women of Athens, and being as 
learned and amiable as she was beautiful. Aristides, when he had returned to 
Athens at the close of the war and become again Strategus, in spite of his former 
objection to the common people, made a new law by which they were allowed to hold 
office, but the poor could not afford to do so, as they were obliged to labor to provide 
themselves and their families with food and necessaries. 

Pericles became prominent 467 B. C, and he at once influenced the council to 
build beautiful temples and great public works, not alone that Athens might be made 
beautiful, but that the poor should be employed and receive money from the public 
treasury, so that they might be able after a time to hold office. Sparta was still like 
a country town in appearance, and the Spartan jealousy of Athens grew as that city 
increased in i:)(nver and beauty. In the year 464 B. C, a terrible earthquake occurred 
in Laconia, which nearly destroyed the capital and killed so many of the citizens and 
caused such terror and confusion that the Helots were not for a time watched as 
closely as usual. They were not slow in seizing upon the opportunity thus offered for 
a revolt, and rushing to arms attempted to complete the destruction of the city. 

The young and brave king Ai-chidamus drove them out of Sparta, but could not 
make them disband. They fortihed themselves at Ithome, in Messenia and defended 
themselves so fiercely and stubbornly that the king sent to Athens for help, but when 
four thousand troops were given him, and they were on the march to Ithome, the 
Spartans began to fear that the Athenians, who were of the same Ionic blood as the 
rebellious Helots, would help them instead of Sparta, and sent them home again. 
This proceeding so insulted Athens that it broke at once with Sparta and joined an 
alliance with Argos, and soon Megara too joined the new alliance. 

The fleet of Athens was now renowned and in 46S B. C, it had fought in Egypt, 
Cypress and Phoenicia aiding in revolts of those countries against Persia, and the 
same year gained many victories over Aegina, the old Athenian enemy. All these 
successes irritated the Spartans who in 460 joined Aegina, as did also Corinth in a 
war against Athens, Megara and Argos. This war lasted only a few months and 
ended by the Athenians crushing their foes and compelling them to make peace. 
A few years later Sparta, was so alarmed by the building of the long wall at 
Athens, which e.xtended from the city on each side to the Piraeus, that they tried to 
stop it by force, but Athens again made them acknowledge her power which was now 
so increased that it included all Bceotia, Phocis and Locris as well as Megara, and 
Argos. 

In the next thirty prosperous years Athens, under Pericles' influence, became the 
center of Hellenic culture. Poets, artists, scholars and philosophers found there an 
appreciation that they received in no other city. Persia in 455 B. C, was compelled 
to grant a peace dictated by Athens, and the Ionian cities in Asia were again free, 
and no Persian vessels dared appear on the Aegean Sea. Everywhere democracies 
patterned after that of Athens, and protected by the power of that city, were estab- 



i62 GREECE. 

lished in the States that were its allies and in 431 B. C, Sparta, having conchuUid its 
war with the Helots by conquering them, sought alliances to humble Athens. 

In all the States, and in Athens itself, there were many nobles w-ho disliked the 
democracy. When the Spartans saw that in some of these States the nobles were 
strong enough to rebel, they bided their time, knowing that it would not be long before 
Athens, now grown vain of her power would give Sparta a pretext for interf'-rence. 
Finally Samos revolted, for it had been forced against its wil ho accept democracy. 
The Samians were defeated and made to feel most cruelly the weight of the wrath of 
Athens. Then Megara was charged with giving refuge to fugitive slaves from 
Athens and Pericles issued a law making the punishment death for any Megarian to 
trade in any port of Attica, a most cruel and barbarous law, because Megara could 
trade no where else. 

Then Corinth was openly invited to war with Athens because against her solemn 
protest the Athenians *ook up the dispute between Corinth and one of her colonies 
siding of course with the colony. Corinth was joined with Sparta, but did not ask 
help of its ally in its quarrel with Athens until that city commanded Potidcea, another 
Corinthian town in the Athenian league, to demolish its walls. Then ambassador.^ 
were sent to Sparta for help. Potida;a refused to tear down its w-all and Athens sent 
troops against it whereupon Sparta seeing now the chance for which it had waited so 
long invaded Attica with a great army and thus was begun the Peloponnesian war, 
one of the bloodiest and most cruel struggles that ever harassed the world which 
for many a long year made the fair land of Greece the home of hatred and plunged 
into grief and widowhood the wives and mothers of her bravest sons. The Spartans 
and their allies burned the crops and ravaged the fields of Attica, the farmers and 
villa<>-ers fleeing into Athens and watching from its walls the destruction of their 
homes, the uprooting of their orchards and \ineyards and the pillage of all their 
possessions. 

But fifty years before. Lconidas had died at Thermopylai to preserve Greece 
from foreign invasion, and Sparta and Athens had stood side by side for Hellenic 
freedom. Now wasting each other by mutual warfare, they were both preparing for 
that fall which all the hosts of Persia had failed to effect. The Athenian fleet was not 
idle, for the fleet was the city's sole dependence, next to its strong walls and citadels. 
It swooped down upon the coast of the States allied to Sparta, burning, pillaging and 
murdering, Pericles himself leading the largest force ever sent out of Athens to 
pillage poor little Megara who, being cut off from Athens had joined Sparta, since 
that was her only hope. For nearly a year strange stories hatl been heanl of a 
mysterious disease that starting in Ethiopia, had traveled up the Nile valley, crossed 
the desert and desolated Asia Minor. This plague was a fever, swift, painful and 
deadly, and while the people were crowded into Athens and the S[)artans were con- 
verting the gardens of Attica into a wilderness, this dread disease broke out in the 
Pirajus, and soon spread to the city. The superstitious people thinking their gods 
were venting spite upon them, implored their priests to give such prayers and offer- 
ings as would again win the favor of the deities. The armed foe without the walls 
was forgotten in the presence of the unseen foe within, that stalked through the 
streets in the long days and clear starry nights laying low young and old, rich and 
poor alike. The blackness of despair settled down upon Athens. The dead lay 
thick about the fountains in the streets and at the foot of the altars of the gods, and 
side by side with death, crime ran riot, for seeing that no piety availed to save from 



GREECE. 



163 




From Bust lu BriUeh 
Museum. 



the dread disease, and no one was certain that he would be aHve 
another day, all hastened to gratify their tastes, and every law was 
set at naught. The Spartans, besieging the city, learned of the 
havoc disease was making. Brave as they were against human foes, 
they knew not how to war against the plague, and leaving Attica they 
returned to Laconia. 

Pericles again set out with his fleet, but this time, it bore death 
not to the enemy but to the Athenian garrison at Potidjea, whom it 
infected with the plague, and when the army returned greatly reduced 
by the disease, to stricken Athens, the affairs of the city were in a 
desperate condition. 

The plague had so reduced the army that the Athenians sent 
ambassadors to Sparta to sue for peace, but when they returned 
unsuccessful, there was an uprising in Athens against Pericles. He 
pacified the people for the time, but they soon attacked him again, 
and led by his enemies, brought him to trial. Unfortunate 
Pericles! He had done much for his country, and even his faults were those of a 
truly great man. He had made Athens famous and powerful, and had loved the city 
with his best love. His dear son and his prized friends were dead of the plague, his 
city in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy, and now gray-haired, weary- 
hearted and bowed by sorrows, his ungrateful countrymen would punish him for what 
was the work of fate and not the work of man. No wonder that he sank beneath 
the last and bitterest blow of all. His mind failed, his body was racked with pain 
for a long year, and then he died, his blameless patriotism, honesty and greatness, 
being afterward a pure guiding star to statesmen, generals and orators for all time. 

It was in the second year of the Peloponnesian war that Pericles died and two 
years later Plata:a of immortal memory, was besieged by the Spartans. True Pau- 
sanias had promised, fifty years before when the Persians were defeated and over- 
thrown at Plata^a that the battle ground should be sacred to Spartans forever. Fifty 
years was a long "forever," considering that Plata;a was a devoted friend to Athens. 
Plattea had shared the glory of Athens, had struck hard blows for Hellas and now 
defended by eighty Athenians and four hundred citizens it was to give a last example of 
its courage. A large Spartan army surrounded the city, but so well did the brave little 
band within the walls defend the city from the enemy, that, despairing of ever taking 
the place, the Spartans built a high double wall about it with the horrid purpose of 
starving the garrison. When the Plataians and their eighty Athenian allies had been 
thus shut in for a year closely besieged by the Spartans, several of thegarrison made 
a bold plan. There was but little food in the city, and more than enough men for 
the defense of the walls. Those who were not needed, took scaling ladders one dark 
night, climbed over the double Spartan walls, killed all who opposed them anil made 
their way safely to Athens. 

When all the food was gone the Plata^ans still held out until too weak from 
starvation to guard the walls. Then the Spartans entered -and with a cruelty that 
would shame savages put to the sword the half-starved men, levelled every building to 
the dust, and they would have wiped the very memory of Plata;afrom the minds of men 
had it been possible. Still the unnatural war went fiercely on. In every community 
the common people arrayed themselves against the nobles, and as each State had 
only a few thousand citizens the losses were severely felt. Law was defied, might 



i64 GREECE. 

reigned instead of right, and Athens and Sparta thus brought to the verge of 
ruin the States that it had taken centuries to up-build. In the battles fought by the 
two armies, captives were put to death and for ten years all Greece was at the mercy 
of a foreign enemy, had there been one who had the courage and ambition to 
assail the country. 

The war was finally decided by accident, as so many events are. On the south- 
western coast of Laconia is a bay known to us as Xavarino, but to the ancient Greeks 
as Pylos. An Athenian general, Demosthenes, the first illustrious man of that name, 
made a plan of seizing Messenia, and by rousing the Helots against Sparta compel 
the withdrawal of the Spartans from northern Greece. To carry out this idea, and 
it is strange the Athenians did not do so early in the war, a fleet was sent, which was 
driven by a storm into the harbor of Pylos. For three days the sea was so rough the 
vessels did not dare to venture out, antl the soldiers busied themselves in building 
a small fort on the point of land commanding the harbor. Wlicn the fort was 
finished, Demosthenes with five ships and a small force was left to hold it and the 
rest of the fleet continued on its way. When the Spartans heard that a fleet had 
sailed for Messenia, and that Athens had built a fortress in Laconia, their troops were 
at once called home. The Ephors, while awaiting their return decided that the 
little fort must be attacked, and it was, but Demosthenes held it until the fleet came 
back. Again it was attacked, and this time a dreadful battle was fought, but the 
Athenians came off victorious, and Sparta at once sent to Athens to ask for the very 
peace that Athens ten years before had so humbly begged of Sparta. 

Had Pericles been alive that peace would at once have been granted, but the men 
in power thought more of their own popularity than of the good of the State. They 
were not patriots, but that class of citizens who fatten their purses on the misfortunes 
of others, and who were anxious that the war should go on, in order that they might 
rob the public treasury and gain wealth and power. Cleon, a tanner's son, was the 
chief of these. He was a loud-mouthed, coarse, brawling fellow, something like the 
worst form of ward politicians of great .American cities, and it was he who caused 
the Athenians to refuse the peace. For three years longer, until 423 B. C, the war 
continued, and when it was ended Sparta found that although all Greece was 
weakened. Athens had lost little more than the rest of the country, and Sparta had 
gained virtually nothing. 

There was one prominent Athenian, Alcibiades who was bitterly opposed to the 
peace, because the Spartans had ridiculed his youth, for he was a young man, and 
they had chosen instead, an old general, Nicias, to confer with, in regard to the 
treaty. Alcibiades was considered the handsomest man in Athens, and he was known 
to be brave, for he had fought for his country, and been wounded in the first year of 
the war, although he was then hardly twenty. In several battles during the long 
contest he had shown his metal. In spite of all his bravery and good looks, Alci- 
biades was a traitor, liar, and the worst man, perhaps, in whom a nation ever trusted. 
Of course he had some virtues otherwise Socrates would not have been his friend, 
nor would he have risked his life to save Socrates once in the heat of battle, as 
Socrates had done two years before for him, had he not possessed some spark of 
goodness, it was Alcibiades who persuaded the Athenians to renew the war, for he 
had a clever tongue. An alliance was made with Argos for this purpose 420 B. C, 
and a little later Melos, a city that had stood for seven hundred years as independent 
as even Athens, was asked to become an ally of Athens and agree to be ruled by 



GREECE. 



165 




Attica. The Melians naturally enough refused, whereupon Athens 
besieged Melos, took it, killed all the men between sixteen and 
sixty, sold the women and children as slaves, and gave the city to 
the Platajans. 

This savage proceeding shows how wicked Athens had 
become, for the people of Melos were Greek, had never done 
them wrong and did not provoke the war, but the expedition 
against Syracuse shows them still worse. Alcibiades was the 
moving spirit in this as in the Melian expedition. Nicias was old 
and wise antl he opposed the expedition, but was obliged to give 
up to Alcibiades. Brave Syracuse had withstood Carthage and 
now withstood Athens to such good purpose that the expedition 
was a dead failure, and Alcibiades was accused of being the cause 
of the misfortune, as he certainly was, and called back to Athens p^rt, mof s.„r3t.s. 

for trial but instead of returning he went to Sparta, became a bitter enemy to his 
native city and went about through (ireece stirring up the cities still faithful to 
Athens to revolt. In Sparta he gained the confidence of many of the Ephors, but he 
was so tricky, hot tempered, haughty and insolent that he made enemies right and 
left and finally was obliged to fly from Sparta as he had been from Athens. This 
time he went over to the Persians, who were about to help Sparta fight her battles 
with Athens, for the war had been renewed since the attack on Melos. He 
persuaded Tissaphernes, an important satrap of Asia Minor, that it would be better 
to let Sparta and Athens fight their quarrel out and weaken each other so that both 
would fall into the hands of Persia, rather than help one grow strong at the expense 
of the other. 

As soon as he had convinced Tissaphernes that he ought not to interfere, the 
wily Alcibiades wrote to the generals of the Athenian army, then at Samos, solemnly 
promising them the help of Persia against Sparta, if they would overturn the 
democracy and make the nobles the rulers. The generals, who were as traitorous as 
Alcibiades, at once made a plan to put the nobles in office. They siezed the govern- 
ment, silenced by death every one who opposed them, the method so much in favor 
with tyranny and began to sue Sparta for peace. The soldiers, not knowing that 
Alcibiades had causeil all this ferment and trouble, declared for the democrac}-, and 
knowing the exiled traitor to be a brave man and good soldier, sent to ask him to 
come back and be their leader. Ready for anything that would give him power 
Alcibiades forsook the generals forthwith, and put himself at the head of the soldiers, 
marched with them to Athens, overthrew the very nobles that he had been the means 
of placing in office, and allowed them to be tried and punished. He then set forth 
to fight Sparta, and in the next two years won back nearly everything Athens had 
lost in the long war. 

In 412 B. C, Athens was still so high in influence and power that Darius Nothus, 
king of Persia, determined that she should not come out of the war victorious. To 
prevent it, he gave Sparta money to build ships, and in 405, the Spartan admiral, 
Lysander destroyed the Athenian fleet. After taking one city after another that had 
supplied food to Athens, he blockaded the Pira;us and began to starve the Athenians 
into submission. The people patiently endured the blockade four months, but at last 
surrendered. The famous long wall was destroyed and at last Sparta succeeded in 
what she had so long and so vainly tried to do — she overthrew the democracy and 



1 66 



GREECE. 




Alclblodes. 



put in power an oligarchy, or government by the few. The rulers 
selected by Sparta were thirty citizens who were to draw up new laws 
for Athens, but being thirty of the worst men of the city, they punished 
by death all those whom they considered deserved it, whether they had 
committed crime or not, banished Alcibiades and many others of the 
democracy, and since they were cowards begged Sparta to give them a 
guard to save them from the vengeance of the people. 

When they had killed or banished most of the prominent men in 
the democracy, they began to select wealthy nobles as victims, for they 
appropriated the property of the men they slew, but here they created 
disturbance among themselves, and finally the thirty tyrants after 
having committed the most dreadful crimes were overthrown, and the 
democracy re-established 403 B. C. Alas for the glorious days of Athens 
under Clisthenes and Pericles! They were gone for ever, and the light 
of Hellas was waning! Amid all the gloom and terror of those days 
of evil, of faithlessness, cowardice and blood, there was one fearless man whose life 
was a reproach to degenerate Athens, and who was greater than the best of the men 
who were gone, and in whose fame rests some of the brightest splendor of old Hellas. 
This man was Socrates, the friend of Alcibiades, the only man who dared speak 
openly and protest against tyranny, who stood ever for right and justice, and who 
had served his country well in war and peace. Socrates was of common birth, the 
son of a poor image maker, but like many other "common born" men of history, he 
had an uncommon soul, for "blue blood" as well as "common blood," nourishes many 
a feeble brain and a moral nature low and vulgar may dwell in the body of a king's 
son or the son of a swineherd, for it is something more than ancestry that makes the 
man. 

Socrates was said to be the ugliest man in Athens but his soul was beautiful, and 
he had such a clear and plain idea of man's duty that some spark of divine revelation 
must have been his, for we must believe that God reveals himself to him who dis- 
covers a truth whose practice will make men better. Socrates taught that it was 
better to suffer evil than to do evil, that the gods were better pleased with good 
deeds than with meaningless offerings, that man had a conscience given him divinely 
to be his guide. He went about dressed in rough, poor clothing, barefooted and 
bareheaded, asking men questions such as "What is base?" "What is wisdom?" 
"What is courage?" and then answering them so plainly that all could understand. 
He not only preached new truths but practiced them too, showing to man by 
example the virtue of goodness. He was eloquent, brave, honorable and faithful, yet 
Alcibiades the traitor to Athens had heard his doctrines and still had gone wrong 
and Critias, one of the worst of the thirty tyrants had sat at his feet and yet had 
lived wickedly afterward. Thousands had received light upon their life through him 
and it hatl never been charged against him that he had betrayed friend or foe, had 
done a single act unworthy a manly man. yet when the democracy was restored 
Socrates, was the first to fall under its displeasure. He was arrested, charged with 
impiety, although he never had spoken slightingly of the gods and reverenced 
his fellow men. He was declared guilty was condemned to death, his real 
offense being that his teachings of morality and justice were a reproach to the men 
who now ruled in Athens, and he was a stumbling block in their way. True he had 
declared that there was but one Supreme God, maker and ruler of the universe, and 



GREECE. 167 

that this God was so great that human minds could not understand him. He had 
preached too that virtue is the only road to happiness here and hereafter and that 
injustice is a crime against God and man. 

It was for this that he was condemned, the first of that grand line of martyrs, 
for truth. When he drank the hemlock and went down to death as calmly as to a 
sleep his heroism was not less than that of the martyred Leonidas and in as noble a 
cause. We admire Solon, Pericles and Leonidas but we love the gray haired homely, 
good old man whose blameless life and pure teaching are like a ray of light in the 
dark sky of later Athens and who closed his eyes on his ungrateful city 393 B. C, in 
the 70th year of his age 

To return to the story of Sparta, which now runs along inwoven with all 
northern as well as southern Greece, we must go back to 404 B. C, when Athens 
desperate with hunger and hopeless of success, surrendered to the Spartan admiral, 
Lysander. This Spartan commander had been aided by Persian gold and I^ersian 
soldiers in his conquest of Athens, Darius having sent his son, Cyrus, to assist Sparta, 
and it was this very Persian help that afterward proved Sparta's ruin, as we shall see. 
You will recall that Athens soon ousted the thirty tyrants and restored the democracy, 
and although Sparta consented, Athens could not be trusted as friend or ally. 
Lysander was a haughty, tyrannical man, who very soon so angered Corinth and 
Thebes by his high-handed ways, that they refused to obey him at all, and became 
again independent. Darius Nothus died about this time, 404 B. C, and Artaxerxes 
Memnon became king of Persia. Cyrus, who had all along counted upon wearing his 
father's crown, beinc then Satrap of Asia Minor, determined to raise a revolution 
and possess himself of the throne. The Spartans were willing enough to help Cyrus, 
in return for the aid he had given them, and sent ten thousand of their best soldiers 
to join the forces he had raised in his Satrapy. 

After the fall of Athens Alcibiades had again fled to Asia, and was now under 
the protection of Pliarnabazus, Satrap of Phrygia. He saw that the resignation of 
Cyrus to his brother's rule was pretended, in order to throw Artaxerxes off his guard, 
and by persistent investigation he found out what Cyrus really intended doing. He 
told his suspicions to Pharnabazus, and declared that he would himself go to Arta- 
xerxes at Susa and tell him what he had discovered, counting, as usual, upon gaining 
some great advantage for himself. 

The Spartans were very bitter against Alcibiades for his double treachery to their 
cause, and now commanded Pharnabazus to put his meddlesome guest to death. 
Pharnabazus accordingly hired a band of ruffians to kill Alcibiades. These assassins 
sought the little Phrygian village where Alcibiades was living, but were afraid to 
enter his house, for they knew whatever faults the perfidious Greek possessed, 
cowardice was not one of them, and that he would sell his life dearly. After con- 
sulting together the murderers set fire to the house, and went off a little way. When 
the red flames were curling high around the dwelling, Alcibiades still majestic of 
figure and beautiful of face, although he was no longer young, holding in one hand a 
sword, and in the other a folded robe as a shield, rushed from the doorway toward 
the band of murderers, who ran for their lives afraid to encounter him. 

At a safe distance they paused, and turning showered missiles upon their 
infuriated pursuer. He fell pierced by darts and arrows, slain at the command of 
his last friend. We are told that in all his misfortunes and treachery there clung 
to him a woman he had loved in happier days, and it was she, Timandra, who 



i68 GREECE. 

wrapped the dead body of Alcibiades in her own garments and buried it, being the 
sole mourner over the grave of the man who might have been to Greece a second 
Clisthenes, had he willed it, for he had a great mind and was fitted by nature to be 
a ruler, had he not early allowed evil to master him, and made self his god. How 
differently died Socrates, the poor image-maker's son, discoursing with his last breath 
upon the great truths for which he gave his life, and humble and homel}^ though he 
vvas, mourned by hundreds to whom he had given hope and comfort. 

In the year 401 B. C, Cyrus, with his army started from Sardis, the old empire of 
Lydia, crossed Phrygia, Cilicia and the arid plains of Syria, to the Euphrates. 
Down the rich valley of this river they marched, the Greeks marvelling at the rich- 
ness of the soil, the mildness of the climate, and above all, that nowhere did an army 
oppose them, and at last they camped at Cunaxa, in old Chaldaia, and upon that 
fertile plain, in September, 401 B. C, Cyrus was killed in battle, and his army dis- 
persed, all except the ten thousand Greeks, who determined, although a thousand 
miles from the sea, to return to Greece. They refused the command of Xerxes to 
surrender, and notwithstanding the murder of their generals and that they were 
without maps or guides they set forth, led by Xenophon, to return. 

It seems almost a miracle that this little army succeeded at last, after traveling 
through the freezing cold of a bitter winter, in reaching their homes. They traveled 
up the valley of Tigris to its mouth, crossing streams and mountains, constantly 
fighting, and arrived in Thrace eight months after the defeat at Cunaxa. This retreat 
of the ten thousand, is the most remarkable retreat in history, for we must remember 
that it was entirely within an enemy's country, and the little army was without 
machines for building bridges or trained generals to direct them. How their hearts 
must have leaped as they saw the blue waters of the Euxine spread out before them, 
the sea which meant safety to them. The " ten thousand " reduced to eight thousand 
in the long march did not disperse to their homes when thev reached their native 
land, the ties of mutual danger bound them together, and they had learned to love 
adventure. They became a company of " Free Companions," or hired soldiers, 
entering the service of a Thracian prince, and afterward fighting for Sparta in the 
war with Persia, which followed in 398 B. C. 

This war Sparta began, for, fearing that Artaxcrxes would seize some of the 
islands under Spartan control, and being somewhat ashamed of having given up the 
Ionian cities to Darius Nothus long before, in return for Persia's aid in conquering 
Athens, Sparta now ventured to redeem itself in the eyes of Greece. The ten 
thousand had learned that Persia was not as powerful an empire as had been sup- 
posed, that the States which made up the dominion of Artaxerxes were hostile to 
each other in feeling, and ready to revolt from Persia upon any pretext. They had 
learned too, how greatly superior the Greek soldiers were to the Persians, and had a 
contempt for them, as opponents in battle. Sparta was now mistress of wide foreign 
possessions in northern Greece and the islands of the sea, but the laws of the old 
days were no longer enforced, and Sparta, like the rest of Greece was suffering from 
the disease of luxury. The war with Persia was popular in Greece, and as Sparta 
had rather a hard time to hold in check all the States which were counted as subject, 
the king Agesilaus hoped that by making war against the old enemy of Hellas to 
bring the hostile elements of Greece into harmony. 

After capturing Sardis and ravaging Phrygia, Agesilaus was planning to march 
into the heart of Asia when he v.'as called home by a revolution. The Persian king 



GREECE. 



i6q 



feared i;o meet the 
Spartans, even with 
his vast forces, and 
had hired trusteil 
agents to stir up the 
Greek States against 
Sparta. Money was 
freely used, and soon 
there was such a dan- 
gerous state of things 
that Agesilaus was 
obliged to set them 
right before continu- ^ 
ing war with Persia. : 
Lysander had been I 
killed in the begin- ;; 
ning of the trouble, | 
and the other Spar- t 
tan king, Pausanias I 
had been defeated 7 
before Thebes, and s 
upon marching back ^ 
to Sparta, had been ^ 
sentenced to death, f 
but escaped from l 
prison and safely hid ^ 
himself away in Ar- h 
cadia. Ismenias, a h 
rich Theban had put | 
himself at the head s. 
of an army, driven s 
the Spartans from all ■" 
the States north of 
Boeotia, and formed 
an alliance of ten 
northern States 
against Laconia, so 
it may readily be 
seen that Agesilaus 
had enough to do at 
home, and although 
he was sorry to leave 
Asia, he dared not 
stay longer. Pursu- 
ing the route Xerxes had taken a hundred years before, Agesilaus marched 
through Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly, crossed the pass of Thermopylae and 
reached the plain of Coroneia, and there meeting the Thebans and their allies, 
fought one of the most dreadful and bloody battles ever waged on Grecian soil. We 




I70 



GREECE. 



are told that while that fight raged no war cry was raised, and no sound broke from 
the struggling Greeks grappling with each other but muttered curses and hoarse 
panting. .Agesilaus, the lame Spartan king, fought at the head of his chosen band, 
until he fell wounded by a Theban spear and would have been killed had he not 
been rescued by his bodyguard of fifty brave men. At last the Thebans cut their 
way through the Spartans and gaining Mount Helicon, left Agesilaus victor, though 
dreadfully wounded. It is related that the Spartan king had his wounds dressed and 
then caused himself to be carried on the shoulders of four soldiers through his camp 
giving orders for the comfort of the wounded, and the security of the living, and 
was then borne over the held of battle to assure himself that no wounded were left 
there without care. 

When Lysander captured Athens eleven years before the battle of Coroneia, 
one Athenian admiral, Conon, by name, escaped with twelve vessels to Cyprus. This 
brave Athenian penetrated into the heart of Asia to the very foot of the throne of 
Artaxerxes, and succeeded in interesting that monarch to furnish him ships and men 
to join in the war against Sparta. It was in the autumn of 393 B. C, that this now 
large fleet crossed over to Laconia, burned the coast towns and carried away many 
prisoners. Conon did more, he persuaded the Persians to rebuild with their money 
the Long Wall, which some years ago they had furnished Sparta with the means of 
destroying. Conon dreamed of again making Athens mistress of Hellas, but he was 
rash enough to attempt to persuade the cities of Asia Minor and those on the islands 
to acknowledge Athens as their leader soon after the Loiig Wall was rebuilt. The 
Spartans now sued humbly to Artaxerxes for peace, and, their envoy, .\ntalcidas, so 
influenced that treacherous monarch against brave Conon that when he arrived at 
the Persian court, on a mission from Athens, he was beheaded, and Persia dictated 
to Athens and Sparta (B. C, 387) the terms of the peace which followed, and these 
were so formed by Antalcidas that Sparta became mistress of all Greece, sacrificing 
the cities of Asia Minor to Persia. 

Sparta was a hard and unkintl mistress to the Grecian States, and after con- 
quering Mantinaia, 386 B. C, and the little republic of Phlius, turned its army against 
Olynthus, a powerful city which had grown great in the last century and was now at 
the head of a league in Southern Macedonia and Thrace. Two brothers Eudamidas 
and Phccbidas in 382 B. C, were placed in command of the Spartan army against 
Olynthus, and when Eudamidas was defeated and killed, and another general shared 
the same fate Polybiades was sent and after burning, pillaging, and murdering in the 
unprotected districts outside the city walls, at last exhausted by famine Olynthus 
after four years of war surrendered. 

It was during this four years' war, in fact at the very time Phccbidas was upon the 
march to Olynthus that another war was begun, a war which was to be to Sparta and 
to all Greece a long step down the decline to which they were all tending. Sparta 
and Thebes had been enemies since the second Persian invasion, and it was a Theban, 
Ismenas, as I have told you, who formed the league which created the revolution that 
was ended by the peace of Antilcidas. Thebes was a very rich city, and the 
democracy, under Ismenas, was in power. The nobles sent their leader Leontiades, 
secretly to the Spartan camp offering Phccbidas the citadel or fortress of the city if 
he would put them in power. When they heard that a Spartan army on its way to 
Olynthus was encamped near the city the bargain was made, and like most wicked 
bargains, bore bitter fruit. Phcebidas received the gate kej's of the fort from 



GREECE. 171 

Leontidas, entered the city, and the nobles were placed in power, and began to 
exercise it in the most cruel and sickening way, killing those of the democracy who 
failed to escape to Athens, (and many did escape) taking to themselves property to 
which they had no right, banishing such people as opposed them, being supported in 
all this crime by the Spartan garrison in the fortress, for Leontidas himself went to 
Sparta and gained the permission of the Ephors to the Spartans remaining in Thebes. 
In Athens there was a number of Theban fugitives, among them being Pelopidas, a 
young and patriotic noble, who was a member of the democratic party, and his wise 
and virtuous friend Epaminondas, an old man who had joined the exiles but would not 
for a long time join in the plot they made to free Thebes, but did so finally, for he 
was destined to create great changes in Greece. Among the nobles in power was a 
certain Phyllidias, who soon became disgusted with the cruelty of his associates and 
entered into the plot against them. He invited the two rulers Archias and Phillipus, 
with the most prominent Spartan officers to a banquet at his house on a certain night 
in the year 378 B. C. Five of the exiled conspirators from Athens had entered the 
city as hunters that tlay, and, dressed in handsome female attire, were snugly hidden 
away in a room near where their enemies were growing stupid with wine. Under 
each silken robe was a sharp dagger, and when Phyllidias told the company that he 
would now bring in some Theban ladies, these daggers were grasped in brawny hands 
that were hidden in the folds of chiton or mantle and they entered all closely veiled, 
greeted with boisterous shouts, each choosing his man, but apparently carelessly 
scattering among the guests. 

As one of the Spartan lords reached out his hand to lift the veil of the supposed 
woman nearest him, a keen blade flashed and was buried in his breast, and in an 
instant the plotters had fallen upon their foes, among whom was the traitor Leontidas, 
and put them every one to death. Then flinging aside their blood-stained female 
gear, they rushed to the prisons, opened the doors and set free five hundred friends 
of liberty, and in the still midnight all Thebes heard the death of the tyrants 
proclaimed. Young men and old grasped their weapons, donned their armor and 
hastened to join the deliverers of their city, and the next day and for several dav? 
thereafter, so many recruits flocked to the standard of Pelopidas and his friends that 
the Spartan garrison marched out of the fortress and left the city. 

There was now a new king of Sparta in place of the son of Pausanias, and he 
saw that Thebes must be subdued or Sparta would have a very dangerous enemy 
always on the alert against it. So he led an army into Boeotia and had nearly per- 
suaded the Athenians into forsaking Thebes for they were no longer the brave and 
fearless Athenians of the old days, when the Thebans bribed a certain Spartan 
general to force war upon Athens by invading Attica, and thus Thebes succeeded in 
forming with Athens a strong alliance of seventy cities all pledged to resist 
haughty tyrannical Sparta. 

Epaminondas and Pelopidas led the Theban forces in the long war which 
followed, and prevented the wary and valiant old Agesilaus from gaining any 
important success in the next two years. In 374 B. C, the Thebans expelled the 
Spartans from all Bceotian cities, and in 371 B. C, Thebes after having shown itself in 
victory, for it was victorious both by land and sea, nearly as haughty and tyrannical 
as Sparta, offended Athens and the other allies and was left to carry on the war with 
Sparta alone. At the battle of Leuctra, 371 B. C., Epaminondas showed himself 
fully able to cope with any foe, for he was a genius, and not only a genius, but the 



i;.^ GREECE. 

rarest military genius Greece ever produced. The Spartans fouirht bravely, but were 
defeated, and that too bj' a much smaller number of Thebans and the new king 
Cleombrotus was killed. 

This was the first pitched battle in which the Spartans had ever been beaten 
by an enemy inferior in numbers to themselves and in Sparta the deepest humiliation 
was felt. Now .Sparta was driven back to the Peloponnessus, after thirty-three 
years sinning, fighting and plotting to remain supreme in Northern Greece, and 
influenced by Jason of Thessaly, Thebes and Sparta declared a truce. Jason, we are 
told, aspired to conquer all Greece, now e.xhausted by war, and to invade Persia, 
equally exhausted by lu.xury, but he was murdered 370 B. C, and the Grecian States 
were reserved a few years longer to quarrel and fight among themselves before 
being brought under the yoke of a foreign power. 

After the truce expired Epaminondas invaded Laconia and marched toward 
Sparta, but Agesilaus saved his capital bj' driving the invaders back toward the 
coast. After wasting Laconia with fire and sword, Epaminondas freed Messenia, 
which had now been three hundred years enslaved by .Sparta, called back from exile 
the descendants of the original owners of Messenia, and organized the Arcadian 
towns and those of the liberated provinces into a league which hemmed Sparta in on 
every side. 

The Athenians, strange to say, now interfered in behalf of Sparta and sent an 
army to help their old enemies, but Epaminondas retired to Thebes. 

It was about 367 H. C, that Pelopidas marched into Thessaly to compel Alex- 
ander of Phene, brother of Jason, who was oppressing his own subjects and threaten- 
ing Theban dominions to restore order, and forming an alliance with Macedon he 
brought home to Thebes Philip, afterward king of Macedon and father of Alexander 
the Great. It would be tedious to follow the fortunes of Thebes and Sparta through-' 
out the long war, for it is a story of violence, plotting and dissension. The cities of 
the Arcadian league quarreled with each other and with Thebes. Some of the 
Arcadian leaders robbed the shrines at Olympia. and this involved them further with 
Thebes. Mantinea refused to have any of the sacred treasure, and the Arcadians 
finally joined with Sparta and Athens against Thebes. 

P'our times Epaminondas invaded Laconi,a the last time penetrating to the 
capital, but being driven out. It was in this last invasion that Epaminondas fell at the 
Theban victory of Mantinea, and with him fell the glory of Thebes, as her star had 
risen with his entrance into public life. Pelopidas had been killed at the head of his 
" sacred band" of three hundred Thebans s&me time 'jefore, for after defeating his 
old enemy, Alexander of Phera; in a fierce battle, he rode out alone from his com- 
pany, and offered to fight his adversary' in single combat, when Ale.xander's body- 
guard slew him with their javelins. 

Lame Agesilaus, who had fronted so many different enemies in battle, and whose 
Spartan heroism equals that of any of the great kings in the old days of .Sparta's glory, 
died peacefully in his bed the year after Epaminondas fell at Mantinea, being at the 
time on his way home from Egypt, where he had placed Nectanabis upon the throne 
of the Pharaohs, in defiance of Persia. Forty-one years he reignetl over Sparta and 
made her the greatest State in Hellas, and though at the time of his death, (361 B. C.) 
he was eighty-four years old, his mind was as bright and his spirit as unconquerable 
as when he first donned his armor in his country's cause. 

Philip had now become king of Macedon, and his people, although not Greek, 
resembled in their hardy, brave spirit, the Dorians of the early days, and were war- 



GREECE. 17,^ 

like and bold. In a hundred years Macedon had made great progress, and having 
acted as allies of Athens and Sparta, the Macedonian soldiers had received a practical 
education in war. Philip too, was a military genius, and he studied the military art 
of the Greeks and improved upon it. When Epaminondas and Agesilaus were no 
more, Philip, knowing how weakened all Greece was by the long wars of the last 
three centuries, became ambitious to add to his own dominions the States whose 
quarrels threatened to destroy each other. He only wanted a pretext to enter Greece 
with an army. 

I have already spoken of Chalcidice, and of Olynthus, the head of the Olyn- 
thian confederacy or league in that district. Chalcidice was just east of Macedon 
and still east of Olynthus was Amphiopolis, a city which had once belonged to 
Athens, but which was lost to Attica and became independent during the Peloponnes- 
sian war. Philip made friends with Athens, and offered to conquer Amphiopolis and 
give it back to the city, but when he had subdued it, he kept it for himself, crossed 
over into Thrace, where there were rich gold mines, conquered the western part and 
founded the city of Philippi. Of course the Athenians were angry enough at the 
loss of Amphiopolis, but when Philip made friends with Olynthus, with its strong 
league and secured it as an ally he could snap his fingers at Athens. 

Phocis had been under the rule of Thebes after the battle of Leuctra, but being 
a spirited and brave race, although small in numbers the Phocians soon threw off the 
hard yoke of their conquerors. They cultivated after their revolt, the plain of Crisa 
near the temple of Delphi, and this Thebes declared to be extremely wicked as 
they considered the plain sacred ground. The council or league which protected the 
temple, took the view of Thebes and sentenced the Phocians to pay a heavy tine, 
whereupon the Phocians seized Delphi itself, plundered it of its rich offerings to gain 
the means of raising an army, and when it had gained both Athens and Sparta, who 
of course were against Thebes in everything, the Phocians and their allies, aided too 
by some of the cities of Thessaly marched against Thebes and Locris, who had 
allied themselves with the nobles of Thessaly and Philip. 

A great battle was fought in Thessaly in the spring of 352 B. C, between Philip 
and the Phocians, and Philip gaining the victory made himself master of all Thessaly. 
He would have marched straight into Phocis hatl he not found the Athenian allies 
strongly posted at Thermopylae. As it was he turned back. While Philip had been 
preparing to conquer Amphiopolis, a war broke out between Athens and her allies 
and nearly all of the large cities again became independent. The old military spirit 
was dead in Athens. There was neither patriotism nor bravery among the people, 
who now thought more about banquets and pleasures than their country's needs and 
when fighting was to be done hired soldiers to do it. The rich would neither serve 
the State in any way nor pay their taxes if they could avoid them, so being thus unfit 
to rule, Athens was ripe for its final fall. There was one man, however, who had 
within him the grand soul of the old patriots. He saw that Philip intended to con- 
quer all Greece and that the liberty of Athens would be lost forever if the Athenians 
were not roused. 

This man was Demosthenes, son of a sword-maker, who in youth was so sickly 
and delicate, so weak of voice and indistinct of utterance that he became the jest of 
his playmates. Nevertheless he had great and beautiful thoughts and he labored 
long and earnestly to master his defects of speech and at last did so, becoming one 
of the greatest orators the world has ever produced, renowned throughout Hellas 



ijA GREECK. 

and even admired in Persia for his remarkable eloquence and force. Demosthenes 
bent all his great powers of persuasion, all of his eloquence and ability to awaken the 
Athenians to their danger. When Philip was successful in Thessaly he made his 
first great speech against him striving to make the people act at once against the 
dangerous enemy, to be worthy of their great ancestors, and not to sit idly with 
folded arms and let the Macedonians swallow them. Athens was stirred by Demos- 
thenes to join Olynthus in an alliance against Philip, who now threatened the Con- 
federacy, yet the Athenians did next to nothing while the Macedonian king took one 
after another of the cities of the north. At last he conquered all the Olynthian towns 
and destroyed them, and sold the people as slaves, then turned upon poor brave 
little Phocis with his powerful army, destroyed everyone of the Phocian cities and 
forbade the people to rebuild them. By having the votes in the Council which the 
Phocians owned transferred to him, Philip gained a power to interfere whenever 
he pleased in Greek affairs. 

While these things were happening in northern Greece, in the Peloponnessus, the 
States were wrangling and quarrelling as usual. Philip turned these quarrels to his 
own advantage, and as Sparta was still the strongest State of the Peloponnessus, he 
tried to unite all the other States who were enemies of Sparta against her, in order 
that they might possibly destroy that State, and thus make Macedonian conquest of 
the rest easy. Demosthenes understood perfectly the plans of the wily Philip, and 
made a journey to the Peloponnessus, to warn the States of that portion of Greece 
against him, but while his eloquence was greatly admired and crowds flocked to listen, 
nothing resulted from it. At last the Athenians saw that Demosthenes had all along 
been right, and that Philip was an enemy to Greek liberty, and a strong party of 
citizens began to act upon the advice the orator had so often given them. The rich 
were compelled to pay not only their ta.\es, but a fair share toward building a fleet. 
The money spent so recklessly on the public festivals of the gods, was devoted to 
carrying on the war against Philip, whose offers of friendship had been rejected for 
an alliance with the city of Byzantium, which he was attacking. It is pleasing to 
know that Athens did actually prevent Philip from taking Byzantium 341 B. C, for 
the after history of the Athenian struggle with Philip, is a history of defeat. 
Aeschines, an Athenian, who favored Philip, succeeded in causing war to be declared 
against Amphissa, by the council of Delphi, and called Philip to take command. 
Instead of marching against Amphissa, the Macedonian monarch moved southward 
with a large army and seized a town commanding the entrance of Attica. At Athens 
there was the wildest dismay, for the dreaded Philip might be at the gates of the 
city at any moment. Everyone feared to speak, for they felt that Philip would 
revenge himself upon those who opposed him. All were silent in the assembly, 
and all eyes were turned upon Demosthenes. 

Then the real greatness of the patriot orator shone forth, and he made a ringing 
speech that roused the courage of the faint-hearted, and inspired them with new 
resolution. He advised them to ally themselves with Thebes and meet Philip boldly. 
This was done, and August 7, B. C, 338, the Macedonian army utterly crushed and 
routed the Athenian and Theban allies at Cha;ronea, in Bccotia, and Greece, after 
centuries of freedom and glory, bowed her neck to the yoke of a master. 

It was but a farce, the summoning of the congress at Corinth soon after, for the 
Macedonian conqueror possessed all Greece, and could take what he would, yet the 
congress met, and with a great show of good feeling appointed Philip commander of 




GREECE. 175 

all the Greek forces which were now to go forth to war with Persia. 
Philip was murdered at his daughter's wedding feast, while making 
preparations to march into Asia, and his son Alexander, then a mere 
boy of twenty, became the king of Macedon. Philip of INIacedon 
had married early in life, a beautiful princess of Epirus, named 
Olympias, but he could no more be satisfied with one wife than 
with one kingdom, and while Alexander was still a boy he made 
other marriages. Olympias had but the one child, Alexander, and 
he was so beautiful and promising that it was no wonder that her 
heart was filled with jealous rage when a son was born to another 
princess whom Philip had married, and who, by her influence over 
the king was likely to gain for the infant the crown of Macedon. 
We may be sure that there were bitter quarrels in that royal house- 
hold before the high-spirited Olympias, fearing for her own life and Anstoti-ks. 
for Alexander's safety, retired from Macedon and went back to her father's court; 
the prince, now a young man was his mother's devoted champion and left the court 
with her. 

Alexander had been carefully trainqd in his father's realm by one of the wisest 
Irten of Greece, the great Aristotle, and had made friends of the Macedonian gen- 
erals who had fought in Philip's wars, some of them even taking sides with him and 
Olympias and accompanying them in their exile. Alexander had a naturally ambi- 
tious turn of mind which the clever Aristotle fostered, and he no doubt early made 
up his mind that he would be king of Macedon after Philip, no matter who might 
claim the throne. He knew he could count upon the support of the army, for his 
gallant conduct at Chteronea and elsewhere in Philip's ten months campaign in 
Bceotia and Phocis had made him popular with the soldiers. 

Olympias and Alexander had been summoned to Macedon to the fatal wedding 
feast where Philip lost his life and it is not unlikely that one or both of them may 
have had a hand in his murder for as soon as Philip was dead Alexander put every 
other claimant to the throne aside with a strong hand and at twenty found himself 
ruler of an empire that was made up of Macedon, the Grecian States and of the 
country inhabited by several barbarian tribes in the Danube Valley. He had, also, a 
splendidly trained army under Antigonus, Antipater, Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus 
and Parmenio, who had long been his friends and counsellors, and soon showed his 
subjects that though he was a mere boy in years he was nevertheless every whit a 
king and was not to be trifled with. 

Demosthenes must have been rejoiced at the death of Philip, and he too, it is 
said, was in the plot to murder him although it is hardly likely. His influence was 
powerful at Athens and there was a movement toward liberty which was taken up 
by the other States that might have caused Alexander some trouble had he not 
acted promptly; but he mounted his famous black horse Bucephalus and at the head 
of his army marched through the whole length of Greece receiving the submission 
of the cities as he went. Again the Congress met at Corinth and this time it made 
Alexander general of Greece, as it had before made Philip head of the forces of 
Hellas, and delivered many fine-sounding complimentary speeches to the young 
monarch, who probably took them for what they were worth. Certainly he trusted 
the Greek cities very little for he left garrisons of Macedonian soldiers in many of 
them, although he paid no attention to Sparta, who stood sullenly aloof and would 



176 



GREECE. 



have nothing to do with him. Sparta was small game for this warrior-king. 
Persia was to be his prey, and he only waited to punish the barbarians of the Danube 
X'alley, who now rebelled against Macedon, before pouncing upon Asia. 

He passed over the high mountains lying between Macedon antl the Northern 
Country, and after marching with his army through dense woods, and fording rapid 
streams came to the mighty Danube. When neither ford nor bridge, ferry nor boats 
could be found to carry his men across, nothing daunted, he caused rafts to be made 
and buoyed up with inflated o.\ hjdcs and upon these his army crossed the stream, 
defeated the barbarians, recrossed and turned their faces southward. The king with 




ArlRtotele pnd Tllfl Pupil, Alexander. 

his victorious soldiers had scarcely reached the frontiers of Macedon when news was 
brought that the Thebans, having heard a rumor of his death, had revolted and were 
besieging the Macedonian garrison in their citadel. 

Alexander wa.sted no time in hurrying to Thebes. Making one of those swift 
marches for which he was afterward famous, he arrived near the city, and stationed 
his army about it so as to cut off help which might be sent from Athens, before the 
surprised Thebans had any notion of his approach. 

The Thebans, as you know, were valiant in war, and they were not to be 
frightened at the mere sight of an army, so they shut themselves up Ix-hind their 
walls, and refused to surrender to Alexander. The huge battering rams of the Mace- 
donians were brought against the walls, and artillery that would sling stones and 
darts fully three hundred yards, rained missiles upon the defenders. When a 
great hole had been made in one side of the masonry, the Macedonians, fiercely 



GREECE. 



177 



opposed by tne 
Thebans, entered 
the city. There was 
frightful slaughter 
in proud Thebes 
that dreadful day, 
and its streets were 
red with the blood 
of women and chil- 
dren as well as 
brave men, but the 
doom of the living 
was pronounced by 
the Macedonian 
king, who com- 
manded every per- 
son that had been 
spared from death 
should be sold into 
slavery. Every 
house and temple, 
every hovel and 
palace was leveled 
to the dust, only 
the home that had 

once sheltered the 

poet Pindar, being 

left to mark the 

spot where Thebes 

had stood. The 

other Greek cities 

were so terrified at 

this stern act of 

vengeance, that 

they gave up all 

idea of ever resist- 
ing Ale.xander, but 

Sparta still sent no 

embassy to him, 

and the Spartans 

ma J' have dreamed 

of again making 

their State mistress 

of Greece when 

Alexander was safely away in Asia. They did attempt a revolt when Alex- 
ander was busy in Asia Minor, which might have been successful had the cities 

of Ionia united against the Macedonians. Parmenio and Antipater were wise old 

generals who knew well the uncertainty of all things earthly, and they tried to 




mm 



178 GREECE. 

persuade Alexander to marry and settle quietly down to governing Macedon and 
Greece, for a few years, and then when he had a son to succeed him, go forth if he 
w^ould to fight Persia. Alexander w^ith the impatience of youth, would not listen 
to the w ise counsels of his two tried friends. He left Antipater to rule over Macedon 
and Greece, much to the disgust of Olympias who wanted to rule over the empire 
herself, and proved herself a vexatious obstacle in the way of loyal old Antipater. 
Parmenio and the other generals of whom I have told you, went with Alexander, who 
crossed the Hellespont in the spring of 334 B. C., to begin ten years of wandering 
and fighting that were so full of adventure and romance that the world still hears of 
them with interest. 

Alexander was too wise a general to strike straight for Persia, leaving enemies 
behind to trouble him in case of defeat, but after the hard-fought battle of Granicus, 
where he met and defeated the Persians satraps of Asia Minor, who had collected an 
army to bar his way, he turned southward. 

It would require volumes, and fascinating volumes they would be, to tell you all 
about the movements of Alexander and his adventures b}' the way, before he reached 
Sardis, which opened its gates to him. He then conquered I lalicarnassus, the city in 
which Herodotus, the first writer of history was born, some two hundred years before 
Alexander saw the light, and went to meet Darius in Syria. On the plain of Issus, a 
narrow strip of Syrian vallc)-, lying between the mountains and the sea, Darius 
Codomanus, with his great army, met the Macedonian invaders B. C, 333, but he 
was so frightened by the havoc that the skilled soldiers of Alexander made among 
his cowardly Asiatics, that he ran away from the field when the battle first began, 
and by his flight so struck terror and panic to his army, that in spite of the valiant 
conduct of many of the Persian nobles, the day was lost to him, and Alexander 
gained his second great victorj- in Asia. 

The wife and child of Darius, his mother and several ladies of the court had 
gone out with the Persian army, probably thinking that the Persians would so easily 
defeat the Macedonians that it would be mere sport. They fell into the hands of 
Alexander, together with large quantities of rich goods of the Persian king's house- 
hold. Among the treasures were many golden vessels which Alexander sent home to 
Antipater with tlirections to him to have them melted and coined into money. Now 
Alexander felt free to strike a blow at Phoenicia, for Tyre was still the greatest com- 
mercial city in western Asia. He knew that the cities he had already mastered 
would not attempt to free themselves when they heard of the defeat of Darius. He 
even proclaimed himself king of Persia by right of conquest, and then marched to 
Tyre. 

The old city of Tj're, on the mainland had been destroyed in a war with one of 
the Babylonian kings, and the new city that sprang up afterward was built on an 
island about three miles wide, a short distance out in the sea. The water all about 
this island formed good harbors. The city had many splendid buildings, lofty and 
beautiful, and there was great wealth stored in its warehouses. When the Tyrians 
heard that the dreaded Alexander was coming, they sent out some of their nobles to 
meet him and give him a golden crown as a sign that they acknowledged him as their 
lord. There was much complimentary talk between these noblemen and the Mace- 
donian king, and when the former went back into the city, it was with the request 
preferred by the conqueror that he be permitted with his army to enter Tyre, and 
sacrifice to 1 lercules, the god most honored by the Phoenicians. The Tyrians politely 



GREECE. I7Q 

replied that neither he nor his army would be allowed to enter the city, and suggested 
that there was a temple of Hercules among the ruins of old Tyre on the mainland. 
Alexander had no ships, and he could not besiege Tyre by sea without them, and as 
they were so far from the shore the Tyrians felt perfectly safe. 

Alexander soon showed what he intended doing. He set hif. soldiers to work 
felling cedars upon Mount Lebanon, and these were hauled to the water's edge and 
were driven down into the slime and mud, for the water between the island and 
mainland was only about eighteen feet deep. Great machines were made for driving 
these piles, and they formed the skeleton of an isthmus which Alexander began to 
build of timber, earth and stones, to connect Tyre with the shore. The Tyrians did 
everything possible to prevent the work. Alexander was compelled to get some 
ships from Sidon to protect his laboring soldiers, and there was often lively fighting 
between the besiegers and the besieged. At length, after seven months, this wonder- 
ful artificial isthmus was finished, and the Macedonian army stormed the walls of 
Tyre. The Tyrians fought with desperate courage, but the city was taken by the 
enemy, and the Macedonian soldiers, infuriated by the long siege and stubborn resis- 
tance of the citizens, slaughtered them without mercy. 

When the brutal soldiers had satisfi'ed their revenge, many of the Tyrians were 
still left alive. These Ale.xander himself claimed as his share of the prey, and 
caused hundreds of them to be thrown alive into the sea, other hundreds to be 
crucified along shore, and then had the others beheaded or stabbed, all of these 
cruelties being considered the right of a conqueror in those bloody old days of wrong 
and violence, a right in which Alexander exulted. He must have been blood- 
thirsty by nature or else being still so young a man, he would have felt some pity, 
and showed mercy to the people whose only crime was their patriotism. 

Darius Codomanus now sent a very humble letter to Alexander, asking for peace, 
and offering to give up to him a large part of his empire. Parmenio advised 
Alexander to do as Darius requested, but Alexander wrote a haughty reply to the 
poor worried Persian king, declaring that he would take what he wished, whether 
Darius were willing or not, and intimated that among other things he meant to take 
Darius himself, alive or dead. 

Alexander marched from Tyre through Judea, and passing Jerusalem, the 
Hebrew historians say through the city, but the Greeks do not confirm them, he 
stopped at Gaza, on the Mediterranean. Gaza, like Tyre, was very rich, and did not 
propose to let the murdering, plundering band of foreigners into the city if they 
could be kept out. The governor of Gaza was a Persian satrap, named Betis. He 
was a good general, and Alexander had a hard time taking the city, but it fell at last, 
and the scenes at Tyre were repeated. 

At length Alexander had Betis brought before him, and when the captive 
general refused to make any reply to the insults heaped upon him, he caused his 
heels to be pierced, a rope passed through the holes, and then had him fastened 
behind a chariot and dragged over the stony streets until he died of th(, torture, a 
cruelty which cannot be excused, and was worthy of the fierce Gauls of the north 
rather than of this Macedonian monarch who made some pretense to tlie refinement 
and humanity of the Greeks. 

War-wasted groaning Egypt, who hated Persia as heartily as in the days of 
Cambyses, welcomed Alexander as a Savior. The ties of a kindred religion bound 
the Egyptians to the Greeks, and Greek merchants had long found favor in the 



i8o 



GREECE. 




Defeat of Darlufi b}' the MacciluDlans. 



GREECE. 



i8i 



valley of the Nile. Alexander not only freed Egypt from Persia but he respected 
the gods of the people and sacrificed to them. While he lingered in the fertile 
Nile country he even had himself proclaimed son of [upiter Amnion and received 
worship. In the year 332 B. C, Alexander founded at the mouth of the Nile, the 
City of Alexandria which soon became the greatest commercial city of Egypt and 
for nearly twenty-two centuries of varying fortunes has remained the metropolis of 
the Nile Valley. 

Darius Codomanus was meanwhile preparing another great army and when 
Alexander, 331 B. C, entered the old empire of Assyria, the Persians made a stand 
against him at Arbela. Again Darius was defeated and again he escaped, fleeing 
this time into Bactria, followed by Alexander, who found him at last, it is said, 




Alexander at Pcrsepolis. 

dead of the wounds given him by his own Satrap Bessus, who had some idea 
of seizing the Persian throne. Susa with all its treasures of gold and jewels, and its 
splendid palaces, fell next before the conqueror, and he then destroyed the fair city 
of Persepolis, selling its people into slavery. Ship-loads of plunder were sent back 
to Macedon as the result of the gigantic robberies perpetrated by Alexander and his 
soldiers whom it now seemed that nothing would satisfy. 

The Macedonians up to this time had claimed that the old quarrel between 
Greece and Persia justified their conquests, but after they had rested and rioted in 
Babylon and the other cities of the conquered empire, they still pressed eastward 
into India, and the bounds of the world only limited Alexander's ambition. The 
eyes of the Macedonians viewed with wonder the civilizations unfolded before them 
and thou^di they carried misery and desolation to empires, they carried too the seeds 



i82 GREECE. 

of new thought receiving the same in return. Paving the way for the after 
centuries they fulfilled a design of Providence although they never dreamed of so 
doing. At last, after conquering India, Ale.xander designed to penetrate still farther 
east. The weary war-scarred veterans refused to advance. They had won glory and 
plunder enough to satisfy them and knew that as they dropped by the way the king 
would supply their place with soldiers from the conquered natives and they would 
reap no reward from their toils. 

Parmenio had been murdered by the jealous Alexander's orders long before, and 
another faithful general, he had struck down with his own hand in a drunken frenzy. 
He had discarded Greek manners and even Greek dress for the Persian and had 
practiced Persian vices until the affection of his soldiers may have wavered. At any 
rate they refused to go farther and suffering terribly in the deserts which border 
Persia they at last reached Susa on their homeward way, and after a few weeks 
again reposed in Babylon. 

Alexander was now thirty-two years old, and covered with scars, bronzed, savage 
of temper, given to frightful tits of drunkenness, he was no longer the Alexander of 
other days. Once more in Babylon he gave himself up to the excesses of which he 
was so fond, and after a night of shameful revel he was seized of a fever which 
ended his life in a few days, 324 B. C. Among all of the conquerors of history none 
were more courageous than Alexander and none whose personal daring was greater. 
As a general, too, and military genius only one man, Hannibal, has ever equaled 
him. His vices were serious but he was generous, frank, brave and won the 
love of his soldiers. His great faults were developed by his victories and were 
natural enough to one whose youth was passed as his had been. Alexander's body 
was scarcely cold in death before his generals, who had probably discussed the 
matter while the king lay dying, were quarreling over his empire. In far away 
Macedonia there lived his weak-minded half brother, Philip Arridajus and his wife 
Eurydice, who was as clever as her husband was silly. The foot soldiers, led by 
Meleager at once declared Philij) king, but Perdiccas persuaded the army to give 
Meleager up to the Generals to be punished. He convinced the soldiers that it 
would be wise to wait and see whether Roxana, the wife of Alexander should give 
birth to a son. In that event the Generals should rule as satraps until the prince was 
of age, Philip bearing the name of king in the meantime. 

The army made Perdiccas regent, and he divided the empire into satrapies. 
Antipater had ruled Greece and Macedon well, and he was left in charge there, 
Craterus being sent to aid him. Ptolemy was sent to Egypt, Antigonus and Leo- 
natus took between them Phrygia, Lycia and Pamphylia, Seleucus was placed in 
charge of Syria and Babylonia, Eumenes was assigned to Paphlagonia, and Cap- 
padocia and Lysimachus was made satrap of Thrace. 

When the news of Alexander's death reached Greece, Demosthenes, now an old 
man but as bitter as ever toward Macedon, stirred up a revolt, but Antipater put it 
down and Demosthenes fled from the city. When he was followed and about to be 
arrested, he killed himself to escape his enemies. 

As might have been expected, as soon as the different generals were safely in 
charge of their satrapies, they at once fell to plotting and planning how to cheat tiie 
baby son of Alexander, who had now been born. Each general set to work to make 
himself an independent king in his own province, and greedy Antigonus wanted for 
himself the whole vast empire that Alexander had conquered. Antipater alone was 



GREECE. 



183 




loyal to the little king as he had been to his father and 
grandfather, and knowing that his son Cassander would 
not protect the little lad's interest, he made a will 
leaving Macedon and Greece to Polysperchon, one of his 
old war comrades, and soon afterward died full of years 
and honor, for he was a good man and true. After much 
squabbling and quarrelling, the other generals came to, 
open war. Craterus and Leonatus were killed before 
Antipater's death, Eumenes fell in 316 B. C., three 
years after Polysperchon began his reign, and the same 
year Cassander became, with the help of Antigonus, 
master of Greece and Macedon. 

Little Alexander was now eight years old, and his 
grandmother Olympias loved him as devotedly as she 
had loved his father. His aunt Eurydice, however, 
would gladly have put him out of the way of her husband, 
the weak figure-head king of Macedon. To save him 

from this fate Olympias caused Philip and his wife to be murdered and took 
charge of Roxana and the child-king. Cassander married Thessalonica, half 
sister of Alexander, as soon as he became master of Macedon and when he 
promised Olympias his protection she surrendered to him. Prom.ises that stand 
in the way of a tyrant's power count but little, and Cassander was not senti- 
mental upon the subject of promises, so as soon as he got possession of fierce, 
haughty, troublesome Olympias he gave her over to her enemies who killed her. 
Roxana and the royal heir he shut up in Amphiopolis and there he caused them to be 
murdered 311 B.C. The boy was then thirteen years old, and his sad fate can 
not fail to excite pity. Born the heir to the great empires of the east and 
west, the dominion of the whole known world, he was carried about from camp 
to camp and from city to city, his name being the excuse for wars and murders. The 
joys of healthy, happy childhood were denied him, and while nations were devastated 
by the wars of those who were seeking to rob him of his realm, and while the hearts 
of millions of people were waiting and hoping that he would be able to bring order 
out of chaos, he was cut off in his youth and innocence. Thus the sins of Alexander 
and of Philip were visited on the helpless child, and the blameless victim died by the 
hand of the cruel tyrant who coveted his inheritance. 

All Asia was now like the field wherein the fable tells us dragon's teeth were sown 
that sprung up armed men. Lysimachus, Seleucus and Ptolemy were determined to 
hold their kingdoms and allied themselves against Antigonus, who was just as deter- 
mined to have the whole empire himself. His brilliant and brave son Demetrius was 
sent to Greece with a fleet 308 B. C, to relieve Athens, which Ptolemy was besieging, 
for Cassander, as you will remember was allied with Antigonus and had gained his 
kingdom by the aid of the stubborn old general. 

Demetrius drove Ptolemy to Cyprus, and there, off Salamis, was fought 306 
B. C, one of the most dreadful sea-battles in the history of the world. Demetrius 
was victorious, and Ptolemy was driven back to Egypt. The Athenian people could 
not say or do enough to prove their gratitude to Demetrius. They set up his statue 
in one of their temples and worshipped him as a god, and did other things equally 
foolish. At this time Rhodes was a great city with a large fleet, and Demetrius was 



i84 GREECE. 

anxious to conquer it in order that his father might have its ships to fight Ptolemy, 
l-'or a whole year he besieged Rhodes, which Ptolemy was aiding from the sea, all 
the time, but was at last compelled to give it up. In the year 301 B.C., Antigonus and 
Demetrius met the allied generals at Ipsus. and in the battle that followed Antigonus 
was defeated and killed. Demetrius, with a few thousand men, fled back to 
Athens, where the fickle people, who had only a short time before worshipped him 
as a god, refused to let him in or have anything to do with him now that he was in 
trouble. Demetrius made friends with Seleucus, besieged and took the ungrateful 
city treating it with far more kindness than it deserved. 

Soon after this Lysimachus married Arsinoe, a daughter of Ptolemy, one of the 
most beautiful and wicked women of history, and all the troubles he had 
been through in his long life were small compared to those his handsome wife brought 
upon him. Her half-brother, Ptolemy Ccraunos, visited the Thracian court, and he 
and the queen made a plot against Agathocles, the noble and well-beloved crown 
prince of Thrace, and persuaded l^ysimachus to consent to his death. Ceraunos put 
Agathocles to death, but the relatives of the murdered prince called upon Seleucus 
to avenge his unhappy fate. He promptly responded, and not far from the place 
where the battle of Ipsus was fought, Seleucus met the Thracian king, and killed 
him. Lysimachus, the last of the companions of Alexander's youth, was slain at 
the age of eighty, 261 B. C. Ptolemy had died peacefully two years before, having 
appointed his son king and seen him firmly established over Egypt. 

Seleucus was growing old, too, and weary of campaigns and battles, he gave up 
his kingdom to his son Antiochus, and started back to his youthful home in Mace- 
donia to spend in quiet his old age. Ptolem}^ Ceraunos was now the husband of 
wicked Arsinoe, but because he murdered all the children born to her while she was 
the wife of Lysimachus, she fled from him to the protection of her full-brother, 
Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, who marrietl her himself, although she was then forty 
years old and notorious for her crimes. This marriage disgusted Ptolemy's 
("ireeis; subjects, who called him ever afterward Philad^jlphus (sister lover) and as 
such he is known in history. Ceraunos was now master of Thrace, and meeting 
Seleucus somewhere upon the borders of Macedon, he murdered him, and throwing 
into prison Demetrius, who had become king after Ca.ssander's death, he seized the 
throne of Macedon and Greece 280 B. C. The country was deliveretl from the rule 
of the bloody-minded Ceraunos in a few months by a calamity so great that all the 
states of Greece were filled with terror. The dreaded Gauls, under a fierce and 
gallant chief named Brennus, left their homes in the north, and after killing Ceraunos 
in battle ravaged Macedon, destroying cities and villages, burning and murdering 
and giving no quarter. 

At Thermopylae, the allied armies of Greece met the barbarians and bravely 
opposed them, but over the same mountain path that Xerxes' "immortals" had been 
guided by a traitor, another traitor guided Brennus and his band, and the Greeks 
were obliged to retreat defeated. Down to the plain of Crissa the invaders swarmed, 
the dauntless Phocians hanging upon the rear of their army, and fighting valiantly, 
but they reached the neighborhood of the Delphic temple and were about to plunder 
it when a dreadful storm and earthquake ensued. 

The superstitious Gauls were thrown into a frenzy of fear by this seeming wrath 
of the gods, and in their panic fell upon each other like maniacs and so many of 
them were killed that the rest made all haste to crossover to Asia Minor, where they 



GREECE. 



185 



founded a kingdom called Gal- 
latia. Antigonus Gonatus, the 
talented and brave son of De- 
metrius, and grandson of Anti- 
gonus, became king of Greece 
after the death of Ceraunus, 
but Pyrrhus, the warrior king of 
Epirus, of whom I will tell you 
something hereafter, claimed 
Macedon and Greece as his own 
bv right of his relationship to 
Olympias. He dreamed of vast 
conquests, like those of Alexan- 
der, and might perhaps have 
made them had he not been 
killed by a tile thrown from a 
house-top by a woman as he 
was fighting with his soldiers in 
the streets of Argos, 272 B. C., 
leaving Antigonus Gonatus 
undisputed master of Greece 
and Macedon. 

During these years of war 
all Asia and Egypt had become 
Greek, and in Greece itself and 
in Asia Minor Epicurus and Zeno 
had founded two great schools 
of philosophy that took the 
place among thoughtful people 
of the old poetic worship of the 
gods, or of the earlier schools 
founded by Plato and Aristoteles. ''"^'"s "' Alexandria. 

Antigonus had much trouble with the second Ptolemy, because that king was con- 
stantly Stirring up Athens and other Greek cities against Macedon. Ptolemy was 
not a warrior like his father, for he had very weak health, but he kept Egypt free 
from enemies by setting them upon each other. In every court in the world he had 
his agents who spared neither pains nor money to carry out their master's idea. 

His father, Ptolemy I., had won the favor of the Egyptian people by respecting 
their old laws and religion, and his son followed his example. During the lifetime of 
Ptolemy I., Alexandria had grown into a magnificent city, and had become to Egypt 
what Tyre was to Phtenicia and Asia Minor before Alexander's time in its commerce, 
and what Athens had been to all Hellas in the days of Pericles. He had founded a 
library which was the center of scholarly lore, ami being himself an author and 
literary man, he made his court a very attractive place for learned men. 

Ptolemy Philadelphus carried on the work of his father, and not only built many 
beautiful buildings in Alexandria, and enlarged the library his father had fountled, 
but collected a museum and made a botanical garden in which were shown all the 
plants of Africa. He re-opened, too the old canal of Rameses the Great, 




iS6 GREECE. 

founded the port of Arsinoe, now Suez, on the Red Sea, and under him Egypt was 
restored to the glory and greatness of the old days. Its fertile fields, great commerce 
and freedom from war made the countrj' prosperous, and the fame of its wealth was 
not less than that of its art and learning. 

Philadelphus, in spite of all the weight of the affairs of his empire was as fond 
of pleasure as any easy-going Greek of his time, and his romances of love and 
adventure were many. He had one desire that could not be satisfied with all the 
wealth of his empire. He longed for the elixir of youth which would restore the 
failing powers of the body and keep men always young, strong and beautiful, and 
believed that it could be discovered. How much gold he paid to his physicians who 
experimented and searched after this elixir, will never be known, but he did not find 
it, and at sixty-three, worn out with the pleasures and labors of his wonderful life 
he died, leaving his kingdom to his son by his first wife, whom he divorced when he 
married Arsinoe, and his fame to posterity. 

The most remarkable of his buildings was the great lighthouse, four hundred feet 
high, built of white marble, on the island of Pharos, which was long counted one of 
the Seven Wonders of the World. Rhodes, Pergamum and Antioch were all 
splendid cities in those days, but none of them had the influence on the world that 
was wielded by Alexandria. Caravans from the far East, and ships on the Red 
Sea, brought to Alexandria the carved ivory, porcelain and silks of China, the 
spices of Ceylon and the gold and jewels of India. Ships, too, on the Mediterranean, 
carried to Egypt the wealth of Spain, tin from the far-away savage British Isles, and 
amber from the shores of the Baltic, the copper of Cyprus, the timber from Macedon 
and oil and works of art from Greece, while in the workshops and factories, paper, 
linen, glass, and other articles were made to exchange for all these foreign goods. 

Alexandria had two great principal streets, crossing each other at right angles, 
and these thoroughfares were adorned with beautiful buildings and colonnades. The 
other streets ran parallel with these, and in the time of Philadelphus, as in our own 
day, every known nation was represented among its visitors and residents. Greeks, 
Jews, Egyptians and Asiatics mingled in ihe busy throng, and its society was the 
most brilliant in the world. The greatest literary work of the reign of Philadelphus 
was the translation into Greek of the Hebrew Scriptures, and although that Greek 
was rude enough when compared to that of the Athenian poets and orators, it 
preserved to the world a treasure beyond price, for it prepared the way for 
Christianity. 

It was in the year 246 B. C, that Ptolemy III., called Euergetes, succeeded his 
father. In Asia the descendants of Seleucus had made the Syrian kingdom great, 
comprising by their various conquests nearly every country lying between the Indus 
River and the Mediterranean Sea. Antigonus Gonatus, now an old man, was king 
of Macedon and Greece, and was still busied in holding back the barbarians in the 
North, and keeping peace among the Greek States in the South. Under 
the 3'oke of Macedon, the Greek cities had still some share of independence and 
through the long years when Alexander's generals were fighting over his empire the 
Achaean League, which at first comprised only twelve cities, was in existence. During 
the forty-five years of war the Greeks had seen how valuable was such a league, and it 
was formed in such a way that no city had a right to dictate to the others. The poor 
had little power in the league, and the poor were now many in Greece, but never- 
theless the Achcean League became popular, and we shall see how it grew. There 



GREECE. 1S7 

was one man, Aratus of Sicyon, who at the time of the accession of Ptolemy 
Euergetes to the throne of Egypt was the idol of the Achsean League. Macedon found 
it easier to deal with one man, in its treatment of the Greek cities than with a public 
assembly, and so encouraged tyrants. Sicyon had been ruled by tyrants for a long 
time when Aratus was born, ami his father Cleinias in some way offended the reigning 
tyrant when /\ratus was a young child, and was murdered. Aratus had an uncle who 
was the husband of the murderer's sister, but it was this good woman who hid the 
little lad and sent him safely away to Argos to live with some of her wealthy friends 
in that city. Aratus grew up in Argos a strong, athletic young fellow, renowned as a 
boxer and gymnast, but having little of the education then so prized in Greece. He 
was much admired by young men like himself, and his father's murderer having 
learned what sort of man he had become was a little afraid of him, and sent spies to 
watch him. Aratus threw them off their guard, and when the tj'rant thought himself 
secure, Aratus and his friends went secretly to Sicyon by night. The gates were shut 
but they had provided themselves with scaling ladders, and after waiting until the 
night watch had passed along the walls, they nimbly climbed up and over into the 
city, seized it, and burned the tyrant's house, although the tyrant himself escaped. 
Then they put the city under the Achaean League, and Aratus went over to Egypt to 
get money from Ptolemy Philadelphus, buying his favor with some fine pictures and 
statues of which he had plundered Sicj'on. 

He now made a night raid on Corinth, took it in nearly the same way he had 
captured Sicyon and placed it, too, under the league. Two kings still ruled in Sparta, 
which all the time had been more nearly independent of Macedon than the other 
States of Greece. Like these other States, Sparta had suffered from poverty, which 
resulted from the long wars, and because so many of its wealthy citizens, like those of 
other parts of Greece, had settled in Asia and Egypt, and its young men were hired 
as soldiers in foreign wars. 

It is said that only seven hundred Spartan citizens of okl Doric blood were left, 
and they held all the land, while one hundred houses contained all the property in 
the State. When Agis became king he determined to set matters right, and in the 
year 243 B. C, he placed before the Ephors his plan to declare all debts void, all 
land to belong to the State, so that it might be equally divided, the best to be given 
the four thousand five hundred Spartans, and the rest to the fifteen thousand 
Perioeki, and the old laws of Lycurgus to be restored. He was so young and full of 
hope, so enthusiastic and generous that he would not consider the dangers or 
dfificulties in the way. He was very rich, as were also his mother and grandmother, 
but he and his relatives and friends gave all their land and property to the State. 

The other king, Leonidas, was bitterly opposed to the plans of the noble Agis, 
as were many of the rich Ephors, and he finally caused Agis to be arrested and 
thrown in jail, as were also his mother and grandmother, who were willing to stand 
by him to the last. They were all murdered by orders of Leonidas, who exiled 
the brother of Agis, who of course had now a right to the crown, and remained 
master of the situation. Aratus, now the idol of the Achaean League, and virtual 
head of its affairs, was rejoiced at the sad ending of Agis, for he would have been 
very unwilling indeed to see Sparta regain any of her former greatness, and the old 
king of Macedon was equally glad, for now he had only one enemy, the League, to 
deal with. 

Some time before, Aratus with the League, had joined with Sparta to fight the 
Aetolian League, a combination of the cities of Elis for the purpose of plunder, but 



iS8 GREECE; 

the noble, handsome, young Spartan king won all hearts wherever he went, and so 
inflamed the jealousy of the prize-fighter of Sicyon that he withdrew his troops and 
went home, so you see there was personal as well as political jealousy at the root of 
his dislike for the schemes of Agis. 

Leonidas now compelled Cleomones, his son, to marry the widow of Agis, for 
fear she would marry some one who would carry out the idea of that unfortunate 
monarch, but the best laid plans that man can make, can be destroyed, and Leonidas 
had placed in the hands of the widow of Agis the very instrument to work the will 
of her dead husband. She won Cleomones to all his plans, and to deep pity for his 
unhappy fate, and he only waited for his father's death to carry out the division of 
property and the restoration of the old laws. 

Antigonus died in 23c) B. C, and his son Demetrius 11., succeeded him. Ptolemy 
Euergetes had in the seven years since he had become rul(;r of Egypt, made that 
country the greatest monarchy in the world, and brought under its sway nearly every 
country that had been subjected bj' Rameses the Great. His tribute from these 
countries made him immensely wealthy, and though he soon lost most of his con- 
quests, for a time it seemed that he would be a second Ale.xander. The Achaean 
League made him their friend, and he helped them, and the Aetolians in the war they 
made on Demetrius II. Demetrius fought valiantly against his Greek enemies, and 
when he saw that his case was desperate he let loose upon the Aetoliansand Achceans, 
the savage Illyrian Gauls, who not only defeated both leagues, but spread such terror 
through all western Greece and eastern Italy, that Rome interfered and humbled the 
barbarians. Demetrius was killed in battle B. C, 229, and as his son was but a babe, 
the usual struggle for the kingdom began. 

Ptolemy Euergetes had now reigned seventeen years gloriously in Egypt, and 
was no longer fond of war and conquest. He let the descendants of Seleucus 
quarrel with, and murder those who disputed with them the throne of Syria, to their 
hearts content, and was lukewarm in his support of Sparta against INIacedon, for he 
aided Sparta in spite of the fact that he was favorable to the Achaean League. Anti- 
gonus Doson married the widow of Demetrius soon after the death of the former, 
and was now king, pending the time the baby Philip was growing up, and when 
Cleomones succeeded to his father's throne of Sparta 227 B, C, he fomid the 
Macedonian power fully established in the north, and the Achaean League strong in the 
south. He killed the Ephors at Sparta, carried out his reforms, and then made 
war upon the league. So many cities revolted that he virtually, for the time, de- 
stroyed the league. Aratus all this time was playing a double game with Macedon 
and the league, and finally his craft causetl the defeat of Cleomones, w-ho sailed away 
to Egypt with a few friends, his wife and children. 

Had Ptolemy Euergetes lived a few years longer Cleomones might have again 
reigned over Sparta, but he died about this time, 221 B. C, and his weak and vicious 
son, his murderer, some historians say, became king and threw Cleomones into prison. 
Alexandria was in every respect a Greek city and Cleomones and his friends believed 
that the Alexandrians ought to shake off the tyranny of Ptolemy IV. They broke 
from duress after awhile and appealed to the Alexandrians to rouse themselves and 
become free, but they were laughed at for their pains and stood in danger of again 
being thrown into prison; Cleomones and twelve of his friends committed suicide 
together and his widow and children were murdered. Thus the last king of Sparta 
died an exile and a suicide and thereafter the Ephors appointed by Macedon ruled 



GREECE. i8q 

under a Boeotian officer as superintendent and a few years later Sparta joined tlie 
Achccan League. Antigonus Doson died soon after, and Philip V., became king of 
Macedon, and Greece, 221 B. C., inviting Roman hatred by his offer of help to Han- 
nibal. This hatred the Romans satisfied by making themselves masters of Mace- 
don and Greece, 197 B. C., Philip having proven so cruel and unjust that the 
oppressed people gladly exchanged his rule for that of Rome. 

It was Philip who poisoned Aratus, 213 B. C, and afterwartl sacked Greek cities, 
sold their people as slaves and became so formidable to Rome that it dared 
not undertake a war with him but frightened him into making peace. 

In the year, 203 B. C., Philip, allied with Antiochus III., of .Syria, attacked Egypt, 
which now that the king Ptolem.y V., was dead was in the hands of a regency for the 
young Ptolemy, a child of six, and followed up his victories with such cruelties that 
he made enemies of Byzantium, the Aetolian League and Bithynia. He besieged 
Abydos but the whole people committed suicide rather than fall into his hands, and 
then the Romans sent an army into Thessaly. The Achaeans joined Rome and at 
Cynoscephalce the Roman legions met the terrible Macedonian phalanx whose long 
spears did such dreadful work among the Romans that they were all but defeated. 
At length the Roman elephants and cavalry broke the phalanx and as they did not 
understand that the raising of a long pike by the Macedonians meant surrender, 
killed thirteen thousand Macedonians after they had offered to give themselves up. 

Philip, the author of so many deeds of blood and violence escaped, and was 
punished only by being deprived of his army, fleet and Greek possessions. Antiochus 
had proven traitor to Philip, and while he was busied with the Romans, had conquered 
several of his cities and now allied with the Aetolians was defeated by the Romans 
at Thermopylae, and compelled to retire to i\sia, where at Magnesia B. C., IQO, 
Rome subdued him and began a career of conquest and plunder in Asia. Greece 
was now free, but it was only a freedom to quarrel and plot State against State. 
Macedon, under King Perseus ijg B. C., became a Roman province. The Achajan 
League was tyrannical. -Sparta, fearing the two great leagues of the Pelopon- 
nessus, and being imposed upon by both, asked Rome to interfere 148 B. C. 
An army thereupon entered Greece, burned Corinth to the ground, took one 
thousand Achaean chiefs captive, and made Greece a Floman province under the 
name Achaea. 

Egypt under the weak and vicious kings that followed Ptolemy IIL, had declined^ 
and the miseries of the people were great, although the splendor of its large cities 
still excited the interest of the world. Civil wars distracted the country and destroj-ed 
its commerce, and Rome was again and again called upon to settle its foreign affair^. 
The last of the Ptolemaic rulers was the famous Cleopatra, who became queen B. C, 
47, by Roman aid, Rome having now for a hundred years dictated in Egyptian affairs. 
.She married her younger brother, for the example of sister marriage furnished by 
Philadelphus had been followed by all the Ptolemies, poisoned him, and became 
queen, reigning for seventeen years under the protection of Julius Cassar, and after- 
ward so bewitching Mark Antony that he proved false to his honor, his country and 
all he held most dear. Both committed suicide when Alexandria fell into the hands 
of the Romans. Of this event more will be said in the history of Rome, but here 
ends the Greek kingdom of the Ptolemies after having stood nearly three centuries. 

There were several smaller kingdoms built on the ruins of Alexander's empire. 
Thrace was ruled by Lysimachus for twenty years, when it was absorbed into the 



iQO GREECE. 

Persian kingdom of the Seleucidre. Pergamus became a great city, famous for its 
art, learning and magnificence, and under the descendants of Eumenes, who was 
given by Perdiccas, the charge of the portion of Asia Minor in which it was located. 
It became a rival of Alexandria, having a magnificent library, noble buildings and 
great riches. It was bequeathed to Rome B. C, 133, by its last king, the wicked 
Altulus III. Bithynia was an old kingdom that had been conquered by the early 
Persian kings, and set up an independent ruler after the battle of Arbela, and success- 
fully withstood all the efforts of Lysimachus and other Greek generals to conquer it. 
At various times Bithynia is connected with the history of Greece and Macedon, and 
it was in Bithynia that the valiant Hannibal gave up his life. Paphlagonia has a 
history very similar to that of Bithynia. Alexander's generals failed to conquer it, 
and from 200 B. C., to 94 B. C, it was an independent kingdom, Bithynia f nduring 
twenty years longer and then becoming subject to Rome. 

Pontus was conquered by Antigonus but became independent of Macedon 318 
B. C. The most interesting portion of its history and that of Armenia is inwoven 
with Rome, and will be I elated in its proper place, all these kingdoms as were Hil- 
lenized, as results, Alexander's expedition while in Greece, contact with Asia, widened 
men's mental horizon. Two of the Greek kingdoms founded just after Alex- 
ander's death, Parthia and Bactria, were not swallowed up by Rome. Bactria was 
for a time a part of the empire of the Seleucidai, but B. C, 255, it threw off the 
Syrian yoke, and for nearly a hundred years was independent, then was absorbed in 
Parthia. 

Parthia proper was a country of about the same extent as Ireland, ami is now 
known as the Persian province of Khorassan. It included lofty mountains arid 
deserts and fertile valleys, although the Parthian empire in its greatest days was one 
half as large as the old Medo-Persian empire, and comprised all the land between 
the Euphrates and the Indus, and had many great cities, Arbela, Appolonia, Babylon 
Borsippa, Susa, Pasargada;, and others equally famous being among them. The 
Parthians belonged to the Tuaranian branch of the Mongolian race, as do the modern 
Turks, were treacherous and rude, brave, enterprising, loving war, and like the Medes, 
and Scythians, famous horsemen. They were the most skillful archers in the world, 
shooting while at full gallop, and both on the advance and the retreat. 

For a century and a half Parthia remained under the Seleucida; as it had long 
been subject to Persia but a certain Arsaces, the chief of a body of Scythians, headed 
a Parthian revolt, 255 B. C, and became king. Five kings of the name~d Arsaces 
reigned over Parthia in the next seventy-five years, but the sixth Arsaces or Mith- 
ridates I., as he is also called, who ascended the throne, 196 B C., was the first Par- 
thian conqueror. It was he who enlarged the empire, making it include nearly 
one-half of Western Asia. 

From his day the Parthians became much like the ancient i'ersians in manners 
and customs, although influenced somewhat by Greek manners. Arsaces XVII., was 
king, B. C., 55, when Romans having conquered so much of the Western world and 
having just subdued Pontus invaded Parthian territory under Crassus and was cut to 
pieces. Three years later a Parthian army ravaged Asia Minor, destroyed a Roman 
army in Syria, occupied Sidon and after plundering Jerusalem placed Antigonus on 
the Jewish throne. For the next two hundred years the Parthians were frequently 
in contact with Rome, sometimes invading Roman territory in Asia and at others 
en^^aged in defending their own or regaining what the Romans had wrested from 



GREECE. iQi 

them. Arsaces XV. was the last emperor of Parthia. For four hundred years the 
Parthians had ruled the Persians with an iron hand, cruelly oppressing them 
and Persian hatred of their dominion had grown with each century. The 
Parthians being of different race, religion and customs did not mix at all with the 
Persians and at last a descendant of the Great Cyrus, Artaxerxes, son of Sassan, 
finally overthrew the Parthians and founded the new Persian empire of Sassinid^e, 
A. D. 226. 

Before turning back to Europe we wili pause to briefly outline the history of 
Judea, which as a part of the Persian empire, was included in Alexander's conquest, 
and at his death became a bone of contention between the Seleucidfe and the 
Ptolemys. In the vear 324 B. C, the first of the P^olemys beseiged Jerusalem and 
storming it upon the Sabbath day, took the city and carried one hundred thousand 
Jews captive to Egypt. 

After the battle of Ipsus, Judea became tributary to Egypt, and for nearly a 
hundred years the country was prosperous, then the fourth Ptolemy attempted to 
profane the temple, and when he was prevented, perpetrated so many cruelties upon 
the Alexandrian Jews that the people of Judea sought the protection of Syria, 
although they scarcely bettered themselves by changing masters, for the Syrian 
kings were cruel to the Jews. One of these kings sold the office of the High Priest- 
hood to a certain Jew who had taken the Greek name Menelaus, and this villian 
plundered the temple to pay the king for the office, and his crimes excited a revolu- 
tion in Jerusalem. It cannot be wondered that the Jews rejoiced when they heard 
that this Syrian king had been killed at Alexandria, but they rejoiced too soon, for he 
was not dead, and hearing of the popular joy, he set out for the holy city with an 
army, took it by storm, murdered forty thousand Jews in three days, and sold forty 
thousand more as slaves, profaned the altars and the temple, took everythingof value 
he could find, and then tried to force the Jews to worship the Greek gods. 

Those were dreadful days for Judea, aud to escape the cruelties of this wretched 
king, Antiochus Epiphanes, thousands of the Jews fled from their homes, and in the 
caves and bleak mountain fastnesses of their native land lifted up their praj^ers to 
Jehovah, braving death by starvation in the wilderness rather than relinquish their 
God-given faith. Women and young girls brought up in luxury, thus abandoned all 
for conscience sake, and old men and young, preferred the desolation of nature to 
the desolation of wickedness that was filling Jerusalem with such woe. 

Upon the Sabbath day these heroic people would assemble in some cavern to 
sacrifice to God, and more than one such little assembly was disturbed by armed men 
who cut the people down or carried them away to prison and torture. One Matthias 
with his family and friends left Jerusalem and went to his native village of Modin. 
Here he was followed by a Syrian officer who offered the king's favor to those who 
would sacrifice to Zeus. One of the villagers was about to do so when Matthias 
struck him dead, and with his heroic sons at his side he overturned the heathen 
altars, then went forth into the wilderness. 

Loyal Jews gathered about him in the desert, and with the army thus raised he 
restored the worship of Jehovah in several Jewish cities, but died B. C, 166, before 
he had delivered Jerusalem. It v/as his son Judas Maccabajus, who drove out the 
Syrians, restored the temple and then lost his life B. C, 161, in defense of his 
country. After him his brother Jonathan became High Priest, and under Simon, his 
brother, who succeeded to the office at his death, Judea became again free and 



IQ2 GREECE. 

prosperous. Simon was murdered by his snn-in-law. John Hyrcanus, and the struggle 
with Syria was renewed. While he was High Priest the Syrian king besieged 
Jerusalem for two years, destroyed the city's walls and again reduced the Jews to 
Syrian subjection, but this Syrian king died soon after and John Hyrcanus not only 
refused to obey his successor, but captured Samaria. He died io6 B. C. 

Civil war distracted Judea for the next forty years, and these were at last settled 
by the Roman Pompey, who took Jerusalem, destroyed its walls and fortresses, but 
spared the temple and its treasures. From this timt-, 63 B. C, Judea, too, is bound 
up with Rome, and the thread of Jewish history will be found inwoven in that 
powerful web in which nearly all the known w^orld of that day, sooner or later, 
became entangled, and the last great act in the tragedy of Israel was played before 
imperial Titus, and its story belongs elsewhere. 




V !>/ I 



/ 




■»j~Tvi±»fci'' -r^ 



^jJj4=BMil^MMMmM^ 



I EN Uu- I IcHliils ( rossed over from Asia into 
Europe and settled in the Grecian Peninsula, 
they found other tribe-,. Aryan, like themselves, 
iving in the forests and fertile valleys of the 
country. We do not know when, or from what 
country these first Aryans came to Southern Europe. 
Indeed there are those who deny altogether the Asiatic 
origin of the human race and declare that Europe, not 
Asia, was the stage upon which man first appeared, while 
others even affirm that the Poles, now the frozen dreary 
regions where no men nor animals are supposed to be able 
to exist, were the places where men first lived on the earth. 

Of course every one of these theories has many arguments that may be used in 
their favor, but as they are all mere speculations, I hold to the longest accepted and 
best tested one, suppose Asia to have been the cradle of the race and trace 
thence the story of man. The Aryan race entered Europe so long before the Tro- 
jan war, that even then the memory of their first coming had been lost. Indeed the 
native inhabitants of Greece were called Pelasgians by the Hellenes because they 
supposed them to have sprung from the soil as did the flowers and trees, and thought 
their race as old as the earth itself. 

We know that when Agamemnon landed, with his allied Greeks, on the shores 
of the Ilion Plain, civilization in Asia and Egypt was already old, in China many 
emperors had reigned, and in India dynasties had flourished and decayed, but 
we do not know the beginning of man in Europe. Unnumbered centuries no doubt 
passed when no human feet trod the wilderness of Europe, and other ages saw only 
the cave-man living in a den like the beasts about him, after him the lake dwellers, 
too, came and went, and then the Aryan made his appearance from the Poles, from 
Central Europe, from Asia or somewhere, although, for the ends of history it is 
not really necessary to know whence he came, even if it were possible to find out for 
a certainty. You will see, if you look upon the map, that the long, boot-shaped 



1Q4 ROME. 

peninsula of Italy is not crossed in every direction by mountain-chains, as Greece is,, 
but that one range runs like a seam or back-bone, down to its very extremity, being 
a little nearer to the eastern coast than the western, but yet almost along the middle 
of the entire country. 

This mountain-range follovN^s the line of the coast, trending to the westward a 
little way. then it turns abruptly to the north for about the same diftance, then cast- 
ward and again southward to the sea, enclosing, north of the boot-shaped strip of 
land a rough square containing more than half as much territory as the peninsula 
itself. It was in this mountain-walled country, amid the snows, forests, wild, 
rugged uplands and rich valleys that the various tribes of Gauls lived, when the 
Pelasgians found homes further to the south, although that country too was settled 
by Aryans whom the Pelasgians no doubt conquered. 

These first conquerors built walls and fortresses that outlasted all the traditions: 
of their founders, who in their turn passed away before other conquerors. When 
the Roman story begins, several tribes, some of them off-shoots perhaps of these 
pre-historic peoples, lived in different parts of the peninsula, most of them constantly 
at war with their neighbors. 

The Etruscans or Tuscans of western Italy, who may have been kindred to the 
Egyptians or some .'^siatic nation, had twelve towns joined in a league at the time of 
the Trojan war. The Sabines, just south of them, were more like the Greeks, and 
were certainly Aryan. The Italians, divid-ed into two tribes, Latins and Oscans, dwelt 
in central Italy, but as there were no mountain barriers separating the various people, 
they gradually influenced each other in language, religion and government. In 
southern Italy and Sicily. Hellenic tribes— driven from Greece by the Dorians or 
roving of their own accord to these more western lands — early founded colonies and 
built walled towns, and in time called the new country Magna Grajcia, or Great 
Greece. 

A legend tells us that a certain .Arcadian prince named Evander, his name means 
"good man and true," brought a company of colonists from his native land to build a 
city at the mouth of the Tiber. The old story-tellers were fond of tracing the 
descent of their heroes from the gods, and they made Evander the son of a god. 

The Etruscan king, Turnus lost no time in making the acquaintance of the 
Cireek strangers, and as he too claimed kinship with the gods, he treated Evander 
with the greatest friendliness, and when he was finally established on the Palatine 
hill, taught his companions many of the arts that the Etruscans had long known, but 
of which the Greeks were ignorant. Writing and music are said to have been among 
these, and perhaps building. For a long time the Arcadians and Etruscans are 
said to have bet-n friends and neighbors, although what became of the Greek 
colonists on the Palatine or of the noble Evander, we do not know. 

You must remember, when you read the legends that story-tellers are not 
historians, that fact and fancy are very different, and that a legend is often made to 
account for a custom, the real meaning of which is shrouded in mystery. 

The legend of the founding of Rome was for so many centuries believed to be 
true, that I will tell it to you, only calling to your notice the fact that it is a legend, 
and that the early Romans were a Latin people, who nevi-r thought of claiming 
Greek descent until they began to admire the Greek civilization and culture. 

We are told by the old Latin writer-^ who loved to trace Roman ancestry back to 
the Trojan heroes, that King Priam had, at the time of the siege of Troy, an aged 



ROME. 



195 




Etniscim (.inr-rary Urn. 



relative, Anchises by name, who mod- 
estly claimed to be a son of Zeus, the 
king of all the gods. Anchises had a 
valiant son Aeneas, whose mother was 
the goddess Venus. Aeneas fought 
bravely in the long siege of the city, ^\iCj'i 
and when it at last fell into the hands 
of the Greeks he fled from the fire _2 
and slaughter, bearing upon his shoul- ^~ 
ders his venerable father, leading his 
little son Ascanius, and carrying his 
household gods. Thus with his hands 
literally full, he began those wander- 
ings so beautifully related by the Latin poet Virgil, and after many wonderful 
adventures he landed with his son Ascanius near the moutli of the Tiber, in the 
country of the Latins. 

This was not long after the days of Evander, for Turnus was still king of the 
Etruscans, although the Arcadians may have been driven from the Palatine by their 
Latin neighbors. At all events the Trojan adventurers became great favorites with 
the Latin king, who gave Aeneas his beautiful daughter Lavinia in marriage. 

Turnus had long loved Lavinia, and her father had promised that the Etruscan 
king should wed the fair Latin princess, and when he saw himself robbed of his 
bride, Turnus collected a large army, crossed over into the country of the Latins, 
which was on the right bank of the Tiber, to revenge himself upon Aeneas and the 
false Latinus, Lavinia's father. 

There was a battle fought between the Etruscans and Latins, in which both 
Turnus and Latinus were killed. Aeneas was left in peaceful possession of his 
bride and her father's kingdom, and founded the city of Lavinium as his capital. 

We are told that Aeneas ascenced the swift flowing Tiber, whose current was 
stayed by the gods in order that his frail craft might not be injured, when first he 
entered Italy, and it seems strange that he did not build his city on one of the hills 
which afterward were the site of Rome, rather than upon the low, unhealthy coast- 
land. After awhile Aeneas, some of the story-tellers say, was drowned in the brook 
Numicus, but others deny that the Trojan hero escaped the dangers of siege and 
ship-wreck to find his death at last in a petty rivulet, and declare that he fell in battle 
and died as befitted a warrior. 

After his father's death Ascanius left Lavinium, and removing some distance 
inland, built Alba Longa (the Long White City) and was the first of a line of kings 
that for three hundred years reigned there, but whose names and deeds are unknown 
to history. 

At last, so runs the tale, a certain Numitor became king. This Numitor was a 
gentle, amiable prince, who allowed his ambitious younger brother Amulius to win 
his people from him, take his throne and turn him out of his palace. Amulius seems 
to have been as cruel as Numitor was mikl, and was so determined to hold the throne 
he had unlawfully seized, that he put Numitor's only son to death and shut his 
daughter, Rhea Silvia, up in a temple to be a vestal virgin or priestess. 

The young priestess is said to have been so fair that when the god Mars saw her 
he wedded her, and used to visit her in secret. In course of time Rhea became the 



ig6 ROME. 

mother of beautiful twin sons. Why the god did not save the babes and their young 
mother from the wrath of Amulius is as hard to explain as many other of the alleged 
acts of the old gods, but he allowed them to be thrown into the muddy Tiber and 
Rhea Silvia was drowned. The river had overflowed its banks, and the cradle of 
the twins was caught in some brushwood and weeds in a spot where the water was 
shallow, and tiicre they lay safe and dry, stranded as was the infant Moses in the 
bulrushes. When the waters receded no beautiful princess came to the rescue of the 
sons of Rhea Silvia, but a she wolf carried them to her den and fed them, and a 
woodpecker daily took them acorns until Faustulus a shepherd, whose hut was 
already crowded with his own merry brood of a dozen rosy children, found the 
forlorn babes and took them home to his good wife Laurentia who reared them 
tenderly as her own, though with a secret reverence for them perhaps, on account 
of the mystery surrounding them. 

The shepherds called the twin boys Romulus and Remus, and they grew up to be 
handsome ami brave young men, leaders in all the simple rustic sports of their 
companions, just as the young Cyrus of the Persian legend was the hero of the 
shepherds among whom he was reared. 

A quarrel between the shepherds of the e.Kiled king Xumitor, who fed his flocks 
on the .Aventine Hill, and the shepherds of Faustulus, resulted in the appearance of 
the twins before their grandfather. Of course we must not inquire too closely into 
the story that Xumitor at once recognized them as the children of his murdcrctl 
daughter Rhea -Silvia, nor ask how it was possible that he could do so as he. probably 
had never seen them before, and so many years had gone by since Amulius had 
exposed them to the rage of the angry Tiber, for the legendary age was the age of 
miracles. Numitor, with the aid of the friends of his grandsons, put Amulius to 
death and took back the kingdom, although he was a very old man at the time. 

The twins would not forsake the friends of their youth to live with their grand- 
father at .\lba Longa, so he bestowed upon them a strip of land bordering- the Tiber, 
and gave them permission to build a city. 

The brothers could not agree upon a site for their capital. Romulus preferred 
the Palatine hill, while Remus favored the Aventine, and carrying their difference of 
opinion to Numitor, at his advice they agreed to decide the matter by augury. 

All ignorant people believe in " signs" and "omens," and even in our own days 
there are those who tremble at the " bad luck " invoked by the breaking of a looking 
glass, passing under a ladder, or making the thirteenth at table, but the ancients had 
a regular system of "lucky" and "unlucky" signs, and supposed that the gods 
signified their will through them. 

The Etruscans often watched the flight of birds as an omen, and this was the 
form of augury, Romulus and Remus agreed upon. After watching a day and a 
night Rem.us saw on the morning of the second day, six vultures fly over the Aven- 
tine and joyfully carried his omen to Numitor, but Romulus and his friends came in 
soon after solemnly declaring that they had seen twelve vultures fly over the Palatine, 
and thus decided the site of the new city to be upon that hill. 

The twin brothers were now filled with envy and hatred toward each other, and 
Remus would have nothing to do with his brother's plans. Romulus sent to Etruria 
to learn of the Etruscan priests what ceremonies should be performed at the founding 
of the city, m order that the gods might be pleased, for the founding of a city in 
those days was a solemn undertaking. It is supposed to have been April 21, B. C, 



ROME. IQ7 

753, when the first ground was broken upon the Palatine hill for the new city, in the 
presence of the people of the Latin tribes. A great hole was dug on the summit of 
the hill, and into it the people threw the first fruits of the year, flowers and grain. 
Upon these offerings each man among the spectators cast a handful of his native 
soil, brought thither for the purpose, and then the pit was covered with earth and an 
altar built over it. upon which a fire was kindled. 

Then Romulus harnessed a snow-white bull and a snow-white heifer to a brazen 
plow and made a furrow where the walls were to be built, being careful that the earth 
was cast by the plow in the direction of the altar. Zeus, whom the Romans called 
Jupiter, thundered from one side of the heavens and sent lightning from the other, 
in sign of his approval, and Rome afterward mistress of the East and foster-mother 
of the West, was founded. 

Celeres had charge of building the walls, and when Remus mocked at the puny 
barrier and leaped over it, struck him dead with his spade, fiorrified at what he had 
done, Celeres escaped punishment by flight, but Rome had been baptized in blood — -a 
dreadful omen for its future. 

To be sure, learned historians tell us now that Romulus and Remus, Evander. 
Turnus and the other heroes of these early legends are myths, and that the name 
" Rome" was not taken from Romulus at all, but from an old Latin word, meaning 
" boundary," but it is a fact that from about 753 B. C, the building of the city went on, 
although for a long time but slowly, and Romulus may or may not have been the 
first king. 

According to the legend, Romulus declared that Rome was a refuge for criminals 
and outlaws, whom nobody should dare arrest on Roman soil, and in consequence he 
soon gathered about him a thousand citizens who built huts, thatched with river- 
grass, straw or sod. These refugees from surrounding tribes were held in such little 
esteem by their Latin and .Sabine neighbors, that Rome bade fair to be a community 
of bachelors, for those who were unmarried, and nearly all of the citizens were, could 
not secure wives. 

Romulus was clever enough to conquer this great difticulty which lay in the way 
of Rome's advancement. He made a great feast in honor of Poseidon whom the 
Latins called Neptune, and to this he invited the neighboring Sabines, their wives 
and daughters. 

The feast was held without the city walls, and as such occasions in Italy as in 
Greece, were always regarded as sacred, and the people engaging in them laid aside 
for the time all quarreling and fighting, the Sabines came unarmed to the festival, bring- 
ing their wives and daughters as requested. Games of strength and skill were usually 
celebrated at the festivals of the gods, and when the Sabines had become deeply 
interested in these, at a given signal the young Romans among the spectators rushed 
among their guests, each seized a Sabine maiden in his arms and carried her into the 
city, which now had walls and a fortress on the Capitoline hill. 

The insulted and angry Sabine warriors went home, but soon returned with their 
weapons, determined to give battle to the audacious Romans, but the latter would 
not come out of the city and the former could not get in. Having no machines to 
batter down the walls, the Sabines had little hope of taking the city, and the Ivomans 
felt perfectly safe in their stronghold. 

The Sabines carried great bronze shields, and wore glittering rings of metal 
upon their arms. Tarpeia, the daughter of the commander of the fortress saw the 



198 ROME. 

shining ornaments upon the brawny arms of the besiegers and coveted them. 
Finall)' she made a bargain with the Sabines, promising to open the gates of the 
fortress if they would give her "what they wore on their left arms." meaning of 
course the golden bracelets. 

The besiegers agreed to her terms and she opened the gates, whereupon th'- 
Sabines threw not only their golden bracelets but their great shields upon Tarpeia 
who was crushed to death beneath their weight, thus rewarding the treachery of 
which they were nevertheless glad to avail themselves. 

A fierce battle was waged the next day in the valley between the Palatine and 
Capitoline Hills. The captive Sabine women, who had grown to love their Roman 
husbands, finally rushed between the two armies and pleaded that the fight might be 
stopped. It was done, and a great feast was celebrated on the anniversary of the 
peace for centuries afterward, and for centuries, too, when a Roman maid was 
married, her bridegroom pretended to carry her by force from her friends, as the 
Sabine women were, although the Romans were not the only people who practiced a 
ceremony of this kind, for many savage and half civilized nations either take their 
brides forcibly or pretend to do so. 

The Sabines and Romans united under the name of Romanii, the former dwelling 
on the Capitoline and the latter on the Palatine 1 lill, and meeting to transact State 
affairs in the valley between the two which came to be known as the Forum. 
Romulus and Titus Tatius, the Sabine king, reigned together over the people for five 
years, then the Sabine king was killed in battle and Romulus became sole ruler. 

Seven and thirty years Romulus lived as king of the Romans, and it was he who 
established the Senate and laid the foundation of the State, showing himself in war 
and peace so much wiser and more favored by the gods than men are wont to be, that 
when he suddenly disapi>carcd it was said and believed that he was carried up to 
heaven as we are told Elijah was, although it is more than likely that the Senators 
murdered him and concealed his corpse. 

Romulus left the people of Rome divided into two great classes, the Patricians, 
who were Romans, Pltruscans and Sabines, who were considered true citizens, and 
who had the right to vote, and the I'lebians, who were refugees and the people of con 
quered towns. Each of the three tribes of Patricians was divideil into ten divisions 
or curite, and then thirty curia; formed the countra curiata or assembly of the people, 
and three hundred of the Patricians were chosen for their age and wisdom to form 
the .Senate. 

Romulus organized the army into a Legion to which each tribe sent a thousand 
foot, and a hundretl mounted soldiers, and when he completed all of his great work 
vanished from the eyes of men. 

From the very first Rome made conquered people citizens, and it was in following 
that plan that the State in time became so powerful. PVom the very first too, the 
wisdom and patriotism of the Senate restricted the power of the king and gave the 
people liberties that otherwise they would not have enjoyed. 

After the death of Romulus. Rome was governed a year by the Senate, then the 
crown was offered to the wise Numa Pompilius, a Sabine who was learned in the laws 
and religion of the Greeks. Those who know nothing of the duties of royalty may 
think that it is a very fine thing to be a king, and imagine that sitting upon a golden 
throne, dressed in rich garments and wearing a crown, or feasting at gorgeous ban- 
quets, and listening to the flattery of courtiers are the chief engagements of 



ROME. IQ9 

monarchs, but it is a question whether all the splendor with which the mightiest 
throne of earth is surrounded can repay a good man for the heavy cares and respon- 
sibilities which he would feel as the head of a nation. 

Numa was a good man, and one not to be tempted by wealth and what the world 
calls honor, and he would not consent to leave the peaceful happiness of his home, 
for the labor of governing a people already restless, warlike and hard to curb, until 
he saw that by sacrificing his own inclinations for a quiet life he might be able to 
perform a great work for mankind. He accepted the crown, and in his long and 
peaceful reign taught the Romans how to worship the gods, with prayers and feasts, 
did away with human sacrifices and ordained a special class of priests, separating 
that office from the kingly, for Romulus had been the priest as well as the king of 
the Romans. 

It was Numa who built the temple to Janus, the double-faced god who was sup- 
posed to preside over the beginnings of all things, and whose name has come tlown 
to us in January, the beginning month of the year. This temple was between the 
Capitoline and Palatine hills, and we are told that once when an army was advancing 
against Rome, the god sent a stream of water rushing from the doors of the temple 
which swept away and drowned the enemy. Ever thereafter in time of war the doors 
of the temple of Janus stood open that the god might come to the aid of Rome. 
although we are not told that he ever again did so, and in time of peace they were 
closed. Through the doors of this temple the Roman armies marched forth to war, 
and through them they entered the city, and only at rare intervals and for a short 
time were the gates of the temple closed, for Rome, like other great States was 
cradled and nourished in war. 

When the good Numa died at a ripe old age, Tullus Hostilius, a Roman who 
loved war as Numa had loved peace, was made king. Alba Longa had become 
jealous of the growing power of Rome, and when Tullus provoked a quarrel with the 
Albans, they advanced against Rome, dug a trench about the city and prepared to 
besiege it. 

Tullus came out with his army and offered battle, but when the two armies faced 
each other for the fray, the Alban leader made a speech in which he placed before 
the Albans and Romans the folly of weakening each other by war, so that both 
would be at the mercy of surrounding tribes. He set forth the fact that the Romans 
and the Albans were of the same blood, and should be at peace, suggesting that the 
quarrel now between them should be settled, not by a great battle but by a fight 
between champions from both armies. 

The Romans agreed to this, and selected the three brothers Horatii, strong and 
valiant warriors, to uphold the valor of Rome, while the Albans chose three equally 
brave and powerful champions, also brothers, the Curatii, to vindicate their cause. 

In the sight of the two armies the Horatii and Curatii advanced to the combat. 
At the first onset two of the Horatii fell, and a great shout went up from the Alban 
lines, when the third turned anil fled as if for his life toward the Rtjman army, that 
abashed and ashamed looked on what seemed defeat and disgrace. When the 
Curatii were widely separated in pursuit, the fleeing champion turned, slew them one 
by one, and stripping from the bodies their robes and taking their shields as trophies, 
returned to his comrades in triumph. 

As the victor went back into the city bearing the spoil so bravely won he was 
met by his sister Horatia who loved one of the Curatii and had herself embroidered 



200 



ROME. 




the robe which her brother 
had stripped from her lover's 
dead body. When she saw 
the trophy she shrieked and 
wept reproaching Horatius 
with the sorrow he had 
brought upon her. Enraged 
by her grief the haughty 
youth struck her dead with 
liis dagger saying "So perish 
any Roman woman who 
himents a foe," which sounds 
very heroic indeed, and 
nearly makes us forget that 
the "foe" in this case was a 
blood cousin, life-longfriend 
and lover and the "Roman 
woman" was a beautiful and 
innocent girl giving way to 
o»th of the iinraMi. a natural e.xpression of sor- 

row, whose brother had robbed her of her dearest possession, next to life itself, and 
now robbed her of that. The Senate therefore did right in condemning the mur- 
derer to death, but the people to whom he appealed refused to allow him to be 
punished. Soon afterward the Albans were suspected of being traitors and their 
city was destroyed, the people being given homes in Rome. 

Tullus was struck by lightning, the old chronicles tell us, and Ancus Marcius, 
grandson of Numa, was proclaimed king. He was a warrior as well as a statesman, 
conquering many Latin towns and bringing their people to Rome, making wise laws 
to add to those of Numa which he caused to be written upon a white board and set 
up in the Forum where the people might read them. Ancus revived the religious 
rites which Tullus had neglected, built the gloomy Mamertine prison under the 
Capitoline Hill, whose dungeons are still objects of interest in Rome, fortified the 
Janiculum Hill on the left bank of the Tiber and constructed a wooden bridge across 
the stream. For thirty years he ruled Rome, and when he died the Romans were 
just beginning to be a commercial people. 

During the reign of Tullus, Cypselus overthrew the nobles of Corinth and made 
himself tyrant of the renowned Greek city. Many of these nobles found it neither 
safe nor pleasant to remain in Corinth under the new order of things and left Greece 
to settle in the Nourishing Greek cities on the coast of Italy or in Sicily. One such 
noble, Demartus by name, a rich Corinthian merchant, accompanied by his slaves, 
relatives and several (ireek artists and sculptors emigrated from Corinth and found 
a new home in the Etruscan city of Tarquinii where he married, after a while, a 
noble Etruscan lady. 

His son Lucomo inherited his great wealth and also married an Etruscan lady, 
but in spite of the fact that his mother was an Etruscan and he had spent most of his 
life in Tarquinii, Lucomo was considered a foreigner, and could not hope to gain in 
Tarquinii any power, so he decided to remove to Rome where foreigners were 
welcomed and might rise to a high place in the State. His servants and his wealth 



ROME. 201 

formed a considerable caravan which created quite a sens?.tion, no doubt, as Tarquin 
and his wife Tanaquil leisurely journeyed to Rome followed by a long train of house- 
hold goods, clients, friends and slaves. Tanaquil, it is said, could read the signs and 
omens, and these indicated that Luconio was to become great in Rome, thus when 
he settled himself in an elegant house, his first care was to bring himself to the notice 
of Ancus. It was not long before he was very popular in Rome, he changed his 
name to Lucius Tarquinius, and the king was his firm friend, even naming him as 
his successor in place of his own sons. 

The story of Tarquin, like other legends of Rome tloes not agree with history. 
For instance, the legend says that when Ancus died and Tarquin became king, about 
611 B. C, that he conquered the Etruscans who sent him a golden crown, a sceptre, 
an ivory chair, a purple toga, an embroidered tunic and an a.\:e tied with a bundle of 
rods, and from that day forward, those were signs of power. History is inclined to 
believe that the Etruscans conquered Rome about this time, and placed the Tarquins 
on the throne, and that the Romans invented the story they told about Tanaquil, 
predicting his greatness and his being named by Ancus as his successor, because they 
disliked to admit that their ancestors had been conquered by the litruscans. 

Tarquin was a great warrior who brought many captives to the city, compelling 
them to labor on the public works, for he was a builder too. He drained the Forum 
and enclosed it with porticos, fortified the hills with stone walls, constructed a great 
sewer which even now is a wonder, and commenced the famous temple upon the 
Capitoline hill. 

These improvements cost a great deal of money, and it may have been to quiet 
the murmurs of the people that Tarquin amused them with games in the Circus 
Maximus, which he greatly enlarged, bringing fine horses from his native country to 
perform in it, and his long reign of forty years was a season of prosperity and pro- 
gress for Rome. 

There is a legend that has come down to us of the next king of Rome, which has 
often been repeated. It tells us that when Tarquin was in the height of his successful 
career, one of his servants saw a clear, bright flame playing about the head of a 
child, the son of a slave, who lay asleep upon the portico of the palace. The servant 
was about to throw water on the flame, when Tanaquil seeing in it an omen, refused 
to allow the little lad to be disturbed, and told to her husband the singular circum- 
stance, interpreting the omen that the child was destined to a great future. 

Tarquin thereafter took the boy, Servius Tullus, under his care, reared him 
as a royal prince, and gave him his daughter in marriage. When Tarquin died (killed 
we are told by the sons of Ancus who had nursed their wrath against him all the 
forty years of his reign) Servius became king, and although he may have been the 
son of a slave, he was as truly royal as any prince of the blood. He had always a 
sympathy with the Plebeians, and cared little that the proud Patricians relished his 
laws for the relief of the down-trodden Plebs as little, as they enjoyed being ruled 
by a man sprung from the common people. 

Servius had the first census of the people taken, and when he found that there 
were eighty-three thousand, all told, upon the seven hills, he made a new division of 
the tribes, that gave the Plebeians more power. He also divided the Plebs, outside 
the city into tribes, and had a careful list written of property. 

He made a law which provided that any Plebeian who possessed a hundred 
thousand Ases, about fifteen hundred dollars, might be enrolled anion"- the Patri- 



202 



ROiME. 




Soldier in Marching Order. 



cians and have a vote. The As was the Roman one cent, and 
we tret our word ace. which as you probably know is the single 
spot on playing cards, from the old Roman word, while the 
common expression " he came within an ace of doing this or 
that," dates back to that old law of Servius TuUus. Thus you 
see that a word may outlast a nation, and that language is a 
more lasting monument than mighty towers, palaces and 
temples. Servius alst) caused laws to be made which regulated 
the kind of arms and armor the different classes who served 
in the Legion, should wear. When all his reforms were 
finished, there was a solemn ceremony, the first of many 
such, celebrated on the Campus Martius, the plain above the 
city where all the warlike exercises of the Romans were held. 
The different classes, all armed according to the new law 
and carrying their several stantlards, passed in review before 
the king. They were then all purified by water, and while the 
priests burned a pig. an ox and a sheep on a great altar, 
throwing spices into the flame, the trumpets were blown, wine 
was poured on the ground as an offering to the gods, and all the people lifted up 
their prayers for the happiness and glory of Rome, and such a "lustrum," as it was called 
was performed every five years for many centuries. 

By his wisdom and services to his country Servius gained the love of his people 
and even the patricians were reconciled, but he had an enemy in his own household 
who at last showed him no mercy. 

It is said that Servius had two daughters \^-ho married the two sons of Tarquin. 
but here there must be some mistake, for if Servius was the son-in-law of Tarquin, 
his daughters would therefore have married their uncles which the early Romans 
would hardly have done. Perhaps the legend is mistaken in saying that Servius 
married Tarquin's daughter. .-\t any rate it is said that one daughter Tullia was 
ambitious and cruel, while her husbanil was gentle and virtuous, and the other 
daughter was amiable and good and married to the Tarquin who was as ambitious 
as was Tullia. 

After killing her husband and her sister, Tullia married Lucius Tarquinius, her 
brother-in-law, and began to urge him to depose her father. Heart-broken on 
account of these domestic tragedies, poor Servius would have given the government 
over to the people to save them from the tyranny of the wicked pair who aspired to 
the throne, but Lucius Tarquin was determined to seize upon the royal power. 

He appeared before the Senate and in a bitter speech he called the king "a 
slave and son of a slave," declared that Ser\iuswas on the point of handing the 
city over to the Plebs, and when he had finished, seated liimself upon the throne. 
News was carried to Servius of his son-in-law's action, and lie hurried to the Senate 
chamber. Lucius met him on the steps and grasping him about the waist hurled him 
upon the stone pavement. Bruised and bleeding the gray-haired king was painfully 
making his way homeward, when some of the followers of Lucius set upon him, 
killed him and left his body lying where it fell. 

Tullia hearing of what had happened came out in her chariot to congratulate 
her husband upon his success, but was sternly ordered home by Tarquin who 
seems to have been somewhat less brutal than his fierce wife. Returning by another 



ROME 



20^, 







J'v^; 




Ituniim Dwrlling. 



street her charioteer saw the dead body of the 

king lying in the way. Horror stricken at the 

sight he checked the horses, but the cruel 

Tullia snatched the reins from his hands and 

drove over the corpse of her father, his blood 

spattering her robe. The Senate extolled the 

awful deed as patriotism, but her name has 

been e.xecrated to all time and the street that 

witnessed the death of Servius was called 

ever afterwartl "the wicked street." Thus 

Lucius Tarquinius, called Tarquin, the Proud, :^/ 

was made king, 534 B. C, and, continuing the 

legend, he was a haughty monarch indeed. 

Like his father, a great builder, he was so 

exacting with the laborers upon the public works that they often committed suicide 

to escape his wrath. He iiot only plundered conquered people to add to the splendors 

of the capital, but took to himself what suited his royal pleasure from among his 

subjects. 

It was while Tarquin was king that a prophetess or sibyl from the old Greek city 
of Cumea in Magna Gra-cia, came to him and offered him, for a certain sum of 
money, nine books in which she declared that the destinies of Rome and the world 
were written. Tarquin would not buy them, for the sibyl refused to let him examine 
them, so she took her precious books away, burned three, and coming again to the 
king asked the same sum for the remaining six. Again Tarquin refused, and again 
the sibyl took the books away and returning with the remaining three still asked the 
same sum. Fearing to refuse what might after all be of great value, Tarquin bought 
them and they were pl-aced in a vault under the Capitoline hill. In time of danger 
these books were solemnly opened and consulted by the priests, who read, or pre- 
tended they did, advice therein about the course the Senate and people should follow. 
Of course there was no way of finding out whether there was anything really written 
in the mysterious volumes, for nobody but the priests were allowed to look at them, 
and the cleverest witch that ever lived could not have foreseen the dangers to which 
the Roman State was to be exposed nor give sound advice as to the best means of 
averting them. 

Tarquin hated the Plebeians and took away from them all the privileges Servius 
had bestowed upon them, on which account they no doubt returned his hatred with 
interest. He caused all his relatives, who might give him ti^ouble about the murder 
of Servius to be put to death, sparing only his nephew, Lucius Junius Brutus, who 
seemed so dull and stupid that ho was hardly worth killing. 

Brutus had, in fact, pretended to be an idiot because he feared to fall a victim to 
the king's cruelty. Once when Tarquin offered a sacrifice upon the royal altar, a 
snake crawled out from under the floor of the palace and ate th( flesh that had been 
dedicated to the god. The guilty-minded king of course thought this an omen, and 
sent his two sons to Delphi with rich gifts to find out what it meant. 

Brutus asked to go also, and in his assumed character of an idiot, took a wooden 
cane to give to the priestess. The cane was however hollow, and filled with gold, 
and the oracle thus richly bribed secretly told Brutus the meaning of the reply she 
gave to Tarquin's sons. She told them that Tarquin the. Proud would lose his 



704 ^OUE. 

kincrd.nn and the one of the questioners who should first kiss his mother should rule 
afte^r him This seemed to bar out Brutus, whose mother Tullia had murdered, and 
the three hastened back to Rome. When they entered the city Brutus pretended to 
fall, and secretly kissing the earth, the common mother of all, bided the fulfillment 
of the oracle, which was near at hand. 

The Roman army was encamped at Ardea when the three sons of Tarquin and 
their cousin. Collalinus, fell into a dispute concerning their respective wives, each 
man claiming that his spouse was the fairest, most sensible and virtuous of her sex. 
To decide the matter they made an unexpected call upon the matrons who 
were the subjects of the controversy, accompanied by several of their friends. 
The three princesses were found dressed in their best, their locks twined with 
garlands, feasting with gay companions, but Lucretia. the wife of Collalinus, was sit- 
ting with her maid-servant's spinning. Sextus, one of the sons of Tarquin was much 
impressed with the beauty and modesty of his cousin's wife and at the same time 
jealous of her fame as the most sensible of the matrons whose qualities were subjects 
of dispute. He soon found an excuse for going to CoUatia, where Lucretia lived, and 
because he was her husband's relative, Lucretia treated him as an ht)nored guest. 
In the still midnight when all the household was asleep, the vile Sextus stole from 
his apartment to that of his hostess, and did her a deadly wrong, threatening her 
with disgrace if she betrayed him. Then he went back to the camp at .\rdea. 

In an agony of shame Lucretia sent for her father, Lucretius, and her husband, 
Brutus and Volumnius accompanied CoUatinur, and his father-in-law to Collatia. 
all wondering what the urgent summons might mean. Dressed in deep mourning 
and almost frantic with grief Lucretia appeared before them, related what had 
happened and plunging a dagger into her heart fell dead at her husband's feet. 
Brutus was filled with horror at the sight of the tragedy antl the despair of 
CoUatinus. Drawing the bloody dagger from the victim's breast he held it aloft, and 
calling upon the gods to witness his vow, he swore a solemn oath to revenge the 
innocent Lucretia and to follow Tarquin, Tuliia and all their race with fire and 
sword. He swore also that tyranny should end in Rome and called down destruction 
upon any who should dare assume the title and the power of king. The 
bloody dagger was passed from hand to hand and the oath repeated. The 
f(uu- friends thus bound in solemn compact then lifted Lucretia's body, and bearing 
it to the Forum of Collatia laid it all bloody and ghastly where the people might see. 
Brutus told those who gathered to look upon the pitiful sight the story of Lucretia's 
wrongs. He reminded them of the cruel death of good and gentle .Servius, and 
denounced the blood-thirsty Tarquins to the wrath of heaven. 

Headed by Brutus the people of Collatia marched to Rome, and a vast multitude 
gathered in the Forum to learn what the excitement portended. To these listening 
thousands Brutus retold the tale of the dead matron with such eloquence and pathos 
that they were moved to the wildest excitement. When he ended by repeating his 
vow and calling for vengeance upon the Tarquins, a shout of approval greeted the 
demand. The citizens then assembled upon the Campus Martins and decreed that 
henceforth forever no king should rule in Rome, and declared it lawful to slay any 
person who proclaimed himself king, or who took upon himself royal authority. 

Sextus fled to a city that he had sometime before treacherously given over to the 
Romans, having entered it pretending to desert his country, and asking protection 
from his father's wrath. The people rose up and killed the false wretch, and would 



ROME. 



205 



have been equally glad to thus dispose of Tullia, Tarquin and their whole brood, but 
they had sought safety in Etruria. Brutus and Collatinus were made Consuls and 
the Republic began its career that day on the Campus Martins when kings were done 
away, but there were those among the patricians who were dissatisfied when the 
Senate, which had been reduced greatly under Tarquin, was restored to its original 
size of three hundred. They were even more discontented when the laws .Servius 
made were again put in force and secretly plotted to bring Tarquin back. The plot 
was made in a certain house whose owner was suspectetl of treason and constantly 
watched by secret spies. One such spy overheard the plan and caused the plotters 
to be brought before the Consuls in the Comitium. To the surprise and sorrow of 
Brutus, his two beloved sons were among the conspirators. The stern patriot con- 




Bnitus Conrleiiins Tlis Sons to Death. 



demned them to death with the others and they were executed before his eyes. 
Tarquin next induced the Etruscans to give him an army. Valerius had become 
Consul by the resignation of Collatinus, and he and Brutus led the Romans against 
the advancing foe. Tarquin met them at Arsia, and in the battle that. followed the 
Romans gained the victory although they lost Brutus who fell by the hand of Tar- 
quin's son, and was mourned a whole year by the Roman matrons. 

Another great Etruscan army, led by king Porsena, came against Rome, 
took the Janiculum Hill, and, driving the dismayed and defeated Romans across the 
wooden bridge built by Ancus Marcius, would have forced their way into the city had 
it not been for brave Horatius Codes. 

This valiant warrior with a stout soldier on either side of him, kept the Etrus- 
cans at bay while the Romans with frantic haste hewed and hacked at the supports 
of the bridge. When it tottered and was about to fall, his two companions rushetl 
across, but Horatius still fronted the enemy, beating them back until a crashing of 



2o6 ■ ROME. 

timbers and the shouts of joy from the Romans assured him that the bridge was 

down, then, with a prayer to the rolHng Tiber to bear liim safely, all armored as he 

was, Horatius sprang into the stream. The arrows of the foe fell about him in 

showers but he swam steadily forward and reached the shore in safety. The Romans 

never forgot daring Horatius, and to this day the school boys of every civilized land 

love to relate the tale of 

"TIow well Ilonitius kept tlie bridge 
] n the brave days of old." 

Porsena laid siege to the city, and moved by the distress of the citizens Mucins 
Scaevola determined to find some way of getting into the Etruscan camp and killing 
Porsena. Fortune favored him and he succeeded in penetrating to the very presence 
of the king, as he supposed, and stabbed him. Fearing some such fate Porsena had 
dressed his treasurer in his royal robes, and Mucins had slain him. The young 
Roman was seized and brought before Porsena. The king demanded the names of 
those who had helped Mucins to enter the Etruscan camp. Mucins refused to give 
them, and when the king threatened him with torture to make him confess. Mucins 
thrust his right arm into an altar fire that was burning near by and held it there until 
it was a burned and blackened stump. 

Porsena was amazed at the Roman's firmness and gave him his liberty. When 
Mucins afterward told him that three hundred Roman youths as brave as himself 
had sworn to accomplish his death, Porsena hastened to make peace with Rome. 

It was the custom in those days when a peace was made between two powers, to 
give as pledges some of the noblest citizens of each nation into the keeping of the 
other. These pledges were called hostages, and among those given by the Romans 
was Cloelia, a noble and beautiful maiden. Ckrlia escaped from the Etruscan camp 
one wild and stormy nfght, swam the Tiber and reached her home, but the Romans 
sent her back the next day. Porsena was filled with admiration for the courage of 
the maid, and gave her liberty, so runs the pretty legend. There are many stories of 
this Etruscan war that are full of romance, but the story the Romans loved best to 
hear was that of the battle of Lake Regillus. 

Tarquin secured the aid of a league of thirty Latin cities to restore him to the 
throne, and the Romans appointed for the first time a dictator, or general, who for 
a certain time had supreme power, and could do anything he thought best for the 
.State. The Romans met the allied army of the foe at Lake Regillus and offered 

battle. 

Most ancient battles began with single combats, and then the fighting became 
o-eneral. At Lake Regillus, Tarquin and the dictator fought a round, then the Latin 
dictator and Roman master of horse exchanged blows, and finally the two armies 
encountered. The Romans were almost discouraged when two tali and l)(!autiful 
strangers, mounted on snow white horses and clad in shining armor, were seen fight- 
in<f in their ranks, dealing blows which scattered the foe like chaff before the flail. 
The word passed from lip to lip, that these were the gods Castor and Pollux, sons of 
Jupiter and Leda who had long been worshipped in Greece anil Ital)'. The Latins 
had not the courage to war against the immortals. They broke and fled, Rome was 
saved and Tarquin's hope gone. That night two stately riders, their horses and 
armor covered with dust and blood rode through the streets of Rome, and dismount- 



ROME. 



207 



ing at the well near the temple of Vesta, waslied off the traces of battle, telling as 

they did so of the great victory. 

"And straight again tliey mouiitea 
And rode to Vesta's dooi 

Then, like a blast, away they passed. 
And no man saw them more." 

All these things are said to have happened 509 B. C, about the time fiippias, the 
tyrant was driven from Athens, but whether we are to believe the legends or not, we 
know that the republic was established after seven kings had reigned in Rome and 
about two hundred and forty-five years from the date of the founding of the city. 

For many years after the Tarquins were expelled there were struggles within 
the city between the patricians and plebeians, and foes without that must be con- 
quered. The task of subjecting her enemies was as often undertaken for the sake of 
booty as in self-defense, for Rome was so situated on her hills, distant from the sea 
and protected by the Tiber and by low-'v'ng «rHrshv land about her hills as to be in 
little danger of a long continued siege. 

You must remember that from sea to ^^a rras but a hundred miles and Rome 
was so placed that by separating her enemies on the north from those on the south 
they could not unite against her. Yet she had some powerful enemies near at hand. 
Etruria was just across the Tiber, and Veii, Ardea and Cajre, hostile cities with strong 
citadels, were not a score of miles away. 

At the beginning of the republic, the city of Rome was nearly as old as our own 
New York now is, but it was not at all imposing. True, there were some magnificent 
public buildings and temples, but the homes of the people were insignificant enough. 
Most of them contained an open vestibule, and a porter's lodge with a single low, 
mean, windowless apartment, which had a hole in the roof to let out the smoke and 
let in the rain which was gathered in a cistern. This was the family living room, 
where cooking, eating and sleeping had their seasons. The rich had separate bed- 
rooms, dining-rooms and perhaps some means of heating them in cold, damp 
weather, but the masses of the people hartlly knew the meaning of domestic 
comforts. Their habits, too, were rude and simple. They ate one warm meal a 
day, kept their persons and clothing clean, but cared noth- 
ing for books or art. The women performed their 
household work side b^'side with their slaves, ami virtue 
and filial reverence were practical piet}'. The worship of 
the Romans was much like that of the Greeks. In the 
days of Romulus, Vesta, Pales and the Lares and 
Penates or household gods, were the chief objects of 
ordinary devotion, while Jupiter and Neptune were pub- 
licly invoked, but Here whom they called Juno, Athene 
or Minerva, Hermes or Mercury, Aphrodite or Venus, 
and the other dieties of Greece, were now universally 
known and honored. 

During the reign of the last three kings, the Ple- 
beians, who had of course increased greatly in numbers, 
had been constantly growing poorer. When they were 
called upon to fight Rome's wars, they were obliged to 
leave their crops to spoil in the fields, to be carried off 
by robbers, or destroyed by the enemy, and were not paid Roman udiofi ana si?ve. 





2o8 ROME. 

anything for their services in the army. When they were allowed 
to return to their homes, they were obliged to borrow money from 
the Patricians at a high rate of interest, in order to equip them- 
selves again to till the soil, and woe betide them if the season was 
unfavorable or anything prevented the payment of the debt. 

In Athens before the time of Solon, a debtor could be sold 
into slavery with all his family, but in Rome in the early days of 
the republic, his case was even worse. Not only could a debtor 
and his wife and children be sold as slaves, but nearly all of the 
rich Patricians had gloomy dungeons built where the)' could confine 
their luckless debtors, and starve them to death, cut their living 
bodies in pieces or do what they would with them. This state of 
things grew worse during the first twenty years of the republic, and 
Neptuucthe'Gudcf ihesea. the Plebeians were almost desperate, in the year 495 B. C. At that 

time one of the bravest centurians, who had fought and bled for the republic, was 
thrown into prison for debt. While he had been away from home in his country's 
service, his house was robbed, his cattle driven away, his crops burned, and to pay 
his heavy taxes he was obliged to borrow of a Patrician. He could not pay the 
interest, and lost everything he possessed in the world and was cast into a dungeon 
where he was most cruelly treated. Finally this unhappy debtor escaped from prison. 
All ragged and famine-wasted he went out among the people. His grizzled hair 
hanging over his naked breast upon which seven and twenty scars told the story of 
his brave deeds for Rome, and his back bleeding from the stripes of the cruel jailer, 
spoke eloquently of his sufferings as he walked through the most crowded streets 
of the city, telling again and again the story of his wrongs in words of burning 
eloquence. The Plebeians were roused to revolt. 

The Volscians were almost at the gates of Rome, threatening the city with 
destruction, and Appius Claudius, the haughty Patrician, was Consul. When he 
called upon the Plebeians to enroll themselves and go forth against the enemy, they 
boldly defied him and told him that since the Patricians divided among themselves 
tlic lands and plunder of conquered enemies they might fight their own battles. 
Appius Claudius stormed and threatened and the other Consul, Servilius, coaxed and 
pleaded, but the Plebs were firm. The X'olscians, they said, might take the city if 
they could, and not for their own safety even, would they strike a single blow, 
unless the Consuls would solemnly promise to redress their grievances. Of 
course the Consuls promised everything and of course they meant to break 
their promise if occasion offered. The Plebs then enlisted, sallied out, defeated 
the Volscians and came back determined to make the Senate right their 
wrongs. The Patricians dilly dallied, excused themselves and tried to gain time but 
the Plebs would stand no trifiing. They said again that the Patricians might do their 
own fighting and to show that they were really in earnest the Plebs all marched out 
of the city and camped on a neighboring hill. 

Now the Patricians were really anxious and alarmed, for should the Volscians 
or Veiians or any of their numerous enemies learn of their defenceless condition, 
they might join with the Plebs and take the city. They sent humble messages to the 
Plebeians and going out to their camp the Senate made a solemn treaty with them 
which they sealed with prayers and sacrifices. They allowed the Plebs to appoint 
two Tribunes or leaders, who, no matter what they might say as representatives of 



ROME. 209 

the people could not be punished, and who were to have two Aediles or officers to 
assist them. These Tribunes were not to be attacked or questioned in the dis- 
charge of their duty, and were to be allowed to listen to the deliberations of the 
Senate — though absurdly enough only at the door and not inside the Senate chamber 
— and nothing could be done without their consent. They were allowed to veto, or 
object to anything they did not like. 

I'ou will see how these Tribunes could kee" the Consuls in check, and how long 
afterward the very officers who were created as guardians of the liberties of the 
common people became the tools of empire and made Rome what she afterward 
became. The Plebs were satisfied with the new order of things and after building 
an altar to Jupiter on the top of the hill, which ever after was called the Sacred 
Mount, they marched back to Rome with a clearer idea of their true relation to the 
State than they ever had before. Two years after this secession of the Plebeians to 
the Sacred Mount, the Romans were besieging the Volscian town of Corioli. The 
Volscians made a sally to drive them off but were defeated and retreated behind the 
wal 3 of their city hotly pursued by the Romans. A Patrician who had gained 
honors at the battle of Lake Regillus and in many subsequent fights was so eager in 
the chase that he did not notice that he was actually within the gates until they were 
shut upon him. Striking down all who stood in his way the warrior reached the 
gates, flung them open and admitted the Romans, and was called from that time 
forward Coriolanus. Coriolanus was an extremely haughty man, who, in spite of his 
bravery, was not a favorite with the people, who would not vote for him when he 
was'a candidate for the Consulship. In revenge for the slight Coriolanus suggested to 
the Senate in the year 4QI B. C, when there was famine in the city that a favorable 
time had come for humbling the Plebeians. He advised that none of the food which 
the people of Syracuse had sent to feed the starving people, should be sold or given 
to the Plebs unless they would promise to give up the treaty they had signed on the 
Sacred Mount. The Tribunes brought Coriolanus to trial for this offensive advice, 
and the assembly of the people banished him from Rome. Perhaps Coriolanus had 
foreseen this result and made it an excuse for a further revenge. He quitted the 
city in a rage and going over to the Volscian cause, headed an expedition against 
Rome. The city was not prepared for war and the Senators went out to neet him, 
but pleaded in vain with Coriolanus to spare the city. When his mother, wife and 
little children, followed by all the matrons of Rome, came forth, fell at his feet and 
begged him to turn back, Coriolanus relented and gave the order for retreat. 
The disappointed and angry Volscians returned to their city, but killed Coriolanus 
because he failed to perform his promise to lead them to victory, and the Romans 
built a temple on the spot where their wives and mothers implored his leniency, to 
remind them for ages of the city's peril and deliverance. About this time, too, Cin- 
cinnatus was called from his plow to become dictator, for the Aequians were men- 
acing Rume. At the head of the legions he defeated the foe, then laid aside his 
power to return to the life of humble toil and poverty whence he came. A few 
years later Spurius Cassius became Consul. He succeeded in having a law passed 
that gave the Plebs their just share of the lands and plunder taken from enemies, 
but the Patricians headed by the F"abians, a powerful noble family, put Snurius to 
death and refused to carry out his law. The Fabians were consuls for seven years, 
and once during that time the Plebs threw down their arms in the presence of the 
enemy and said again that the Patricians might fight their own battles since they 



2IO 



ROME 




SMM 



%^^^ 



'P^ 




had all the rewards of victory. Soon after this IMarcus 
Fabius was elected Consul, and not only favored the 
cause of the Plebs but attempted to carry out the law 
of Spurius. For this he was treated with such indignity 
and scorn by the other Patricians that the whole 
Fabian clan declared they would no longer live in 
Rome, and with their friends and clients the Fabians, 
to the number of 4,306, camped a few miles above 
Rome, only ojie of their kin, a delicate little lad too. 
young to bear the hardships of camp-life, being lef; 
Shoe of Patrician. behind. For two years the Fabians unaided by Rome 

held the X'eians in check and protected the nngrateful city, Init in the year 477 B. C, 
they were all killed in a dreadful battle, the solitary little lad in Rome alone remaining 
to found anew the Fabian house and perpetuate its great deeds. The Plebeians were 
now without a champion, and for the ne.xt twenty-five years the Patricians murdered, 
robbed and oppressed them, but could not frighten them into silence. The outcry 
against the laws became so violent that the Senate sent Appius Claudius, the 
third of that name, and several other public men to Athens to study the w^orkings 
of the laws of Solon, and when they returned, Lucius Icilius who had done much for 
the Plebs, and the other Tribune and Consuls were compelled to give up their office. 
Ten Patricians were appointed to make new laws, and they satisfied the people 
so well that they were allowed to remain in office for a year. Appius Claudius was 
one of these decemivirs, as they were called, and he managed to be continued in office 
the next year and to have as his associates nine men whom he could bend to his will. 
To the laws.already made, the new decemivirs added two others which were 
extremely unjust, but Appius and his haughty followers treated the anger of the 
people with contempt. There might have been a revolt in Rome had not the 
Aequians and Sabines just then united in war against the city, and the attention of 
the I^lebeians turned from their own wrongs to the preservation of the State. 

Virginius and Dentatus, brave and tried Plebeians, were sent with an army 
against the foe, and encamped a few miles from the city walls, to oppose their 
advance. 

Now \'irginius had a fair innocent ilaughter, Virginia, wno was betrothed to the 
valiant Icilius. Appius Claudius had set-n the maid and admired her beauty. He 
tried to win her from her lover, but Virginia scorned his advances, so while her 
father was safely out of the way, the wicked decemivir made a plot to get possession 
of her. One of his slaves was instructed to lay hold of Virginia as she was upon her 
way to school and claim her as his daughter. This was done, and although Virginia 
denied the charge, and declared that there were many people in I^ome who had 
known her from her birth ami could bear witness that Virginius was her father, the 
slave dragged her before the decemivirs when they met as usual that day. 

A friend had hurried to Virginius with the tidings of his daughter's danger, but 
though he hastened to her rescue, he reached the Forum just in time to hear Appius 
declare her the property of the slave. The father rushed forward, drew the maid 
aside, and snatching a knife from a butcher's stall near by, plunged it into her breast, 
crying " thus do I free thee." The fond triumphant smile upon Virginia's face told 
more plainly than words could have done, that she welcomed death gladly rather 
than the fate Appius had in store for her. With this smile still on her pale lips, Vir- 




ROME. 211 

ginia died, and her father laid the maiden's form in 
the arms of Icilius, then raising his hand to heaven 
called down on Appius an awful curse and left the 
Forum, the crowd parting before him in silent rever- 
ence as though the seal of the gods was upon him. 
Icilius held up the form of the murdered girl where 
all might see, and called for vengeance upon Appius. 
In a little while Virginius and Dentatus marched into 
Rome with their troops and demanded justice for the 
Plebs and judgment upon Appius. The common 

people flocked to them and threatened to leave Rome and build a new city. Upon 
their demand, the decemivirs were dismissed and Appius thrown into prison, where 
he died soon after by his own hand. The Consuls and Tribunes were restored, the 
Plebeians given more power. Thus Virginia, like Lucretia, did not die in vain, and it 
was the blood of two innocent women that effaced two of the darkest blots upon 
the pages of Roman liberty. 

The city of Veil had been besieged nearly ten years, when in the year 426 B. C, 
the legends say, the Alban lake suddenly overflowed its banks in the driest season of 
the year, and spreading far and wide covered fields and meadows. The oracle at 
Delphi was consulted, and replied that when the lake found a new outlet to the sea, 
Veil would be taken. The P.omans cut a deep channel through the rocky hills, no 
slight undertaking in those days, and the lake had a new outlet, but still Veil baffled 
every attempt of the besiegers, until Camillus was made dictator, then the V^eiians 
sent to Rome and asked for peace. The Senate refused to grant it, and it is said a 
prophet of the Veiians thereupon foretold the downfall of Rome, that eight hundred 
years afterward occurred. Camillus dug a tunnel under Veii, and through it the 
Romans entered the city, the people were sold into slavery and their property divided 
among the Romans. 

Soon after Camillus was banished from Rome for some trivial cause, and as he 
left, it is said, he cursed the ungrateful republic. 

Since the days of the Tarquins the Gauls had from time to time descended from 
Hungary and Bohemia, crossed the Alps and plundered the rich Italian plain. In 
the year 391 B. C, a fierce Gaulish chieftain, Brennus, led his band into Italy antl a 
hundred years later another Brennus swooped down upon Greece. Clusium was 
besieged, and sent to Rome imploring aid, but when the Roman Senate sent a 
messenger to Brennus politely bidding him to let the Clusiumans alone, Brennus 
returned the reply, whose substance was, that he meant to have some of Clusium's 
territory and that he cared as little for the objections of the Romans as he did for 
the wind that blew from his native mountains. When he had plundered Clusium, 
Brennus and his yellow-haired, fierce-visaged wariors advanced toward Rome, and 
now the people remembered Camillus and longed for the wisdom and skill of the 
banished general. 

The Gauls were so eager to get to Rome of whose riches they had heard much, 
that they passed other cities by. The Roman army was drawn up to oppose them at 
Allia the place where the Fabians fell a hundred years before, but they were so 
terrified by the savage appearance of the Gauls that they made but a feeble effort to 
overcome them and those who were unable to retreat to the deserted fortress of 
Veii or to Rome, were either slain by the enemy or drowned themselves in the Tiber. 



212 



ROME. 




Til'.' (,;:nils m lioine 



ROME. 213 

The fugitives rushed into the city bearing the news of the defeat and the citizens 
knowing that they could not defend the walls, seized their valuables and fled to the 
capitol which they fortified, making no attempt to save the city. All this was dis- 
graceful enough and we would like to believe the story they afterward told that the 
old Senators dressed themselves in their best togas and going to t.\e Forum, calmly 
seated themselves and awaited the coming of the Gauls. The barbarians, they said, 
entered the city and curiously looked about them. At first they thought the gray- 
haired, stern-featured men sitting as impassively as graven images were gods. 
Finally one burly savage put OLit his hand to stroke the snow-white beani of an aged 
Senator. The proud Roman struck him to earth with his ivory staff. The enraged 
Gauls then fell upon them, murdered them every one and began to plunder and 
burn the city. Camillus was in exile at Veil, the tale continues, and would not come 
to the rescue of Rome until the Senators and Patricians shut up in the capitol sent 
him a written request to do so. They were nearly surrounded by the Gauls, those 
besieged Patricians, and could get no message to Camillus until a certain brave youth 
named Manlius, at the risk of his life clambered down the steep side of the Tarpeian 
rock, swam the Tiber, and reached Veil in safety bearing to Camillus the written 
commission. The Gauls discovered Miinlius' descent and decided to go up the way 
he came down. The sentinel wnose duty it was to guard that side of the capitol did 
not dream any one would try to scale the steep sides of the cliff, and slept at his post 
while the Gauls climbed stealthily up. They had nearly gained the height when the 
sacred geese in the temple of Juno uttered their cry, the garrison was roused and the 
foremost Gaul was hurled upon the heads of his companions who fell bruised and 
bleeding to the foot of the rock. Seeing that they could not take the Capitoline, the 
Gauls settled down to besiege it, thinking to starve the Romans into surrender. The 
heat of the southern sun could ill be borne by the northern barbarians, the dust ai.d 
ashes from the ruins of the city blew into their faces, they sickened with fever and 
wearied with delay. At length they promised to leave Rome it the citizens would 
give them a large sum of money. The Romans were glad to be quit of the Gauls at 
almost any price, so the scales were brought out to weigh the money. While this 
was being done the Romans saw that Brennus was cheating and asked what he 
meant by so doing. The reply of Brennus needed no explanation. He cast his 
sword into the scale and cried "Woe to the vanquished." For centuries after the 
invading Gauls were dust and their first raid upon Rome was told only in song and 
story those fateful words were heard above the din of arms and cries of the dying 
on many a bloody field. 

"Woe to the vanquished!" Suddenly Camillus stands beside Brennus his army 
at his back. "It is not with gold but with sharp steel Rome pays such debts," he cries, 
and scatters the gold upon the ground and falls upon the Gauls driving them out of 
Rome and far back toward the. ; native land 

Alas for the dear old legends! They have every element of fact but one— .^"uth, 
for Rome was not only burned by the Gauls 390 B. C, but was ruled by them until 
they chose to return to their homes, and Manlius we are afraid did not descend the 
rock nor swim the Tiber, and Camillus did not appear with his army until the Gauls 
had gone of iheir own accord, and did no more heroic thing than to persuade the 
Romans not to desert the site of their once proud city but rebuild it from the^ruins 
of Veil. It is to the Gauls we owe many of the most beautiful legends of early ?.ome, 
for the Gauls destroyed the historical records, if there were any such, and left the 



214 



ROME. 









Womau with Distaff. 



imagination of the poets to construct heroes and heroic events 
on a foundation of remembered fact but untrammelled by 
real history. Rome made a new start, but the same old 
quarrel between the Plebeians and Patricians went fiercely 
on, while her enemies without harrassed her on every hand, 
jealous of her <rrowing power. The venerable Camillus was 
more than once called upon to interfere in the cause of peace, 
but it was not until the year before his death, which occurred 
B. C. 365, that the Plebsand Patricians settled their difficulties 
and came to terms. That year the plague raged, and among 
other things done to propitiate the gods, stage plays were 
introduced into Rome. These plays were poor, silly trash, and 
a god must have had very bad taste indeed to have looked witli 
favor upon them. At one time it is said the Tiber, disgusted 
it was thought witii the play and actors, left its banks and invaded the theatre, half 
drowning and wholly frightening the audience, so we cannot conclude that the theatre 
was a great success, and certainly the stage plays had far less effect upon the plague, 
though presented with much magnificence, than a few able-bodied scavengers could 
have accomplished in a short space of time, for Rome in those days, like some of 
the American cities in our own, was sadly filthy. 

It was about this time that a story which in different forms had been told for 
centuries, was revived, and religiously believed by the Romans. It is said that sud- 
denly a great hole yawned in the Forum, and unlike most caverns, this seemed to have 
no bottom. The stones and earth thrown into it by the ton, at once disappeared 
from view, but the hole remained as -large as ever. Of course the ine.\haustible 
oracle, who must have had a well-balanced mind to stand the strain of all the absurd 
questions put to it, was consulted as to the best way of filling the chasm, and replied 
that the best possession of Rome niust be thrown into the hole and then it would 
close. Not knowing what this " best possession " might be, everyone brought what 
he considered best, but still the hole remained open, although statues of the gods, 
gold, jewels, precious books and other things had been flung into it. At last Marcus 
Curtius declared that the life of Rome's bravest man was her best treasure, and 
mounting his war-horse in full armor, he urged his steed to the brink of the yawning 
gulf and made him spring with him into the depths, whereupon it instantly closed 
over him. Now Marcus Curtius was right in saying this, and we would far rather 
believe the legend than the prosaic fact claimed b)- modern historians, who declare 
that the true story is, that during the consulship of Mettus Curtius, the earth in the 
Forum was struck by lightning, or cracked by an earthquake, and there was great 
difficulty in closing the rift, but that it was successfully filled in after much labor. 

After the defeat of the Gauls in the year 390 B. C, Rome conquered, little by 
little, all the country about her nearly to Naples, but the Gauls again descended upon 
Italy in 349, and the long struggle with them, which lasted fifty years, was begun. 
The Samnites, too, were made subjects and aided Rome, in the war with the bar- 
barians. While Alexander was conquering the far East Rome was establishing firmly 
her power in Italy. It was not until the year 283 B. C, that Rome finally conquered 
both the Etruscans and Gauls, but in that year a valiant Fabius, descended from the 
puny child saved so long ago to the Fabian house, broke the power of those two 
formidable enemies of the young republic. Now, again for the first time in nearly 



ROME. 215 

a hundred years, the people of Rome oppressed by debt and tyranized over by 
the Senate, rose up in their wrath and did a mighty deed, but a peaceful one. They 
abolished the veto of the Senate, declared the will of the people law, limited the 
land ownership, gave to every poor man a small tract sufficient for his support, and 
made a practical declaration of independence. 

It was three years after this that the angry waves of the Mediterranean dashed 
to pieces the ship of a warrior-king who was sailing toward Southern Italy, and 
washed him on the shores of the peninsula half dead with exposure. This man we 
already know something about, for he was Pyrrhus of Epirus, who ruled over a 
mountainous state of Northwestern Greece and who dreamed of going forth to con- 
quer the world like his great kinsman Alexander. 

He had conquered, for the time being, the king of Macedon, and had set out, 
followed by a great army to subdue the Romans. The Greek city of Tarentum had 
great faith in Pyrrhus and when the Romans sent to the Tarentines and asked pay- 
ment for some of their fleet which they had destroyed, (for Rome had now for thirty 
years or more possessed ships of war and commerce,) the Tarentines insulted the 
ambassadors sent by the Roman Senate and they returned home in great anger. 

For this outrage Rome did not at once demand satisfaction but the people of 
Tarentum were eager for war and called on Pyrrhus to help them fight the city that 
had conquered nearly all of the Italians and stood a fair chance of conquering the 
Greek cities too. 

Pyrrhus had only wanted a pretext to enter Italy, antl now he had it. Beyond 
Italy lay Sicily, Spain and Carthage, and he thought that when once Rome was 
brought low, all of these would fall into his hands. 

With his elephants, strange terrible beasts that frightened the horses of the 
Roman cavalry to that degree that they were utterly unmanageable, he gained a 
smgle victory over the Romans, but that honor cost him so dear that he sent to 
Rome declaring he would leave Italy forthwith if the Romans would promise not to 
punish Tarentum and the other Greek cities that had helped him with troops. The 
Senate was about to agree to his terms when blind Appius Claudius, a descendant of 
the great Claudian family of the old day, groped his way to the Senate-house and 
in a thrilling speech called upon the conscript fathers to vindicate Roman hone r and 
refuse to treat with an armed enemy. 

Moved by the eloquence of the blind orator, Rome sent a message to Pyrrhus 
telling him that when he had removed his army from Italy the Senate would treat 
with him. Pyrrhus then advanced toward Rome burning and destroying as he went, 
but when he learned that the Etruscans had made peace with the Romans, he 
quickly turned about and marched back again to Tarentum. 

The next year a battle was fought in which Pyrrhus gained no advantage, and 
he arranged a truce with Rome in order that he might help the Greeks in Sicily 
against Carthage. For two years he remained there, but returned 276 B. C, to aid 
the Greek cities in Italy. He was baffled as before in his designs against Rome and 
with the bitterness of defeat in his proud soul, returned to Macedon to die an 
ignoble death in the streets of Argos. 

Carthage had been friendly to Rome for a long time, and in the second battle 
with Pyrrhus had offered help to the Romans which they had the good sense to 
decline. Now, when it became known that Rome had actually conquered Pyrrhus 
alone and unaided, Ptolemy Philadelphus, Pharaoh of Egypt, made a friendly treaty 



216 ROME. 

with the republic, and foreign nations showed it great respect. Indeed Rome was 
now the mistress of all Italy, was rich, great and prosperous, but away in the south- 
west, across the blue Mediterranean, a cloud was gathering that soon over-shadowed 
Spain, Carthage and Italy, and plunged Rome into a struggle for existence that was 
long, bloody and doubtful. 

I have told you in the story of Carthage how some hired Campanian soldiers, 
whom by the way, the Romans had driven from Italy some si.x years before because 
they were such villianous robbers, seized the town of Messana, and calling them- 
selves Mamertines, or sons of the war-god, killed and drove out the people. Hiero. 
king of Syracuse soon brought these professional bandits to such straits that they 
were obliged to ask for help, and quarreling among themselves, one party resolved to 
ask Carthage for aid, while the other sent ambassadors to Rome. 

You will remember that Carthage had for centuries helil all the western half of 
Sicily, some of the northern part and was anxious to concjuer the Greek cities and 
possess the whole island. The Carthaginians came therefore very willingly to aid 
the Mamertines and the Romans found Messana already garrisoned by Carthage 
when they arrived there. 

Now the Romans had tasted conquest, and although Hiero had always been 
their friend they had few conscientious qualms about fighting him. They drove both 
him and the Carthaginians away from Messana and protected the murderous Mam- 
er*-ines as zealously as though they were the most virtuous citizens in the world and 
theii proceeded to take their pay for their righteous services out of the unoffending 
Greek cities. 

They took Agrigentum and placed in it a Roman garrison and colony of soldiers, 
conquered also many other Sicilian towns, and to tight the Carthaginians on the seas 
built in two months one hundred and thirty clumsy vessels of green wood, as I have 
told you, and at Myla; gained a great naval victory. 

We may be sure the Roman people rejoiced at the news from Sicily. They 
made a great celebration in honor of the victory and set up a column all decked with 
ships' prows in the Forum. After a few more years of war Marcus Atilius Regulus 
was sent from Sicily to land an immense Roman army in Africa. Tiie brave Car- 
thaginian Ilamlicar Barca met the Roman fleet near Cape Ecnomus, and after 
another sea-battle in which Rome was again victor the Romans entered Africa. 
That land which was so near, that we think it no distance at all, was to them as full 
of mystery as the Far East is to us, and beside was so peopled with legendary mon- 
sters and horrors that the Romans would not have been greatly surprised had they 
been confronted by an army of the headless men, or other creatures, described by 
some of their travellers. They were for some time busy in conquering the coast 
cities, captured great numbers of prisoners and sent ship loads of plunder home 
to Rome. 

Finally Regulus sent word to the Senate that he had taken Tunis and the Car- 
thaginians shut u]) in their city, were suing for peace. The Senate, confident that 
Regulus would soon take Carthage, called home twenty thousand of his men and 
sent such hard terms to the African city that it gave up all idea of submission 

It was then tliat Xantippus and his bold companions from Sparta came on this 
stage of war, and B. C. 255, after careful drilling the Carthaginians risked a battle, 
cut the Romans army to pieces and made Regulus prisoner. Five years brave 
Regulus lay in a Carthaginian dungeon before he was sent back to Rome bearing 



ROME. 



217 



the terms of peace. He performed his mission, then bravely urged his people to fight 
Carthage to the last, and went back to Africa to prison and a cruel death. 

Four years longer the war dragged on, Hamilcar, from Mount Erete, and then 
Mount Eryx falling again and again so suddenly upon the unprotected Italian coast, 
that his last name Barca, which means "lightning," had a dreadful significance to the 
Romans. 

All things must end, sooner or later, and so this long war ended in victory for 
Rome, whose glory by land and sea was thus established, although she was still to 




KcKulus lieturns tu His Curtliagiuhiu C':i|jtinty. 

suffer mortal anguish from the undying hatred of Hamilcar who refused to surrender 
to Rome, and when the war was over, marched from his eyrie overlooking Drepanum 
with his arms and ensigns. 

It was in the year 241, just twenty-four years after the Mamertines seized Mes- 
sana, that Rome ended her first Punic war, and in the four hundred and fifty years 
since the reign of the good Numa, the doors of the temple of Janus had never been 
once shut. We have already seen how Rome robbed Carthage of Sardinia and 
Corsica B. C. 227, and in the story of Greece have told you how the Romans hum- 
bled the Illyrian pirates which Philip V. let loose on western Greece eight years later. 



2i8 ROME. 

but between these two events there was another threatened invasion by the Gauls. 
We are told that the mjsterious Sybillinc books were consulted about these 
Gauls who were still more dreaded by Rome than any or all of her civilized foes, and 
according to the directions of the priests, who pretended that the books so ordered, 
a very horrible thing was done. Two Gauls and two Greeks, a man and woman of 
each nation, were buried alive in the great market-place, and the people believed 
that the deed insured victory to Rome. Then the army marched out and conquered 
the barbarians who had penetrated as far as Etruria, and their generals Flaminus 
and jMarcellus, plundered the Gauls as long before the Gauls had plundered the 
Romans, and the whole valley of the river Po became Roman territory, strong 
colonies being placed there to hold it. 

In the years that lay between the iirst and second Punic wars, two things happened 
at Rome that made a deep and lasting impression upon the morals of the people. I 
have told you the story of Lucretia and the pathetic tale of young Virginia to show 
you how deep was the respect in which the Romans held their wives and daughters. 
The Romans, unlike the Aryans of Asia, and in later days the Greeks, only married 
one wife. In their early days, and until after the Carthaginian war, such a thing as 
a divorce law was never thought of, but now, B. C., 231, such a law was passed and 
worked great mischief in Rome, for it was so easy to get a divorce that the marriage 
relation was lightly entered into, and the sacredness of the family was in danger. 

All the years of the life of Rome, in spite of the gods and goddesses brought 
from Greece and Asia, disbelief in the old poetic religion had been growing, until 
now the rites of Paganism were looked upon very differently from what they were 
in the early days of the republic. Some of the later ceremonies were so disgusting 
and vicious that they were a great deal worse than no religion at all. 

These ceremonies seem so childish and silly as well as impure, that we wonder 
how the Romans who had become clever in other ways should have indulged in them; 
but no doubt they found it easy to worship the gods under the cloak of folly, for 
their <jods, after all, were but other names for man's imperfections and frailties. The 
idea of repressing the passions for conscience sake may not be wholly the work of 
Christianity, but certainly Paganism, never dreamed of tloing such a thing. The 
Roman people, thus little fearing the unseen powers, and making religious festivals, 
the excuse for revels of the worst kind, were growing reckless and hard-hearted. It 
was about the time that the Gauls were defeated that Marcus and Decimus Brutus, 
members of that same Brutus family who were before and afterward so renowned, 
introduced into Rome a new source of public instruction in cruelty. 

Perhaps you have read of gladiators, or have seen somewhere a picture of the 
famous statue of the dying gladiator by one of the old Greek sculptors. These 
gladiators were skillful fighters with the short sword, the cestus, (a form of brass- 
knuckles) and the three-pronged spear. The brothers Brutus were the first to give 
at the funeral games of their father, a show in which swordsmen fought each other, 
and soon the bloody fight of the gladiators became a common public spectacle in the 
theatre and the circus. 

It seems almost incredible that such cruel sport could give enjoyment to anybody, 
but it seems that the Romans loved the sight of blood and wounds. The rude, fierce 
captives taken in war did not show enough skill when pitted against each other, and 
fought with so little caution that they soon received or gave mortal wounds. The 
sport was therefore considered too tame, and after a time wealthy citizens selected 



ROME. 2IQ 

from among their slaves certain ones whose size, strength and beauty of proportion 
promised good results from athletic training, and they were placed in schools and 
carefully educated in all warlike exercises, then made to fight each other in the 
arena, as the level portion of the circus was called. In these •schools the gladiators, 
in many of whom the best blood of Gaul or Greece, Campania or Carthage flowed, 
formed tender friendships. They ate at the same board, and drank from the same 
cup for months or years, then at last on the sands of the arena, were compelled to 
kill one another, a swift and fatal thrust when wounded being the only boon they 
could grant their dearest friend. 

Not only rough men but delicate women looked calmly upon these dreadful 
scenes, and in all the books that were written in those days, no author has a word to 
say against the barbarous sport which had such a ruinous effect upon Rome, harden- 
ing the people's heart, searing their conscience, and blotting out all of those feelings 
of humanity which are the fruits, or should be, of a high civilization. 

From the close of the first Punic war until the year 227 B. C, Hamilcar Barca 
had been in Iberia, as Spain was then called, winning victories over the Iberians and 
sending home to Carthage the treasures taken as tribute from conquered people. 
There was that in the nature of Hamilcar which made the Iberians willing to be 
ruled by him, and enthusiastic to aid him in building up in their country a new 
civilization. He was brave, self-restrained, and, with all his fierceness, knew when 
to be gentle. He had all the craft of the Phoenicians, but was steadfast in purpose, 
firm, just, and his genius as a statesman must have been very great, for he knew how 
to win and keep the favor of the conquered barbarians and to induce them to take 
kindlv to work, instead of idly roaming about as savages. 

Hamilcar did much to civilize the Iberians teaching them the arts of peace and 
quelling their tribal quarrels. He also united them in interest and drilled them as 
soldiers that they would be hard to conquer. Rome, who watched the growth of New- 
Carthage with jealousy and who wanted to conquer Spain herself when she had 
settled her other difiiculties, threatened to again make war upon Carthage if 
Hamilcar refused to sign a treaty to bound his conquests by the Ebro. 

It was in the year 227 B. C, that Hamilcar fell fighting the Gauls. Six years 
later Hasdrubal, his son-in-law, who succeeded to his command, was murdered and 
young Hannibal who had shared with his father his adventures in Spain now pro- 
ceeded to carry out the terms of a solemn oath sworn long ago on the altar of Baal, 
the Carthaginian Hercules. 

We have seen how he conquered the city of Saguntum, after several months of 
desperate resistance, and when the Senators of Carthage answered the ambassadors 
from Rome who came bearing complaints from their general by declaring war, 
Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees went up the valley of the Rhone and the Isere, 
passed over the Alps and after five months of labor and suffering among the snows 
of the mountains, saw before him the dominion of Rome and the prospect of 
revenging the shame and humiliation of his beloved country. 

Flaminius, the victor over the Gauls, fearlessly marched against the young Car- 
thaginian general, Init he was defeated and killed, and the Romans in telling the 
story used to say he could hardly have expected anything else; for he had not 
sacrificed to the gods when he was elected Consul, neither had the "signs and omens" 
been right when he started on the march. The next year Hannibal moving south- 
ward, suffered much with his army, and lost an eye by inflammation. He had little 



220 



ROME. 




knowledge of the country, and became entangled in the marshes 
of the Arno. All of the elephants which he brought from Spain 
had died except one, the favorite of Hannibal. The Cartha- 
ginian was once with some attendants looking for a passage 
out of the marsh-lands that his army might take, when he in 
some way became bewildered and lost. He would have died 
from exposure had not the faithful elephant sought and fc'nd 
him and carried him to a place of ^fety. Varro, a man of 
business, who had an eye to the main chance, sacrificed, consulted 
the "omens," and performed all the solemn ceremonies which 
were supposed to insure success, but was nevertheless bccx.en a 
few months later at Cann;v;, B. C, 216, but he escaped to 
Canusium with his wrecked legions and succeeded in protecting 
them so well that the Senate did not call him to account for his 
defeat as it otherwise might have done. In Rome there was the 
wildest grief when the news was brought of Varro's defeat. 
Sounds of lamentation were everywhere heard for the brave fathers and 
brothers who lay on the battlefield stark and silent under the blue Italian sky. In 
every house there was mourning, for within the short year and a half since Hannibal 
entered Italy, one-fifth of the citizens able to bear arms had fallen. The women 
crowded the temples of the gods, beseeching them to remember Rome and succor 
her in her distress. Eighty of the three hundred Senators had been slain, and '. an- 
nibal might soon be at the gates of the city to lay it in ashes as did Brennus, th* 
Gaul. After a fewdays the excitement calmed down when the conqueror diil not com" 
and new legions were raised, debtors and criminals being taken, from the prisons to 
don sword and shield for Rome, and the slaves, too, being enrolled. All classes 
brought all the money they could spare for the use of the State, and another army 
was raised to harrass the enemy everywhere abroad to prevent them sending help to 
Hannibal, and to oppose the Carthaginian on Roman soil. 

The Gauls now fiocked to Hannibals standartl, and Capua next to Rome the 
pride of Italy, opened its gates to him B. C. 216. Many others of the southern cities 
also acknowledged his mastery the same year, and the Roman people almost 
despaired. 

The year before at Trebia, a certain noble Roman, named Scipio, had been 
worsted b Hannibal, and in the years that followed the taking of Capua, the son of 
this brave old general, thirsted to make good the fame of his house and retrieve 
the disaster of Trebia. In 210 he offered himself to the Senate to aid in the com- 
mand of the forces in Spain and was commissioned, though not without opposition. 

Syracuse had been a friend to Rome for fifty years, butgoofl king Hiero was now 
dead, aud his son, Gelon, espoused the cause of Carthage. Sardinia, unjustly 
wrested from Carthage a little while after the first Punic war, also rose against Rome, 
and Philip of Macedon offered Hannibal his help. The old Scipio and his brother 
had both been killed in Spain, but new Carthage had been taken and Syracuse l^o, 
in 212 B. C, fell into the hands of the Romans. 

Syracuse, so we are told, was besieged for two years before it fell, and it was 
Archimedes, the philosopher, who aided in the defence of the city, and long saved 
it from its fate. Although he was an old man and not a warrior, he baffled the 
enemy by what the Syracusans thought magic, but we call it science. He made a 



ROME. 221 

great glass which threw the sun's rays on the rigging of the Roman fleet with such 
power that it caught their vessels on fire and burned them to the water's edge, and 
when fresh galleys were brought against the city, contrived huge machines whose 
long arms reached over the wall, grasped and upset the war-vessels. Wh ::n at last 
Syracuse was taken Marcellus, the general in command of the Romans, gave orders 
that Arch.nedes was to be spared. Amid all the tumult and carnage in the streets 
of t..e unhappy city, the shrieks of the wounded and groans of the dying, Archi- 
riedes sat in his study deep in thought over a problem which he had outlined on the 
floor before him. 

The Roman soldiers, hot from the fray, rushed in upon him, but he only said 
gently, "Don't disturb my circles," and did not even raise his head to see who the 
intruders were. Enraged by his calmness the soldiers struck him down and his 
circles were washed out with his life's blood. 

At Capua, which was a Greek city, Hannibal's soldiers rioted and rested all the 
winter of 216 B. C, and went forth again in the spring to fight. For the next two 
years Hannibal showed how great a general he was. Carthage sent him no help and 
€ven kept in Africa his brother Mago, whom he had sent to represent to the Car- 
thaginian Senate the urgency of his need. His luck was against him, but still he 
maintained himself in the enemy's country although defeated in two attempted 
sieges, and losing to the Romans many of the Greek cities that had gone over to 
him. Some of his famous cavalry and Spanish foot-soldiers also deserted him, but 
in 212 he captured Tarentum, and marching to Rome with his army slung his javelin 
over the walls, but retreated before the Romans who hurried from Capua to the 
relief of their city. Capua, a refined, lu.xurious and beautiful city, besieged by two 
of Rome's greatest generals, at last fell 21 1 B. C. and dreadfully did the citizens feel 
the ;eight of the wrath of Rome. 

There is a sad story told of the last days of queenly Capua that has been 
repeated through all of the centuries as sorrowful tales often are. Twenty-seven of 
the Senators of the city knowing that their beloved Capua must soon fall into the 
hands of the hated Romans, whom the Capuans being Greeks, regarded as bar- 
barians little better than the Gauls, and whose rule they had always hated, met 
together at a banquet. They lamented the sad days upon which they had fallen, 
made eloquent and touching farewell speeches to each other, pledged each other in 
a last cup of wine, then all took poison and went to their homes. The ne.xt day the 
city was taken and the bodies of these Senators were found by the Romans cold in 
death, a mute appeal for pity for those who were left. 

But Rome had no pity for Capua and " woe to the vanquished," the old fierce 
cry of Brennus, echoed from its every s*" eet. Seventy of its Senators fell under the 
axes of the lictors, for you must know that the rods and axes ,„;/i'i5!^'5^;v J^ .,." t,-T,rVT-, 
presented by th. Etruscans so long ago to the first Tarquin, 
were something more than symbols, and had often been laid 
heavily upon the enemies of Rome. Three hundred Capuan 
nobles wore out their lives in fetters, and the whol' people 
sold into slavery in the mines of Spain and the plantations 
of Sardinia, remembered with bitterness the name of Hanni- 
bal, whose ambition had brought all these sorrows upon them. 
Farentuni two years later suffered a similar fate, aggravated 
somewhat may be by Rome's old hatred of the haughty lioma,, u-giouari.s. 




222 ROME. 

Tarentines. yet still Hannibal maintained himself in the fairest portion of Italy 
awaiting now Hasdrubal, his other brother, who driven from Spain in 207 B. C, 
started for Italy with his army. 

Rome had in the meantime signed several treaties, and had made friends with 
the .'Xetolians, with Spyhax, the Numidian king, and Ptolemy of Egypt. A certain 
general named Xero was entrusted with keeping Hannibal in Bruttium, which is in 
the toe of the boot-shaped peninsula of Italy. It was Nero who met Hasdrubal, 
defeated and scattered his army and killed him. carrying the bloody head to Han- 
nibal's camp, and flinging it over. 

"Alas, I see the doom of Carthage" cried Hannibal when the ghastly head was 
shown, yet for four years more he kept his army among the mountains of southern 
Italy, hoping against hope for some turn in the fortunes of war, and keeping always 
his retreat to the coast open, in order to avail himself of it in case of need. That 
need came in the year 203 B. C for Scipio the younger, had transferred the war to 
Africa, and the Carthaginians, hard-pressed, sent a message across the Mediterranean, 
urging Hannibal to come at once or all would be lost. As heroic in defeat as in 
victory, Hannibal left Italy with only a few of the thousands who had entered the 
country with him, and what afterward befell him has already beeri related in the 
story of Carthage. 

In the dark days after Cannrc the Roman Senate had passed a law that no 
woman should wear elegant garments nor own more gold than half an ounce, neither 
should she possess jewels nor ride in chariot. This law after the close of the second 
Punic war, when the spoils of .African and Spanish conquest had made Rome again 
rich, was very odious to the matrons, and they made a great tumult, even entering 
the Eorum and pleading with the Senators to repeal it. 

Ten years before, wheft Scipio was living in splendor in Sicily, a red-headed, lank, 
awkward citizen, named Cato, who was nevertheless the most eloquent and able man 
in all Rome, complained to the Senate that luxury, literature and art were demor- 
alizing Scipio and his army. An investigation was ordered in which -Scipio, in spite 
of his refined tastes was found to have drilled his soldiers perfectly and attended to 
all of his duties. 

Cato had a great hatred for the Greek lu.xurj', manners and customs that were 
softening the stern character of the Romans and at the same time sapping their 
virtues. He had no patience with the ilandies, who wore gold rings, perfumed their 
robes and argued that Romans were of Greek origin. Perhaps he foresaw Rome 
could conquer all her armed enemies but was in danger of being laid low by these 
same corrupting influences. 

Cato hated, too, the new religion's ceremonies introduced from Greece, and 
pointed out their absurdities. Once he was so shocked at some of the impurities he 
saw at a festival, that he covered his face with his toga and fled from the place as 
though followed by demons. He may have even regretted the wide streets, the new 
temples and aqueducts, and it is certain that he once tried to have a law passed 
removing the cold-water pipes from Roman houses, for he thought such improve- 
ments by lightening labor would make the people lazy. Stern, upright, and patriotic 
Cato "the Censor" gained the respect of the Romans but could not turn them from 
their ways. 

When the matter of the repeal of the law regarding the wealth of the women 
came before the Senate, Cato made a very eloquent speech against the petition of 



ROME. 223 

the matrons, but Lucius Valerius, the Plebeian Tribune, replied as eloquently and 
the Oppian law, as it was called, was repealed. This same Cato was a bitter foe to 
Carthage and all the time Rome was struggling with Philip of Macedon, the 
Aetolians and Antiochus of Syria and while another Scipio was conquering Western 
Asia to the Taurus Mountains, Cato was watching the renewing of the African 
city and warning Rome of danger. 

One day he drew from the fokis of his toga a fresh bunch of early figs and flung 
them before the Senators saying "These figs were gathered three days ago in Car- 
thage, so close is an enemy to our walls! Carthage must be destroyed! After this 
he ended every speech he made to the Se te with the words "Carthage must be 
destroyed!" 

Cato was sent with others to settle matters when Carthage complained of the 
conduct of the king of Numidia, and counselled war, when Carthage, at last driven 
to desperation by Spyhax, took up arms against him. So Cato's eloquence, as much 
as Roman greed brought about the third and last Punic war. Rome was not satisfied 
with the heavy ta.x Carthage had to pay every year, it wanted the whole wealth of 
the rich city and was determined to have it, and, as we have already seen, succeeded. 

It was just after the second Punic war ended that Scipio's daughter, Cornelia, 
married a brave young soldier named Tiberius Gracchus and her three children, one 
daughter named, like herself, Cornelia, and her two sons were called the Gracchii. 
It is said that when some Roman woman showed her jewels to Cornelia after the 
Oppian law was repealed and asked to see hers in return, the fond mother pointed 
to her little ones and said "These are my jewels!" 

Rome in those days had grown fonder than ever of Greek ways and every one 
who pretended to any education, spoke and wrote the Greek language. Cornelia's 
husband died while her children were still young, and she, like the other wealthy 
Romans, employed Greek schoolmasters for her sons, the wisest Greeks of the time 
training them in oratory, philosophy and other things. These sons were named 
Tiberius and Caius, and became famous in Roman history; Tiberius was nine years 
older than his brother, and as his sister had married .Scipio Africanus the younger, he 
went with him to Africa and took part in the third Punic war, which ended as you 
know in the utter destruction of Carthage and made Rome courted and admired 
the world over. Tiberius Gracchus was sent to Spain after he returned from Africa 
and passing on his way through a large stretch of Roman territory, saw for the 
first time the wretchedness and poverty of the peasantry, and realized that the 
miseries of which the poor had long so bitterly complained were real. 

Away back in the days of Spurius there had been a law passed that forbade the 
rich to have more than three hundred and twenty acres of land and gave to every 
poor man seven acres. Now Tiberius found scarcely a freeman in the whole State 
working on his own farm, but everywhere slaves taken in war worked the land, while 
the poor Roman citizen driven from pillar to post had not an acre to call his own and 
no other occupations except handicraft, war and robbery were open to him. 

When Tiberius Gracchus went back to Rome he told the people what he thought 
of such a state of things, and asked them how they dared to urge the people who 
had no ancestral homes, no household altars, and not a clod of earth, to fight " for 
their country and for their gods." He told them too, in plain words that there was 
law for the poor as well as for the rich, and he meant to see that all had their rights. 
This was not empty talk to get the votes of the common people, but the noble 



224 



ROME. 




Romau A\*arrluri*' Costume. 



Gracchus fully meant to do all he could for the down- 
trodden poor, and when the common people saw that 
he v'l.s in earnest, they voted him into office, and he 
at once took from the rich the lands they had occu- 
pied for a hundred yeacs or more, to be divided 
among the common people. 

The aristocrats raised a great hue and cry, saying 
that Gracchus wanted to be king. Now the word 
"king" was to a Roman mob like a red flag to a mad 
bull and, as stupid as that beast, 'he common people 
set upon Gracchus one day and m a dreadful street 
riot killed him, and nearly three hundred of his 
friends, so you see it was nearly as dangerous to be a 
friend to the people as to be their enemy and on the 
whole they treated their enemies better. 

Scipio, when he returned from Spain took the 
side of the aristocrats, and to prevent the land from 
being distributed to the poor as Tiberius Gracchus 
had intended, wanted to let the aristocratic Senate 
have charge of it, but he was mysteriously murdered one day in the year 129 B. C, 
and the cauldron of wretched civil strife went on boiling. 

The Italians, since they had to fight for the republic, thought they should have 
a right to vote, and demanded citizenship of Rome. Caius Gracchus saw nothing 
unreasonable in the demand, and was determined to give both them and the Roman 
poor their due. He saw that continued oppression of the people by the aristocrats 
meant danger to Rome, and should the conijuered Italian tribes, burning with the-r 
wrongs, rise up against Rome there would be no power to quell them. The dictator 
himself, like other men that have held power for a time, might want to keep it, 
and might turn the dissatisfied common people, who made up the legions against 
Rome and destroy her or make himself king, for the nobles cared little for anything 
else but pleasure, and would not see the danger threatening the State. 

The enthusiastic Caius labored successfully to pass certain laws to relieve the 
poor, and he in his turn so excited the hatred of the nobles that he met his death, 
and the poor of Rome were at the mercy of the aristocrats. 

Those were sad days for Rome the beginning of yet sadder times, for the rich 
more than ever ground the faces of the poor, the provinces were plundered by 
greedy officers who pretended to act according to law, and the republic suffered 
from the wickedness of her politicians and the lust of wealth and "ower everywhere. 
The (iauls and Germans from the north again threatened Ilaiy. For two years 
the legions were defeated in every battle, four great Roman armies being cut to 
pieces in Cisalpine, Gaul, and the barbarians passing by Italy went into Spain now 
prosperous and thriving, and ravagetl the country. 

Numidia had been an ally of Rome since the days of Hannibal, but B. C, 112, an 
enterprising Xumidian prince named Jugurtha, made his country so powerful in 
Africa that it promised to be a second Carthage. Rome tried in vain to limit his 
power. He either bribed or defeated every general sent against him and when he 
was once summoned to Rome to tell to the Senate the particulars of one especially 
disgraceful bargain concluded with a noble, he bribed the Tribunes to declare him 



ROME. 225 

not guilty of anything charged against him and a friend of the Republic, then com- 
placently went back home. It is said that as he left the city he sneeringly called out 
"A city for sale to the highest bidder!" and certainly it seemed that money would do 
anything in Rome in those days. 

At last Cains Marius, a rude, rough, honest soldier of the old Roman stamp, who 
had risen from the humble station of a farm laborer to a high place in the State, 
became a Tribune for the people and one of the bitterest foes the corrupt nobles 
ever had. Some one has said "Cornelia cast the dust of her murdered sons into the 
air and from it sprang Marius," and certainly he had much of the spirit of the noble 
Gracchii, in those early days, but in his old age he lost his good name by his cruelty 
but of that I will tell you hereafter. About the same time, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, 
a rich, vicious, Hellenized Roman, became prominent also, and for many years these 
two men, so opposite in every way, were rivals. 

Marius finally captured Jugurtha and carried him to Rome, where he was thrown 
into the gloomy Mamertime prison and for si.x days endured the agonies of starva- 
tion in its damp and darkness. The conqueror added the spoils of Numidia to Rome, 
becoming more popular than ever. Sulla had been with Marius in Africa and claim- 
ing some share in the victory, began a quarrel that years after had a terrible ending. 

The Gauls, who are always coming as unexpectedly upon the stage of Roman 
history as the villain does in a play, and like him always creating some crisis, now 
tired of ravaging .Switzerland and .Spain, and again threatened Italy. Marius, taking 
Sulla with him as an under ofiicer, marched against them, and after a two-years' 
campaign routed them, in the year 102 B. C, near the modern city of Aix. 

In Pourierres Provence, famous for its fragrant roses and quaint old customs, 
there is a yearly festival. Perhaps the peasant lads in their curious blouses nor the 
village maids blushing behind their snowy caps, like their own native blossoms, cannot 
tell you just why they make a great fire of brushwood and dry grass on the top of a 
certain hill during this festival, and dancing about it, toss up brands and cry "Vic- 
tory!" "Victory!" but history says that it was on the top of that very hill that Marius 
had piled a heap of Gaulish plunder, ready to sacrifice to the gods, when horsemen, 
all travel-stained, dashed up telling him that for the fifth time the Roman's had made 
him Consul. The sacrifice was lighted, and the soldiers danced about the burning 
plunder, rejoicing in their general's success, crying "Victory!" and singing his praises. 
.So after Marius' body, worn out with its eighty years of battle and toil, was torn from 
its tomb and cast into the Tiber by jealous Sulla, his fame still haunted the forests 
of the far-away north, and was sung by innocent lads and maidens who knew not the 
meaning of their own song. 

Sulla had been with Marius all this time and had covered himself with honor for 
he had plenty of the ferocious courage which his countrymen seldom lacked. When 
Marius, on his return to Rome, found that the Cimbri, another barbarian tribe were 
threatening Italy from the valley of the river Po, and that Catulus who had been 
sent against them was being held in check, he did not linger enough to celebrate 
his triumph but marched straightway to the relief of the harrassed general, again 
taking Sulla with him. 

It was a most dreadful battle, that terrible fight at Vercella loi B. C, perhaps the 
most dreadful yet fought with the northern barbarians, whose name from the days of 
Brennus had been such a terror that there was always kept on hand in Rome, a large 
sum of gold to raise an army to fight them. (That treasure, it was often declared. 



226 ROME. 

was the very same that Camillus had torn from the Gauls when he drove them from, 
the city 289 years before this battle.) The Cimbri, determined to conquer or die. 
had linked themselves together with strong iron chains, and it is said that there was 
such a multitude of them, that thus joined, they made a solid mass three mileji 
square. 

Against this living wall the Romans dashed themselves, hewing down with their 
swords the struggling mass, which encumbered with the corpses of the slain, could not 
successfully turn upon their assailants. Fighting fiercely the Cimbri fell, linked 
together, and when none were left alive their wives strangled their little ones and 
either rushed upon the Roman swords or flung themselves under the wheels of their 
wagons or the hoofs of their horses. Even the dogs of the barbarians fought to the 
death, but the victory was with the defenders of Rome. The Cimbri were thus 
wholly destroyed, and all of their belongings were carried back to Rome by Marius. 
The people freed at last from their long terror of the northern foe, could not 
praise Marius enough, and even called him the "Third founder of Rome." 

Sulla claimed that the honor of the triumph belonged to him and Catulus, and 
was jealous of Marius. who was equally jealous of him. Xo doubt Sulla was secretly 
delighted when Marius tailed as signally in conducting affairs of government, as he 
had succeeded in war, for a good soldier is not ahvaj's a good statesman. 

Rome was in a bad way when Marius entered upon his sixth Consulship, and the 
hard-hearted brave old soldier had not studied the situation carefully enough to know 
just what to do. He was an.xious to continue in favor with the common people, who 
in th(; last five or six years had given much trouble, and even carried on a war to get 
what they considered their rights. To win their good will, he divided the lands 
wrested from the Gauls equally among the Italians and citizens of Rome, which gave 
great offence to the aristocrats. The Senate had always favored the aristocratic Sulla, 
who was educated, refined, and had all the fashionable vices, and they began to regret 
that they had not made him Consul. Another law which compelled the rich to sell 
corn at a low price to the poor, was passed by Marius, and this convinced the 
Senate that Marius in his blundering way, was doing what he could to better the 
condition of the common people. They united against him and elected a man in his 
place who was more after their own hearts. 

A new war broke out in Rome ten years after the return of Marius from Gaul, 
which threatened for a time to lay the city low. It was "taxation without represen- 
tation " that caused this war, and when we read how the Italian cities had long been 
used, we wonder that they did not reach the fighting point long before. In fighting for 
that principle, the same which caused our own war of the Revolution, a million and 
a quarter of brave Italians laid down their lives in this short but fierce struggle. 
The Italians were apparently successful in gaining a voice in the Roman government, 
but really not so. for they were still treated by the Romans more as slaves than 
freemen. 

Marius now seventy years old fought for Rome in this war, and Sulla, too, did 
brave service, claiming as usual, when it was over, that it was he who had really 
brought the war to a close. Marius had little heart in the cause, for he believed the 
Italians were right in claiming voice in the government, and yet loved too well the 
city he had served so long to turn from it in its hour of danger. His star was on the 
wane and Sulla's was rising. It was a sad blow to Marius when the Senate sent Sulla 
to command the legions in Asia in the war against Mithridates the Great King of 



ROME. 



227 



Cck 










Pontus, who was at this time inter- 
fering with Rome's concerns in the 
East. He had gone out on the 
Campus Martius every day for 
weelvs, and by wrestHng, leaping 
and running with the young men, 
had tried to show the people that 
in spite of his three score and ten 
years, his scars and fatigues, he 
was hearty and vigorous yet; but 
he was only sneered at for his pains, 
and his rival was sent, while he was 
left at home to oat his heart out 
in idleness, and to be vexed with 
Sulla's success. At last he suc- 
ceeded in getting a new law gov Roman Lf,.iy at ii,.r T,.iii-t. 
erning voting passed, which made it possible for some of the commnn peojjle who 
were his friends to have a voice in the matters of State, and the two Tribunes they 
appointed gave Marius the command of the army in the East. 

Mithridates of Pontus, against whom Sulla was fighting, was a hero of romance 
as famous in his day as Richard the Lion Hearted of England was in later times. 
As a runner, rider and charioteer, no man in Asia was his equal, and we are told he 
could drive with ease a sixteen-in-hand, and in hunting often shot the game while he 
was at full gallop. He was gigantic in size and remarkable of countenance, and his 
court was famed not only for its banquets, where prizes were given to the best eater 
and drinker, but for the Greek philosophers, poets, artists and sculptors who found 
in the great monarch a patron who appreciated their ablest efforts. We are told, too, 
that he spoke perfectly the languages of the twenty-two nations over which he ruled, 
and that he was fond of disguising himself and wandering about through his empire, 
studying his people, the effect of his laws and seeking exciting adventures. He is 
said to have experimented with poisons until his system was proof against them, and 
all attempts to assassinate him thus miscarried. His ability in war was so great that 
he was able with inferior troops to keep up the struggle with Rome for twenty-five 
years. 

Sulla was a sly villian. and although at heart he hatetl common people, he made 
a great show of being "hail fellow well met" with the roughest of his soldiers, and 
would sit with them for hours listening to their rude coarse jests, telling stories and 
sharing their mess. They thought Sulla a 'good fellow," very different from stern 
grizzled old Marius, and they rallied about him and refused to receive Marius. 
Sulla caused the two Tribunes, who were friends of Marius to be murdered, antl the 
old veteran, made desperate by the wrongs heaped upon him gathered together a 
motley army of slaves and attempted to resist Sulla but was defeated and compelled 
to fly for his life. 

Sulla entered Rome as a conqueror and the hero of the Gaulish war, he whom 
the people a dozen years before had hailed as the "Third founder of Rome," was now a 
wanderer and an outcast, upon whose head a price was set. He first went to his 
farm at Solonium but was warned that Sulla's agents were on the way to take him, 
and in a wagon loaded with beans was carried to Ostia and there took passage on a 



228 ROME. 

ship bound for Africa. Tortured with sea-sickness he was put ashore near Circea 
and followed by the hate of Sulla, was driven from one hiding place to another 
and finally into the marshes at the mouth of the river Liris, where he was captured 
and thrown into prison at Minturnae. There he would have been murdered had he 
not frightened or bribed the slave sent to do the deed into declaring that he had seen 
a halo round the head of the great captain, and heard a supernatural voice forbid 
him to kill Caius Marius. Being released on account of this omen Marius finally 
reached Africa. 

As Marius sat one day among the ruins of Carthage, brooding perhaps upon his 
own fate, no less sad than that of the city Rome had visited with such relentless 
hatred, the Roman governor sent and warned him to be gone, and as the conqueror 
of Jugurtha could find no favor in N'umidia and no Roman province dared shelter 
him, he took refuge on an island in the Mediterranean and from afar eagerly 
watched developments in Rome. 

Sulla was now again obliged to march against Mithridates, and in the ne.\t two 
years he re-conquered the peninsula of Greece which Mithdridates had taken from 
the Romans, plundered the Greek cities, gave his soldiers a riotous winter in Asia, 
and brought Mithridates to terms. The wily Asiatic king knowing the Roman love 
for gold was fain to purchase peace. While Sulla was absent a man named Cinna 
was made Consul and he called Marius back to Rome. On the ne.xt election day 
thousands of Romans and Italians fought in the streets of Rome and Cinna was 
driven out of the city. The Consul gathered an army of Italians, Marius coming 
back just then joined him and together they besieged Rome. 

We are told that Strabo, one of Sulla's generals was encamped not far from 
Rome, but would not advance to its aid, and that the plague broke out in the city and 
added .o the terror of the distracted people. When at last Rome yielded, Marius 
and Cinna declared themselves Consuls, and the Senate was too much frightened to 
oppose them, for they proceeded to take a dreadful revenge on all who had shown 
favor to Sulla. Not even the men who had fought and suffered with him in Gaul 
would Marius pardon, but stood gaunt, haggard, clothed in the black rags of an 
outlaw, behind Cinna's chair, and his slaves struck down those whom he pointed out. 
The bloody heads of the Senators were displayed in the Forum, and Marius with his 
murdering slaves went about the city finding out the hiding places of those who were 
yet to be slaughtered. The stern old avenger looked unmoved upon the awful scene 
of blood and death with which his anger was satiated, lie would have even gone 
out to Sulla who was before Athens and tried to compel him to yield up to him the 
Roman legions, but his strength failed, and after seven days of despondency, in 
which he never left his bed, he died — whether by his own hand or by the judgment 
of (iod, will never be known, and Cinna chose a certain Flaccus to help him in his 
misrule. Cinna was a loud-mouthed, mischievous fellow who had all the cruelty and 
none of the virtues of Marius, and all classes hated him. 

In a few months the new Senate appointed by Cinna and Marius received a letter 
that set them to quaking with fear. Sulla had written that he was on his way home 
with his army, and he would take vengeance w-hen he arrived at Rome on his enemies 
and those of the State. Cinna got an army together to oppose him, but was mur- 
dered by his own soldiers. The Samnites, always the friends of Marius, then 
gathered an army and marched to Rome. The mysterious destruction by fire of the 
temple on the Capitoline hill, and the Sibyline books sometime before, seemed to be 



ROME. 229 

an omen that Rome's career was over, and the leader of the Samnites declared that 
it was, for he solemnly vowed that he would lay the city in ashes. 

Sulla who had now marched from southern Italy, opposed by .Sertorius and the 
son of Marius to the gates of Rome, defeated the Samnites, and then butchered 
eight thousand of them on the Campus Martius in the presence of the people, as an 
example of the revenge he meant to take on his foes. 

We wonder in reading the bloody chronicles of the old days, that Providence 
permitted such awful crimes to be committed, but Rome was now reaping the harvest 
of centuries of violence, and Carthage and a hundred other cities cried to h "aven for 
vengeance. If Marius had been cruel he had been mild compared to Sulla. Every 
city in Italy felt the weight of his bloody hand, ami the streets of Rome were red 
with murder. Rewards were offered for the killing of meji whose names were posted 
up in long lists every day, and for six months such dreadful crimes were committed 
by the self-appointed dictator, that history is unwilling to tell the tale. 

Fair cities of the Italians were either levelled to the dust for favoring Marius, or 
were given up to Sulla's soldiers, his whole army being enriched with houses, lands and 
goods. The Samnites and Etrurians were utterly wiped out, and in Rome thousands, 
of people were murdered and their property taken by Sulla, who made and passed 
laws unhindered and who broke his own edicts recklessly, but killed any one else 
who did so. 

There was a certain young man, handsome, rich and seemingly much of a dandy, 
who attracted Sulla's attention about this time, because he was a relative oi Marius. 
This youth was only eighten and among the gay and fashionable young men of 
Rome was a favorite. 

Sulla commanded this Roman dandy, Julius Caesar by name, to divorce his wife 
the fair and sweet young Cornelia, daughter of Cinna. As Julius Cajsar, though so 
young, had already divorced one wife that he had married at his father's command, 
and had married Cornelia because he loved her, he firmly refused to divorce her and 
fled from Sulla to the Sabine Mountains. 

Powerful friends, who were in favor of Sulla pleaded Caesar's youth and dissi- 
pated habits, the vestal virgins even interceded for him, and Sulla, who had sent a 
man to murder the stubborn boy, calletl the assassin back, and spared Caisar's life. 

Caesar returned to Rome and it is said that Sulla who one day saw him arranging 
his perfumed locks, and trailing toga with the greatest nicety, was so struck with the 
look of intellectuality and power in the face of the seemingly careless youth that he 
said: "Beware! In that young trifler there is more than one INJarius." 

Caesar went away to Asia soon after to fight in the eastern war and when he 
returned to Europe, lingered at Rhodes, studying oratory. He did not come back to 
Rome until Sulla was dead and then he soon became very popular and had a o-reat 
influence over the people, for he was quick-witted, courteous, pleasant in his 
manner and fearlessly patriotic. 

Another young man born in the year 106 B. C, obeyed, when Sulla told him to 
divorce his wife, and married Sulla's daughter. This was Cneius Pompeius, better 
known to us as Pompey the Great. 

This young man was the son of Strabo, and he became Sulla's right-hand man 
in punishing the Italian cities and Spain, for Spain had revolted under Sertorius who 
was becoming so popular in that country that there was danger of his founding an 
empire. In Sicily, Gaul and Spain, Pompey won great victories, and his father-in- 



230 



ROME. 







nomaii Triumph. 



law, becoming jealous of him after 
he had conquered the rebellious 
Numidian king, Hiarbus, com- 
manded him to disband his army 
and return to Rome. Haughty 
Pompey obeyed the summons to 
Rome, but hardly in a humble 
spirit. Me came at the head of 
his victorious army, and the whole 
people went out to meet him, and 
were so enthusiastic in their wel- 
come that Sulla was obliged to 
give him a "triumph." It was 
through Pompey's efforts that Lepidus was elected Consul. .Sulla who hatl certainly 
done enough mischief in his time, gave up his office of dictator, retired to private 
life 79 B. C, and when he died the next year, was given a great public funeral 
as though he had been the wisest and most self-denying benefactor of Rome instead 
of the bloody-minded selfish tyrant that he was. Lepidus, be it said to his honor, tried 
his utmost to prevent this outrageous mockery but in vain. 

Marcus Crassus, the richest Roman of his day, an orator too in his way, was one 
of the prominent men in Rome in Sulla's latter days, and a certain Marcus Tullius 
Cicero had distinguished himself by telling to the Senate in the most eloquent 
language how cruel, greedy and thieving, were certain Roman provincial governors. 
As the history of Rome now becomes more and more the story of her great men, we 
must keep our eyes on Pompey, Cicero, Crassus and Caesar, antl pay some attention 
to Catiline, a fiendish, debauched aristocrat, whose very vices made him a favorite 
with Sulla, for he made him governor of Africa. Catiline had returned to Rome and 
became the head of the party composed of the warriors Sulla had settled in Italy. 

Pompey had again marched into Spain to oppose Sertorius who for eight years 
had braved Rome, and while he was gone, a new trouble broke out in the Roman 
State. I have told you how the Romans kept schools where slaves, captives and 
criminals were carefully trained to fight each other for the amusement of the public. 
These shows where men killed each other for the pleasure of those who looked on, 
had greatly grown in favor, and at Capua there was a very large school or " family," 
as it was called, who were hired out to the public. Among them was a Thracian 
Spartacus, who it is said had been in his own country leader of a band of robbers. 
Now, ordinary highwaymen, we cannot help thinking, were far more honest 
than Sulla, who made himself public e.xecutioner, Crassus who robbed right and left 
by what was considered respectable means, and nine out of ten of the Roman pro- 
vincial governors who were about the greatest robbers that were ever heard of. 

Spartacus was just a plain every-day highwayman, for there was little left for 
conquered people in these days but slavery or a free, bold outlaw life in the moun- 
tains. One can hardly blame the courageous Spartacus, who was a man of great 
strength, beauty of form and eloquence of speech, for refusing to wear out his life, 
as so many thousands of others did, and cannot help feeling sorry for him when he 
was captured, tried, condemned as a criminal, and placed in the gladiator school of 
Capua, where he could contemplate at his leisure the prospect of being "butchered 
to make a Roman holiday." Every school boy has read the famous addn ss of 



ROME. 231 

"Spartacus to the Gladiators," in which the poet makes him depict in glowing lan- 
guage the wrongs ami miseries of their lot, and urge his comrades to free themselves. 
Seventy-eight of the "family" broke loose from the "school," and raiding a cook's 
shop near by, seized some iron spits and other implements and thus strangely 
equipped for battle captured a place where the short swords, shields, brass knuckles 
and other gladiators' weapons were kept. Then retiring to the crater of Mount 
Vesuvius, which was not at that time the fiery chasm which it is to-day, but a deep 
cavity of a seemingly extinct volcano, they were joined by slaves, peasants and 
pirates until Spartacus had a great army of ragged, desperate outcasts. 

For two years this army ravaged the neighboring cities, having armed itself with 
weapons taken from the defeated Romans. Spartacus was anxious to cross the Alps 
into his native Thrace, but he could not control his herd of desperadoes who at last 
were dispersed, all but five thousand who with their valiant leader were driven down 
into the most southern part of Italy and might have crossed over into Sicily and 
roused revolt among the ill-used people of that island had not Pompey met and 
exterminated them. 

Crassus had driven them into this extremity and claimed the honor of the victory; 
not so great a victory with the trained legions of Rome against such an undisciplined 
rabble that it need cause a quarrel, but clad in a robe embroitlered in gold, and 
wearing a laurel wreath, Pompey entered Rome with triuniph in a chariot while 
■Crassus who had only an ovation, came on foot and wore a wreath of myrtle. This 
happened on the last day of the year 71 B. C. 

We have seen how Mithridates made peace with Sulla and as soon as the dic- 
tator was dead he began his third and last war with Rome. A certain Lucullus was 
sent against him, in course of time defeating him ami driving him into Armenia. 
Lucullus was too moderate and honest a man to suit the Roman soldiers for he tried 
to be just and mild with the Asiatics and thus reconcile them to Rome and would not 
allow the soldiers to rob or wrong them in any way. In Rome both Pompey 
and Crassus were in private life, but both were still powers in the State and, Pompey 
succeeded in having a law passed that a general of consular rank be ordered to free 
the Mediterranean pirates. 

Of course he was himself chosen and Julius Cjesar who had become more and 
more popular was glad enough to be rid of him that he might quietly work out his 
own plans for he intended to be Consul himself some day. 

When Pompey had won fresh laurels by driving the pirates from the sea, and had 
become sufficiently jealous of the fame of Lucullus in Asia, Cicero and Caesar, 
each for their own ends, proposed that he should take charge of the army in the 
east. Pompey was only too willing to add to his fame, and the two schemers, each 
acting in secret from the other, cleverly contrived to have Pompey sent to take com- 
mand in Asia. 

Of course the strength of Pontus was already broken for Lucullus had conquered 
him and dispersed his army. It was easy enough to drive the poor king to despair 
by tampering with the few friends he had left, and he committed suicide when he 
found he was forsaken and betrayed by his own sons. 

Pompey overran all western Asia, which now for centuries had been distracted 
by war, and was an easy conquest, and finally came back to Rome 6 1 B. C, with a great 
train of captive princes and ship-loads of treasures. He had the grandest triumph 
■ever given in Rome, and boasted that he had taken a thousand fortresses, eio-ht 



2y. 



ROME. 




Julius Caesar. 



hundred ships and many towns, and had founded thirty-nine cities. 
While Pompey was gone Catiline, with st-veral ferocious and 
vicious nobles like himself, plotted to siezc the government and 
kill the Consuls, but was foiled, and when two years later Cicero 
was made Consul, he tried again. This time the plotters decided 
that the city, too, was to be destroyed, and with its plunder they 
were to found a new capital elsewhere. Cicero discovered the 
plot anil in ' lur wonderful speeches that stand side by side with 
the Phillipics of Demosthenes, as the best examples of eloquence 
in the literature of the world, he told the Senate of Catiline's 
treachery in the presence of Catiline himself, who listened to the 
orator until he could no longer bear his scathing words, then 
rushed out to consult his followers. 

The plotters thus foiled fled for safety, and Catiline himself, 
with quite a large force made all haste toward Gaul, but he was 
kilU-tl in battle while trying to cut his way through th^ Roman 
forces, and Cicero caused nine of the conspirators who failed to 
escape, to be put to death, then he too, went back, much against his will, for he loved 
power, to private life, which alas was never again to be quiet. 

Clodius, a man of the Catiline kind, became his enemy, and succeeded at last in 
havino- him banished from Rome tor causing the death of the nine conspirators with- 
out proper trial, and for a year the orator eloquently lamenting his exile, remained 
in banishment, and when he was then recalled and pardoned, was for a long time sO' 
broken in spirit that he seldom spoke in public. 

Caesar was now (60 B. C.) forty years old and he had not seen all the various- 
struggles of the republic in his time for nothing. 1 ie had shown himself clever, fear- 
less and patriotic and had succeeded, in the face of the aristocratic Senate, and in 
spite of the eloquence of Cicero, in securing a condemnation of the wicked deeds of 
Sulla and had escaped the efforts of his enemies to mix him up with the conspiracy 
of Catiline. He was now ready to take a prominent part in the government for he 
had won many friends and outwitted all his foes. 1 Ie was deeply in debt to Crassus 
and as Crassus had in his possession large treasure from Sj^ain and was so jealous of 
Pompey that he would gladly see Cicsar Consul in his stead, he supplied him with 
niQuey to entertain the people with shows of different kinds. 

When Pompey came back, in spite of all his victories, he found that the people 
were cold to him, Crassus jealous, and Cicsar, who was in Spain with two Roman 
legions, a favorite with the Senate and the public. 

The proud old warrior wanted to be again elected Consul, but Caesar came sud- 
denly upon the scene and by a stroke of genius bound Crassus and Pompey in friend- 
ship for each other and toward himself and after bribing the people with great shows 
6f gladiators and games in the circus proceeded with the money of a wealthy friend 
to have himself elected Consul. Once in office Caesar began to lay a solid foundation 
for popularity. I Ie had seen the fall of too many Roman favorites of the hour by the 
plots of the aristocracy not to know that it was the great mass of the common people 
to whom he must look for safety. 

Clever, crafty, brave, far-sighted, Ca;sar slowly and surely went forward. He 
saw plainly enough that the days of the republic were numbered and that the people 
had been spoiled by centuries of luxury and the strife of their leaders and could no 



ROME. 233 

longer rule wisely, so when his term of office was over as the first step toward success 
in his plan of empire he caused himself appointed governor of Gaul for five years. 

For centuries the mysteri(nis north lantl had been to the Romans a source of 
terror and only a little strip of Gaul belonged to Rome. There had been generals 
such as Marius who had dreamed of conquering the world of forests and mountains 
of broad rivers and fair valleys stretching away where Roman feet had never trodden 
nor the Roman banners had never been flaunted in the wind, but none had penetrated 
far beyond the Alps into the land of the brave Trans-Alpine barbarians. 

In the year 58 B. C., Caesar crossed the Alps and in the next three years the 
Gauls upon the banks of the Saone and Siene, the Rhine and the Rhone saw among 
them for the first time the Roman soldiers cased in mail and in\Incible in courao-e. 
Ariovistus, the great German chief, was driven back into the heart of the Teutonic 
forests, the powerful Belgic confederacy was broken, and with the plunder thus taken 
Caesar not only kept his soldiers in a good humor but constantly bribed his friends in 
Rome to loyalty. 

It was in the autumn of the year 55 B. C, that Cajsar crossed the German Ocean 
to the islands whose white cliffs could be seen from the coast of northern Gaul, and 
encountered for the first time the savage Britons, but his horse-soldiers were driven 
back by a storm, and some of his vessels were broken to pieces, so he was glad enough 
to go back across the rough boisterous l lannel. Again, the ne.xt spring with eight 
hundred ships and thirty thousand men, he set out from Gaul to conquer the British 
islands. He had some hard fighting before he could lay claim to having subjected 
the Britons, but even when his success was doubtful, he was sending dispatches to 
Rome, telling glowing tales of his victories, and secretly bribing his friends against a 
time of need. He crossed back into Gaul, after receiving tribute from the British, 
and fought many battles, going to Lucca every fall, where hundreds of his Roman 
hangers-on and tools gathered to receive their rewards for singing his praises in 
Rome and carrying out his political plans and to receive instructions as to future 
actions. 

In the second year of Caesar's absence from Rome, Pompey and Crassus 
quarrelled, and met Cjesar at Lucca to arrange their difficulties. There it was 
agreed between them that Pompey shoukl rule in Spain, Cajsar in Gaul another term 
of five years, when his first was over, and Crassus in Syria. 

Crassus went to the far East, but Pompey was suspicious of Caesar and would not 
leave Rome. He built there a great theater where savage beasts and savage men 
reddened the sands of the arena with their blood, for he thought that by thus pam- 
pering the people with their favorite sport, he would win their hearts, but Caesar's 
great deeds in Gaul were constantly on their lips, and Pompey began to hate him 
most fiercely. 

Crassus in Asia, was determined to eclipse Caesar in Gaul by his performances 
but he soon closed his career, for invading Parthia with an army for plunder and 
glory, he was killed, and when his head was sent to the Parthian king, he had it filled 
with molten gold in his derision for the aims of the Roman robber. 

In Caesar's sixth year in Gaul, a noble barbarian named Vercingetorix, the king- 
liest figure in all the history of Gaul, a patriot, general and chief, worthy of his 
great renown, went from tribe to tribe and united the Gauls against the invaders. 
By his advice the people laid their country waste, burned their grain, drove off their 
cattle and in every way prepared against the Romans, and hoped by destroying; 



234 



ROME. 




evcrj'thing upon which the army could be sup- 
ported, to starve them out. \'ercingetorix then 
gathered a great army from the very tribes whom 
Cajsar thought he had thoroughly conquered, but 
these brave, troublesome barbarians, in spite ot 
^g their fear of the Roman army, and knowing that 
Caesar's veterans would show them little mercy if 
L" they failed, decided to make a last effort, and a 
valiant effort it was. They gained a great victory 
at Gergovia and C;vsar himself lost his sword and 

HomanIMlW;.forThr.™i„pSt„no.. Time of Ca-sar. ^.^^^^^ ^^^^j. ]^,^i„g J^jg Jjfg^ Nothing COuld haVe 

pleased Caesar's rivals more at this time than to hear of his death. It was a constant 
matter of wonder to them that he who in youth was so slender and delicate, that 
he was almost girlish in his looks, and who as a man was apparently never robust and 
strong, should be able to swim rivers, cross mountains, and bear all the hardships 
of the climate of the northern land, but destiny had reserved him to prevent the 
utter destruction of Rome, and though he was thus dreadfully defeated in C.aul he 
was not cast down. 

In the northern part of the Gaulish countrj-, which we call France, one of his 
lieutenants checked and worsted the very tribes that had defeated Caesar at Gergovia 
and the great pro-consul himself then united his legions and surrounded \'ercingetori.x 
at Alesia, near the moilern city of Dijon. Notwithstanding the fact that the great 
Gaulish captain had eighty thousand warriors, he was overcome, but more Ijy famine 
than by Ca;sar, for he was so closely besieged in his stronghold that he could get 
nothing to feed his men and the vast army that came from all parts of Gaul to drive 
off the Romans and rfescue their beloved chieftain, were defeated with terrible 
slaughter. 

At last seeing that all hope was lost \ ercingetorix offered to giv'e himself up to 
Caisar that his followers might be spared, hoping that his death would satisfy the 
Romans. He had tried to save his people and keep for th(;m their liberty but it was 
not to be, for upon the ruins of their freedom was to be built in future r'ays a grand 
civilization and Rome was planting in the soil watered by their blood and 
tears the seed from which great nations were to spring, a lasting monument to her 
own glory and that of her most famous citizen, Julius Ca-sar. 

The conqueror did not treat these northern races with the haughty cruelty and 
proud contempt which Rome usually vouchsafed to conquered peoples. He had 
studied them well and knew that they would not submit to losing their lands, their 
laws and their religion and he did not care to exterminate the, Gauls, even if it had 
been possible. 

When he had conquered them with his sword Cccsar again conquered them by his 
tact and kindness and wlien he left the country pacified and tranquil to work out his 
plans of empire he bore with him the good will of the people who enlisted to 
recruit his legions. One whole legion was made up of stalwart yellow-haired bar- 
barians of Gaul who were as proud of their great leader as any Roman could have 
been. 

Indeed it is said that it was almost wholly with the brave soldiers from southern 
Cisalpine Gaul, that Cajsar won his campaigns in the north, and that amid all the 
privation and suffering of those years of war they never once rebelled or murmured, 



ROME. 235 

but followed their leader everywhere with unwavering constancy. The Italian or 
Roman soldiery could be depended upon for fiery courage and daring, but they had 
changed much since the days of the Punic wars, and it was upon the constancy of the 
legions of Gaul that Ccesar most depended. 

In Rome where there were no newspapers to tell the people the details of Caesar's 
victories and no telegraph wires to flash the news from the seat of war, the people 
were nevertheless not ignorant of what was happening to their pro-consul, antl learned 
all that Caesar desired them to know about his marches and retreats; for he wrote 
long letters home to the Senate, sent gold to build temples, plunder with which to 
decorate them, and in every way he could devise kept the interest in himself and his 
movements up to fever heat. Cato the Younger, a descendant of old Cato the 
Censor, so famous for his hatred to Carthage, tried in vain to prevent the appointment 
of C^sar for a second term of five years as Governor of Gaul, but Pompey was still 
eager to become a favorite in Rome and was glad enough to keep Cxsar at a distance. 
It was Pompey's influence, aided by Caisar's clever policy of bribing powerful friends 
that succeeded, and Cajsar remained in Gaul. 

Pompey was glad, too, to be rid of Crassus, the news of whose death at the hands 
of the Parthians, 53 B. C, caused a great sensation in Rome. Now that his young 
wife Julia, Caesar's daughter, was dead, he broke with Caisar, and instead of going to 
Spain he staid at Rome and governed his Spanish territory by his lieutenants, keeping 
some of the legions which the Senate had given him to support his authority at 
Brundusium. 

There were three loud-mouthed, brawling politicians in Rome just now, who 
unconsciously helped Pompey in his plans. They demanded to be made Consuls, and 
even threatened to compel the people, who as j-ou may see could no longer boast of 
being free, to elect them. There were riots and murders, quarrels and fights in Rome 
to a degree that Cato and the others" who really cared about the State, were half 
distracted. They knew of but one man who coifld bring order out of this chaos, and 
that was Pompey. They dreaded making him dictator, for since the days of Sulla 
that name was almost as hateful at Rome as the name king, but they gave him nearly 
the same power, for they decided to have but one Consul, and Pompey was the man 
selected for the office. 

Caesar was not blind to Pompey's intentions, and wanted a second time to be 
made Consul, but Pompey resigned at the end of six months and had two of his 
friends appointed in his place. One of these Consuls was a haughty aristocrat, who 
was a willing tool of Pompey, and he insisted that Caesar should be recalled, notwith- 
standing the fact that his great victory over Vercingetorix had fired Rome with 
enthusiasm for him. Just now Pompey fell sick, and because the Romans prayed for 
his recovery in all the temples and seemed so glad when he at last got well, he began 
to think that after all he was a greater man than Caesar and could do what he had 
long dreamed of doing, make himself emperor. 

Caesar's term of office had nearly expired, and he declared himself willing to 
give up his command if Pompey would also hand over the legions that had been 
given him for service in Spain, but which he kept close at hand. This was a fair 
enough proposal, for Ca;sar knew that he had so many powerful and jealous enemies 
that his life would not be safe in Rome without his army, and he read Pompey's 
designs too clearly not to know that he would refuse to resign. Ca;sar had been 
gradually collecting his soldiers and bringing them nearer and nearer to the Alps, 



236 ROME. 

but Pompey had so high an opinion of his own popularity, that he did not bring any 
of the legions from Spain as his friends advised him. "I have only to stamp my 
foot, and armed legions will spring up," he said haughtily, when some one suggested 
the wisdom of providing himself with soldiers. 

The Tribunes both friends of Caesar, one of them being .Marc Antony, protested 
loud and long when Pompey's tools in the Senate declared that Caesar should dis- 
band his army by a certain time or be considered an enemy to the State, but that 
Pompej^ should keep his legions. No attention was paid to their protests, and fearing 
they would be murdered if they remained in Rome, they fled to Caesar's camp at 
Ravenna, and told him what had happened. 

Caesar at once called together his soldiers who loved him so well, and told them 
the wrongs the Senate had heaped upon him, and asked them if they would stand by 
him and see him righted. We can imagine the shout that went up from the legions 
as they pledged their faith to the noble Caisar and offered to follow whcrevc- he led. 

There is a little river in the north of Italy, which is called the Rubicon. This 
stream had long been considered the sacred boundary of Italy. On the banks of the 
Rubicon Ca;sar halted his army, his soul weighed down with the awful responsibilities 
wjiich he felt were upon him. 

Should he cross that stream, it was the s-ame as declaring war against his country, 
should he not cross it, Pompey would renew in Rome the horrors of the days of 
Sulla, for Pompey had moie than once expressed his des-'-e for vengeance on his 
political enemies and the friends of Cxsar. Which of the two evils was the less and 
how would history look upon his action? 

At length he said with his peculiar firmness and decision. "The die is cast let 
us go where the gods and the injustice of our enemies direct us," then he plunged 
into the stream at the head of his army and urged his charger across. 

In Rome there was the w-ildest confusion that had reigned since the days of 
Brennus. Ca-sar was coming, bringing with him the dreadful Gauls! Caesar was 
coming to kill every man who had ojjjjosetl him and to make the streets run with blood! 
Citsar was coming whom the Senate had so bittt^rly wronged! Not now as in the 
days of Brennus did the white-haired fathers of the city seat themselves in the 
Forum to await, in calm dignity, the foe. They scattered in every direction not even 
stopping to take their gold and jewels, which was very unlike the Romans, nor to 
sacrifice to the gods. If Pomjjey now stamped upon the ground for soldiers "to 
spring up," he stamped in vain, for not a legion, not even a single soldier sprang up, 
and not a volunteer came to his aid. Every man who feared Caesar got out 
of Rome and into hiding as fast as he could, and Pompey himself hastened to 
the place where his legions were, so closely followed by Caesar that he came near being- 
caught, but he escaped during the siege of the city of Brundusium, and sailed away, 
intending to rouse the nations of the east and come back into Italy as a conqueror. 
Many of the Senators and aristocrats who had followed him to Brundusium would not 
leave Italy with Pompey, for they knew him to be selfish and feared he would turn 
traitor and sacrifice them, so they came back to Rome to surrender to Caesar, whose 
conduct in sparing the lives and property of the cities conquered on his way south 
in pursuit of Pompey, had relieved the fears of the people. 

Caesar went back to Rome and the city opened its gates to him. Thus in two 
months from the day he crossed the Rubicon he was master of all Italy. He went 
into Rome almost alone, to show the people -J.iat there w^as no cause for fear on either 



ROME. 



237 



^ 





Marcus Autijiilns, 



side. He told them his version of the quarrel between 
himself antl the Senate, and said that since the Consuls 
had run away rather than face his claims, the people 

might trust him to preserve their rights and to violate 

none of the laws. He told them, too, that they need not 

be afraid he would repeat the horrible deeds of wicked 

.Sulla, for he came to restore jieace and order, not to 

create confusion. He stayed about a week in Rome and 

then leaving Lepidus and Marc Antony to keep order, he 

hurried to Spain, where he conquered Pompey's friends 

and made them his own by dismissing them unharmed. 

He even- took many of the legions there into his army, 

and then went back to Rome, where he had been made 

dictator, rather an empty form, for he had already dic- 
tated so decidedly that no one need be at all uncertain 

about his powers. Eleven days he remained dictator, and 

no dictator before or since ever did so much in the same 

time. He called home the e.xiles, and gave back the 

rights of citizenship to the children of the many Senators 

and knights murdered by .Sulla. He afforded the miserable 

debtors relief and organized the Senate. In short, he brought Rome into better 

order than it had been for many a day. Then he caused the Senate to declare him 

Consul and taking his leg'ons he sailed away to Greece where Pompey had gathered 

a very large army of Asiatics, Greeks, and a few Italians. 

In Pompey's camp there were three hundred of the Senators who had left Rome 

when they heard Ctesar was coming. There were enough of them to declare all 

Caesar's acts against the laws, but they didn't. They were so sure Pompey would win 

in the struggle before them, that they actually made out long lists of the men they 

intended to murder, on account of their friendship for Cajsar, and fell to quarrellino- 

about the offices they meant to have, and the estates they meant to plunder. 
" There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip," is an old and true saying. These 
Senators and vain-glorious Pompey thought that they would crush Caisar with their 
forty-five thousand foot-soldiers, seven thousand cavalry, and numerous Asiatic 
slingers and archers, for C^sar had not half as many men. 

Indeed C?esar had been defeated just after he landed in Greece, but it was 
because some of his vessels had been driven back by a storm. It is said that he 
crossed over the Adriatic with a part of his army, and as he was uneasy about the 
remainder, he crossed back again in an open fishing-boat to see what was the matter. 
There was a wild tempest raging on the sea, and the angry waves seemed about to 
swallow up the little boat. The pilot trembled with fear, for he thought the frail 
bark would sink to the bottom of the sea and all would be drowned. Ca;sar, the man 
of destiny, sat calmly in his seat, and observing the fear of the boat's crew, he turned 
to them and said: "Fear nothing you carry Caesar and his fortunes." 

He reached the land in safety, saw his troops embarked, then crossed back again 
to Greece, but his war-vessels were driven a hundred miles out of their course, and 
when at last Marc Antony, who had them in charge, landed, he was obliged to use 
very great caution in order to get his forces safely to Csesar and the rest of the army. 
When the countries that had been doubtful which side they would take in the 



238 ROME. 

quarrel, saw Csesar's little army successfully blockade Pompey and his great force at 
Petra, they were moved to admiration of his daring, for he cut off the supplies from 
the place and reduced the enemy to great straits, and when he was at last routed, he 
had gained so many friends by his courage and good generalship, that they aided his 
retreat and made it safe for him to retire from the sea-coast, ami venture to meet 
Pompey in the open country in Thessaly. 

Pompey with all his great army, was actually afraid to give battle, and when he 
marched to Pharsalia. in spite of the fact that the priests declared all the signs and 
omens were in his favor, he hung back and avoided a fight. It was not until Caesar 
threatened to cut his communications with the coast, that Pompey consented to a 
battle. 

Caesar gave directions to his veterans, when they made the charge to pay little 
attention to the Asiatic allies, but to strike for the faces of the Roman knights with 
their spears. Me knew that the Knights and Senators formed the strength of 
Pompey's cavalry, and that those aristocrats would bear cheerfully severe wounds on 
the body, but dreaded a scratch that would mar their comely features. 

The gallant German horsemen led Ciesar's advance, for he began the battle and 
they were followetl by spearmen on foot, who obeyed Caesar's tlirections to the letter, 
and soon the gay band of Pompey's Roman cavalry, who had before the onset 
assigned to each other what part they would take in their general's triumphal pro- 
cession, were fleeing from the field pell-mell. Caesar had ordered his army to spare, 
whenever possible, the lives of Roman citizens, and when they were in full (light he 
told his men to cut down their allies without mercy, and this they did you may be 
sure. 

When he saw his army flying in every direction, Pompey mounted his horse and 
fled too, and reaching the sea-coast took passage on a merchant-ship for the island of 
Lesbos, and with his wife and sons and two thousand men sailed away to Egypt 
where he hoped to receive the help of young Ptolemy against Caesar. 

Ptolemy was at war with his sister Cleopatra, who had been expelled from Egypt, 
although by the terms of her father's will she was to rule jointly with her brother, 
and Pompey sent to the young Pharoah and asked his aid. The advisers of the 
Egyptian ruler saw a chance to win Cossar to Ptolemy's side in his quarrel with his 
sister, so he sent a friendly message to Pompey and a vessel to bring him into the 
royal presence In that vessel were two Roman murderers with sharp daggers, and 
when they had taken Pompey on board and were safely away from his friends, they 
killed their passenger, cut off his head to carry to Ptolemy and cast his body into the 
sea, where it was washed up by the surf on the shore. 

There Phillipus, a friend and companion of the murdered chief found it, and 
wrapping it in his own cloak, made a rude funeral pyre out of an abandoned fishing 
boat and burned it as was the Roman custom. When the body was consumed as 
thoroughly as circumstances would allow, faithful Phillipus buried the blackened 
bones and ashes in a hollow scooped out in the sand and set over it a rough board 
on which he scrawled with the blackened end of a stick, " Magnus." 

Thus perished Pompey the Great, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and we 
cannot but remember once more the wise words of Solon to King Crcesus, "Call no 
man happy until the end of his life is seen." 

Cicsar promptly followed Pompey to Egypt with four thousand men and thirty- 
five ships and landed his army, marching it with the Roman eagles at the head of 



ROME. 



239 




■<liOi rhair. 



their ranks, through the streets of Alexandria Pompey's head 
was shown to him, and so horrified and disgusted was he at the 
sad sight, and so bitter against the treachery of Ptolemy's advisers 
that they were much frightened, and to save themselves stirred [i 
up a riot in the city. The motley array of " 

Greeks, Italians and Asiatics, who for h 
supported Ptolemy's claims and called them 
selves an army, professed to be insulted becaus 
the Romans had carried their 
eagles through the streets of 
Alexandria, and this was one of 
the excuses for the bloody riot 
that occurred soon after the 
Romans entered the city. Ca?sar 
had been pressing the regent 
Ponthius to return to him some 
money he had borrowed, and it is not at all unlikely that this was another reason why 
Ponthius had secretly stirred up a disturbance. It was during one of these days of 
turmoil that Cleopatra, rolled in a great bundle of merchandise, was smuggled 
into Caisars presence, and by her wonderful beauty and her blandishments won him 
to declare in her favor. He surrounded the young king Ptolemy with Roman 
soldiers and made him a prisoner in his own palace. Upon this the people of Alex- 
andria rose in arms angrier than ever, and Caesar was driven into a part of the city 
where he was cut off from the water of the Nile. To keep his retreat open by sea, 
he set the Egyptian fleet on fire. The flames spread to the shore and destroyed 
many beautiful buildings, among them the great museum and the library founded 
by the first Ptolemy, which at the time contained four hundred thousand of the most 
priceless books of the world. 

During the battle that resulted from Cesar's attempt to take the island of 
Pharos, he came near losing his life, and only escaped by swimming ashore, bearing 
in one hand the notes of his precious " Commentaries on the Gallic Wars," which for 
a thousand years students have read with great interest. Caesar had written these 
notes while on the march, borne in a litter by his soldiers, or in camp, in far away 
Gaul, and he knew their value to future historians. 

Caesar finally placed Cleopatra on the throne 47 B. C, crossed over to Pontus, 
where Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates had taken up arms against Rome, and in a 
campaign of five days gained complete victory. It was from Zela in Pontus, that he 
sent to the Senate that famous message, " I came, I saw, I conquered," which to this 
day is perhaps the briefest description ever written of a great military campaign. 

He conquered the feeble remainder of Pompey's friends in Africa, and then went 
back to Rome, that in the meantime had made him dictator for ten years, with the 
name Imperatur, from which we get the word emperor. There he celebrated four 
great triumphs, and to please the multitude gave shows of gladiators and wild beasts, 
which were celebrated in arenas decked with silken awnings, where even the knights 
of Rome fought to show their powers. He feasted the citizens at twenty-nine thous- 
and tables, and loaded his friends with honors, distributing the spoils of war among 
the people. The cringing Senate hailed him as father of Rome. It was in the midst 
of this rejoicing that a mutiny arose among his troops at Campania, and they marched 



240 ROME. 

to Rome. Cjesar went out alone to meet the revolted legion, the same that he had led 
to victor}- on man}- a hard-fought field, and when they saw their beloved leader all the 
claims thev meant to make on Rome were forgotten, and when he asked them to 
state their grievances, they only asked for their discharge. " I discharge you 
citizens," replied Caesar, and ashamed of their conduct, the legion begged to be again 
taken into favor and led to battle. 

Caesar soon showed that he was as great a statesman as he was a general. He 
set himself to work to make Rome a State which all the citizens should share in the 
privileges, that before his time were only given to Italians. Gauls, Iberians, Greeks 
and every conquered people were to become harmonized, and no Roman before or 
after Caesar ever made such a liberal plan of government. He had conquereti 
Pompey's sons in Spain and gained new honors, but he wanted to be king in name as 
well as power and keep the succession in his family. For this purpose he adopted 
Octavius, his great-nephew, and was having him carefully educated and trained in 
arms. 

He had great plans too, for the improvement of the city, and did much practical 
work in that direction. With all his success, Cnssar had his enemies, who ki-owing 
his ambition, had determined that he should never be king. One morning there was 
a laurel wreath ar ' a crown fastened to Caesar's bust in the Forum, and when the 
Tribunes tore them off and mdignantly trampled them under foot, the people 
shouted their approval. 

Another time when Caesar was returning with a great multitude from a religious 
festival, mysterious voices hailed him as king. An angry roar from the multitude 
caused Ca_-sar to cry out "I am no king, I am Caesar." Still another time Mar 
Antony offered him a crown as a tribute from the Roman people but again he saw 
the anger of the people and refused it. We cannot comprehend why Caesar should 
have so set his heart on bearing the fatal name of king and the privilege of wearing 
a crown, knowing as he did the hostility of the people. 

Cleopatra had followed CcCsar to Rome, trusting her kingdom to her officers, 
and lived in his splendid palace on the Tiber. There Caesar and his friends often 
visited her, to the scandal of the Roman people, and many other private acts of the 
same kind raised still new enemies against him. Among these was Marcus Junius 
Brutus, a descendant of that Brutus who drove the Tarquins from Rome. He had 
been one of the last to join Pompey and the first to forsake him at Pharsalia, and he 
had not been too patriotic to accept honors, money and office from Caesar. Caius 
Casius, another Roman, whose life had been spared at Pharsalia, a man who had 
wandered and fought with Crassus in Asia, was also Caesar's enemy, and he, with 
Brutus and seventy-eight Senators, made a plot to kill Caesar. Perhaps they thought 
the Romans would hail them as deliverers and that they would gain high honors for 
the deed, and it may be they even Ixtlieved Ca;sar a tyrant and that his acts justified 
his death. 

Caesar had often been warned of his danger in going to the Forum without a 
guard but if he had little confidence in the people, he assumed to have much and 
went about like any other private citizen. His wife dreamed a dreadful dream, a 
priest warned him of the day of his death, and a friend wrote him a letter telling him 
of the plot, but he paid no attention to the various warnings, perhaps trusting in the 
goddess Fortune to bring him safely out of the dangers which compassed him. 
Upon the 15th of March, B. C. 44, he went unattended as usual to the Senate chamber. 



ROME. 



241 




Antony Offering the Diadem to Csesar. 



242 ROME. 

When he had seated himself in his chair the conspirators, at a certain sign crowded 
about him, preventing his friends from coming near. Some held him down while 
the others stabbed him. Caesar resisted bravely until he saw Brutus, his trusted 
friend, aim a stroke at him, "What, thou too, Brutus!" he sorrowfully cried, and 
drawing his toga over his face made no further effort for his life but fell bleeding at 
the foot of Pompey's statue. 

Brutus had composed a speech to deliver to the Senate, but when he turned to 
address that body he found the room empty, for not knowing who might be the next 
victim the Senate had fled. With their daggers in their hands and with a banner 
formed of liberty cap hoisted on a spear, the seventy-eight conspirators, led by 
Brutus, made their way to the Forum, where an excited crowd had gathered. 
Instead of being hailed as deliverers, sucii angry and menacing words were hurled 
at the plotters that they retreated to the Capitoline where some hired gladiators 
came to join them and there they waited and deliberated. 

Marc Antony had escaped to his house soon after the murder, and sent secretly 
to Calpurnia, Cccsar's wife, for her husband's private papers and treasures. Being a 
Consul, he ventured to open the national coffers, and draw out a large sum of money, 
with this money, he bound to his cause, Lepidus, Caesar's master-of-horse, who with 
a legion, was camped outside the city, and filling the Forum with soldiers he called 
the Senate together two days after Cccsar's death. 

Cicero, who had in turn been a friend of Pompey antl Caisar. became the friend 
of the assassins, for he was always seeking the popular side, in order that he might 
possibly gain power. He advised them to have nothing to do with Antony, who had 
succeeded in having Caesar's acts confirmed, although by so doing Brutus and several 
other of the assassins were left in office. Antony also succeedetl in luiving a public 
funeral granted Caisar. and he, himself, as chief magistrate of the republic, and 
Caisar"s nearest friend, pronounced the oration. He causetl a splendid shrine of ivory 
and gold to be erected in the Forum, and the coffined body of the dead dictator was 
laid upon a golden couch. At its head, like a trophy of victory, was hung the cloak 
which Caesar had worn when he was slain, all stained with his blood, and bearing the 
three and twenty rents, where the assassin's daggers had struck him. The bodv was 
hidden from view, but a small waxen figure, on which each wound was faithfully 
marked, was shown to the people. First Antony read Caesar's will, in which he 
ailopted Octavius as his son, gave to the people his gardens on the banks of the 
Tiber, and to every citizen a sum of money. Then he told the multitude how the 
Senate had heaped honors upon the dead imperator, declared his person sacred, his 
rule supreme, and had hailed as father of his country, and pointed as an example of 
their faithlessness, to the bleeding corpse. 

At last the crowd, swayed by his eloquence, was excited to the last degree of 
frenzy, and when Antony shouted " 1 am r<:ady to keep my vow to avenge the victim 
I could not save," and moved toward the capitol where the conspirators were still 
fortified, the people forbade Ca:sar'sbody to be carried out of the city, chairs, tables 
and benches were brought from buildings near by, and piled into a pyre, and upon it 
the corpse was placed. This pyre was not far from the temple which had been 
built to Castor and Pollux long before, in rememberance o'f their aid at the battle of 
Lake Regillus. Suddenly two youths, gigantic in figure and clad in shining armor, 
were seen applying the torch to the pyre, the people in awe struck tones, told each 
other that the twin gods had descended from the heavens to do honor to C.'esar, and 



ROME. 



243 




Julius ("i^sar. 



in superstitious devotion cast their treasures into the 
fire, weeping and lamenting-, his untimely fate. The 
soldiers tlung their arms upon the fire, the matrons 
their jewels, and Gauls, Iberians, Africans and 
Romans who had known Ctcsar and Icjved him, alike 
crowded about his bier, vowing vengeance on his 
murderers. When the body was consumed the 
frantic multitude seized burning brands and rushed 
through the streets to set fire to the houses of the 
conspirators who fled in terror from the city. 

Antony was now, of course, the chief man in 
Rome. He might have made himself tlictator, but 
instead secured the passage of a law forever abol- 
ishing the oftice. Riots were fermenting everywhere 
in the city and Antony asked the Senate for a body- 
guard pretending that his life was iri clanger and a 
whole legion was granted him. We have told you 
how Antony possessed himself of Caisar's private 
papers. He now induced the Senate to agree to 
perform everything Caesar had intended and then in Caesar's name proceeded to do 
things that Ca;sar himself would never have dared, shamelessly selling places and 
privileges and reversing the dead dictator's own laws. Within a week after Cesar's 
dead body hail been burned in the Forum, Antony had set himself up as a tyrant. 

Young Octavius, when he heard the terms of Caesar's will, was resolved to go to 
Rome and claim his inheritance. In vain his mother pleaded with him and tried to 
hold him back. He had the iron will of his adopted father, Caesar, and had no doubt 
determined in his own mind that the Empire Caesar had vainly tried to establish, he 
himself would attempt. He was but eighteen years old, slight and sickly and Antony 
probably never dreamed that his plans could be thwarted by this delicate stripling. 

Octavius had no sooner come to Rome than he claimed his rights and in a 
forcible speech to the people told them he would pay over the sums Caesar had 
bequeathed to them so soon as he shoukl come into their possession. Then he 
demanded of Antony Caesar's money and treasures and upbraided him for not 
punishing the assassins. Antony had spent the money and he bluntly told Octavius 
so. For a time the young man, who had taken the name Julius Caesar Octavius was 
at a stand, but not for long. He sold all that was left of Cesar's property, every- 
thing that he had himself, borrowed of his friends and relations, and paid the legacies 
of Csesar's will, making thus thousands of friends. 

Antony began to be a little alarmed, but he still had the .Senate under his thumb. 
The conspirators were yet in Italy, and Cicero was with them in their hiding, but the 
orator made his way back to Rome in secret, and sitting in the .Senate chamber heard 
Marc Antony make a bitter speech against him. He immediately went home to his 
house and prepared a speech against Antony, that encouraged the Senate to pluck 
up spirit and refuse to obey him. Several months had now passed since Octavius 
came to Rome, and he had improved his time. He had raised ten thousand men in 
Campania, bought over Antony's own legions at Brundusium and won Cicero, who 
was like an animated oratorical pendulum, swinging this way or that as his self- 
interest moved him. Cicero composed fourteen of the greatest speeches of his life 



244 ROME. 

ao-ainst Antony, and delivering them to the Senate, hopelessly damaged the cause 
of the Consul. Lepidus had four legions and Antony several more, and they joined 
forces and proclaimed civil war on the Senators. Octavius had thirty thousand 
troops, and the Senators sent the two Consuls they had chosen, with other soldiers 
to join him and attack Antony. This was done, and both Consuls were killed, some, 
said by Octavius himself, who wanted all the honor of the victory, for victory it was. 
Octavius had little faith in the Senate, and when he asketl to be made Consul the 
next year, Cicero who was as faithless as tiie Senate, agreed with them when they 
refused to do so. He sent four hundred of his veterans to plead his cause, but not 
till he crossed the Rubicon with eight legions did the Senate consent to make him 
Consul. Then he made overtures of peace to Antony and Lepidus, and as Csesar, 
Pompey and Crassus had divided Roman dominion among themselves, so Octavius, 
Antony and Lepidus did with the single difference, that the first triumvirate, as it is 
called in history, was not stained with the crime of murder, but the blood of thous- 
ands of Roman citizens, sealed the second, for like Sulla, the three rulers decided to 
e.xterminate their enemies. 

Cicero fell in this horrid butchery, and his head and right hand were nailed to 
the rostrum from which he had so often addressed the people. Antony-, it is said, 
openly exulted in the sight of that ghastly head, his wife I^'uhia pierced its tongue 
with a needle for the words it had uttered against her husband. Octavius who being 
so young might have been expected to show some compassion, looked coldly on these 
dreadful scenes, he had his own plans, and meant to work them out. 

Brutus and Cassius were meanwhile in the East where Cassius had enriched 
himself and the legions who gathered round him with the plunder of cities. Laden 
with booty they crossed over into Macedonia and met Octavius and Antony with 
their legions at Phillippi. It is said that Brutus saw one night in a tent a gigantic 
figure standing motionless at his side. " Who art thou?" he asked, " 1 am thine evil 
genius," replied the shrouded shape, " we shall meet again at Phillippi," then it 
vanished, and Brutus questioning the guards was assured that no one had passed in 
or out of his tent, and he thought he had seen a ghost. It was more than likely that 
his uneasy conscience had conjured up the figure, for Cassius who was more hardened 
but equally guilty, saw no such shape. There were two battles fought at Philli[)pi, and 
in the first, the forces of the liberators might have succeeded, had not Cassius in a 
fit of despair, killed himself to escape being captured by the enemy. 

Brutus, indeed, escaped during the first battle, and after twenty days in which he 
tried every device to encourage his troops, he hazarded another battle on tlie same 
ground and was utterly routed. He fled into hiding with a few companions, one of 
whom at his urgent prayer presented his sword upon which Brutus threw himself and 
by suicide escapt-d the vengeance of Octavius. The two successful triumvirs now 
determineil to ignore Lepidus, and they did later, giving him Africa or Carthage as 
his territory, while Octavius took Caul and Italy as his portion of the Roman dominion, 
and Antony selected the East. 

Antony had often seen beautiful, wicked Cleopatra when she lived at Rome, and 
Avhen he summoned her to meet him in Tarsus and she came in her silken-sailed 
barge attired as Venus, her attendants representing sea nymphs, Antony always 
pleasin-(:-lo\'ing and easily influenced by beauty, became her willing slave. He forgot 
his rich provinces beckoning him, liis wife, everything, in wild revels with the fair 
Egyptian queen, and following her home to Alexandria, plunged into dissipations 



ROME. 245 

which were scandalous and foolish. Fulvia hoped in some way to recall him, and at 
last she succeeded in stirrinof u\> a revolt against Octavius. Many of the Italians had 
been driven from their lands by the young Cfesar and had a bitter hostility toward 
him. Placing herself at the head of these and some disa>ffected legions, she opposed 
Octavius who defeated her again and again and finally shut her up in a city in 
Etruria with her army. 

Antony, at her urgent prayer or perhaps more because his delays and excesses 
had endangered his fortunes in the east, determined to make an attempt to overthrow 
Octavius. He failed to capture Brundusium and made peace. He had before this 
met Fulvia at Athens and bitterly upbraiding her. left her on her death-bed. After 
the peace he married Octavia, the sweet and noble widowed sister of the Coesar, 
and the triumvirs made another agreement for five years then joined hands with 
Sextus, a son of Pompey. and the prospects for peace seemed once more promising. 
This was in the year 40 B. C. Sextus was a sort of pirate king of the Mediterranean 
and was admitted into the partnership, because he had it in his power to annoy Rome 
by cutting off with his vessels the supply of corn. 

The four captains, after meeting and making all sorts of professions of frien(]- 
liness for one another B. C. 39, divided the empire among them, and hatl hardly parted 
from each other until they were all fighting as before, only with added fierceness. 
Sextus continued to harrass the Roman merchantmen and Octavius sent against him 
Agrippa, one of his generals, who scattered his forces and chased Sextus himself into 
Asia where one of Antony's officers afterward killed him. Then Lepidus took com- 
mand of Pompey's land forces and intended to make war upon Octavius but suddenly 
found himself without an army, for Octavius coming almost alone into his rival's 
camp made an eloquent speech to the soldiers and won them all over to his side. 
Lepidus was sent home to his estates in disgrace, leaving Antony master of the East 
and Octavius of the West. 

In the meantime Antony had marched against the Parthians and when he was 
defeated, instead of returning to his young wi-fe, Octavia, hastened to Eg3'pt where 
Cleopatra gave splendid and costly feasts, dramatic shows and all sorts of 
entertainments to soothe aiul amuse him. 

The conduct of the Roman captain and the fair Egyptian scandalized the whole 
world. Antony was not content with yielding up his name and fame to Cleopatra, but 
he gave her half a dozen rich Roman provinces, and when he heard that his wife, 
Octavia, was coming to visit him, he sent orders for her to return to Rome and 
announced that he was going to marry Cleopatra. 

Upon this the Romans deprived Antony of his Consulship, but that made little 
difference to the infatuated general. He continued his folly, gave other Roman 
provinces to the Egyptian queen and in every way showed that he intended becoming 
master of the whole Roman world. Octavius now made war upon him, and at the 
sea battle of Actium, B. C. 31, notwithstanding that Antony had more men and more 
and larger ships than the Romans, he fled from the scene of action following 
Cleopatra's fleet that suddenly deserted. 

He left his army and his fleet to its fate and the men who had risked their lives in 
his cause were so disgusted by his conduct that they went over to Octavius. Deserted 
by his army Antony formed a plan with Cleopatra to escape from Octavius by the 
way of the Red Sea. They knew the Romans would soon be in Alexandria and 
feared the revenge of Octavius. The plan was not carried out, and when Octavius, 



246 



ROME. 




:>. 



\;< 



3L> 



..au Emperor acd Roman Noble. 



after taking Pelusim, advanced to Alexandria, the 
Egj'ptian fleet deserted to him, as did also the cavalry, 
for Cleopatra was false to Antony and anxious to win 
the favor of Octavius. had secretly instructed her army 
to come to terms with the Romans. 

In fact Cleopatra had hoped to be rid of Antony 
at Actium. She had long dreaded his jealously and 
had built for herselr a sort of a tower into which she 
had caused all her treasures to be carried, covering 
them with fagots, so in case Octavius would not come 
to terms with her she would threaten to burn them and 
herself, or in case Antony tried to harm her she couUl 
shut herself up there and keep out of his reach. 

Antony returned to Alexandria and was told that 
Cleopatra hatl killed herself, was overcome with 
despair and asked his slave, Eros to kill him. Eros 
loved his master devotedly and taking the blade, 
plunged it into his own heart, falling dead at Antony's 
feet. Antony was touched by this act of devotion but not turned from his 
purpose. He snatched the sword from the bosom of tlu; deatl slave, his last friend, 
and stabbed himself. As he lay bleeding and dying he was told that the queen was 
alive and begged to be carried to her. Cleopatra feared to open the gate of her 
tower, and her dying lover had a rope which she lowered for the purpose placed 
about his body, and was thus raised to a window and admitted. 

Me breathed his last in the arms of the queen, and when he was dead she beat 
her breast and tore her hair, bewailing him as her lord and lover. She was not so 
overcome with grief, however, but that she could scheme to secure another lover. 
Octavius had entered Alexandria, and one of his officers climbed the walls of the 
tower and persuading Cleopatra of his master's good will toward her, induced her to 
return to the palace. Octavius there sent word to her that he would visit her at a 
certain time. Now. the wily queen had captivated one Caisar, and thought she might 
fascinate another. True, she was no longer young, but she was in the ripe fullness 
of her beauty, and Octavius was but thirty-two, and was a Roman, and she had 
learned the weakness of the Roman character. So sh(; dressed herself with great 
care, and displayed in her apartment portraits and busts of Julius Cicsar, his love 
tokens and letters, and awaited Octavius. 

Octavius came, and Cleopatra put forth all her arts to charm him, but in vain; 
he was as cold as marble, as stern as fate. He bade her give him a list of her 
treasures, and then left her. Cleopatra learning that she was to grace the triumph of 
Octavius in Rome, determined to die rather than live a captive, disgraced and 
humiliated. She again entered her mausoleum or tower, crowned Antonj's tomb 
with flowers, and killed herself. Cleopatra had often experimented with death. She 
had caused her physicians to give to her slaves various poisons, and by noting their 
death agonies, had found that the sting of the asp was the swiftest and most painless 
form of death, and it is said that it was an as[j which she had caused to be brought 
her concealed in a basket of figs that caused her death, for the Romans closely 
watched her, fearing she would attempt suicide. Cleopatra's young son, Cajsario, 
the child of the first Caesar, was put to death, but her two other sons, children of 



ROME. 247 

Antony, were spared. Egypt became a Roman province after having been governed 
three centuries by the Ptolemies. When Octavius, after setting the affairs of Egypt 
in order, and arranging Rome's eastern dominions, returned to the city, the Senate 
gave him the title, Imperatur, and allowed him to keep the command of the army. 
He at once set about the task of re-organizing the Senate, and so popular were his 
reforms that the people made him their Tribune for life, and after a time, the Senate 
made him head of the national religion, and chief Consul year after year. Thus, 
while keeping up the form of the republican government, he held in his own person 
by gift of the people, all the chief offices, and was really king. 

He Avas too wise to take the name king, or to surround himself with royal pomp. 
He did not even live in a palace but in a simple mansion on the Palatine hill, like 
other rich Romans, and the only real sign of his kingship, was his title Augustus the 
Divine, which was bestowed upon him by his admiring countrymen. 

He was wise and clever, and kept himself free from the errors of Julius Ccesar, 
and while striving to interest all the higher classes, pacified the lower. He revived 
the old religion, built anew the temples that had fallen into decay, maintained the 
old laws, and left nothing undone to make Rome great and progressive. But in spite 
of the appearance that nothing was changed, everything was changed, but it was 
upon the old foundations that the new Roman State was built. The days of the 
republic, which for a hundred years had been days of blood, strife and turmoil, were 
forever over, and the days of the em.pire had begun. 

Education at the time of the beginning of the empire, was in high favor, and 
Latin poets, historians, dramatists, and comic writers were much esteemed. Gram- 
mar, logic, geometry, oratory, agriculture, law, astronomy, music, medicine and 
architecture were studied in schools. The great number of provinces made the 
Romans able to get the products of the known world, and their houses under the 
first Emperor were not only enlarged and made beautiful, but there was added 
luxury of living. Augustus used to boast that he found Rome brick and left it 
marble, and indeed it was true. Millions of money were received every year in tolls, 
customs and tribute, and a large share of this was spent in magnificent public build- 
ings, while the rich vietl with one another in the beauty of their palaces. 

Augustus may not have had the brilliant genius of Julius Caisar, but he was 
certainly one of the greatest men Rome ever produced. He performed a task almost 
superhuman and the results of his work lasted for centuries. He kept in order the 
turbulent city which held 700,000 of his subjects and reconciled the many factions. 
Italy and all the provinces which in that time comprised all of Western Europe, 
nearly all of Western Asia and Northern Africa, were to be governed, but Augustus 
in his long reign of forty-four years twice closed the doors of the temple of Janus. 

He was just as determined to keep Gaul as Cajsar had been to add it to Roman 
dominions, but he was very much worried by wild tribes who would persist in 
invading Gaulish territory where the people had made some progress in civilization. 
Savage tribes too harrassed the Roman provinces in Spain, and it was not until many 
vexatious years of war in which Augustus himself bore the weariness and hardships 
of his legions that Gaul was made peaceful. He went to Asia, too, and subjected the 
Parthian king, bringing back to Rome the standards taken from Crassus so long 
before, and the people of Rome grew to love their emperor who not only made 
the Roman name glorious abroad, but was genuinely interested in their welfare at 
home. They could not praise him enough and after he died declared that not one 



248 ROME. 

single act of injustice or cruelty to a citizen could be brought forward against him. 
Happy as Augustus was in the love of his subjects and the favor of fortune, his 
private life had its sorrows. His only daughter was so wicked that her name was a 
by-word in Rome and Augustus at last banished her. His grand-daughter was as 
vicious as her mother, and his grandson was a dangerous madman, who had to be 
constantly guarded. His two noble and virtuous grandsons, Lucius and Caius, died in 
early manhood, and Octavius' son, Marcellus, too, died in his twentieth year, 
lamented by all Rome. 

To insure the continuance of the empire Augustus adopted his step-sons Tiberius 
and Drusus, but Drusus was accidentally killed, and Tiberius was so crafty and 
calculating that Augustus feared him and kept him much in Gaul with the legions. 
I It was during the reign of Augustus, in the very height of his glory and power, 
that Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the Herod, who put the innocent 
children to death, having been seated on his throne by Mark Antony. This great 
event happened four years earlier than the date usually givenpB. C. 4, and a few 
years later Rome lost in the forests of Germany a large army. The brave German 
Arminius exasperated by the oppression of the Romans, roused his countrymen to 
arms and falling upon the Consul X'arus in the Teutonberger forest one wild tem- 
pestuous day, A. D. 9, cut the Roman army to pieces, only a few horsemen escaping 
to carry the news of the disaster to Rome, but Augustus was so grieved over the loss 
of his army that he used to lament it with bitter tears, crying "Varus, Varus, give 
me back my legions." Augustus passed nearly eight years beyond the allotted space 
of man's life, dying as calmly and majestically as he had lived. 

He had set the Roman people an example of public virtue that was not soon 
forgotten, but the Romans were growing more corrupt and wicked with every 
generation, for the civil wars had taken the heads of the best families and the old 
traditions of liberty and virtue were no longer regarded. 

Tiberius had waited impatiently enough for the event that would make him ruler 
of the Roman world, but he was a clever, crafty fellow, and knew how to cover his 
real thoughts. His mother Li via concealed the death of Augustus from the people 
until Tiberius arrived at Benvenutum, where the aged emperor breathed his last. 
The new emperor went to Rome and assembling the Senate was of course hailed as 
the emperor, but true to his crafty nature, he pretended to be very unwilling to take 
on himself the cares of the State, but in reality he feared that the legions would .seat 
on the throne the gallant young Germanicus who had not only avenged the death of 
\'arus and his legions, but had a fair prospect of reducing Germany to a Roman 
province. Augustus had scattered throughout Rome and Italy a large number of 
veterans to keep order and do a sort of police duty, and upon these Praetorian Guards, 
as they w^ere called, Tiberius could rely, but not upon the legions whose commander 
he himself had been, though never a favorite. 

Indeed the legions were fully determined to make young Germanicus emperor, 
but the brave young general rebuked them and refused to countenance any such plan, 
and Tiberius could and did now accept the honors showered on him by the Senate, 
and took upon himself unlimited power. 

Alas for the golden age of Augustus when life and jiroperty were sacred, and 
Roman liberty under law, was something more than a name. The man in whose 
hands the power was now placed, was a monster in human shape, and the nobility of 
Rome, all that was best and all that was worst, suffered alike from his cruelty, (lis- 



ROME. 



249 




guised at first but hideously ex- 
posed after a while. First he 
called Germanicus back from the 
borders of the Rhine, and giving 
him a great triumijh, sent him tu 
Asia, sending along at the same 
time one of his own creatures with 
orders to poison the popular 30ung 
Roman, his own nephew, whom he hated, because 
others loved him. When Aggrippina, the widow 
of the murdereil man came back to Rome carrying 
the ashes of her dead husbantl, and denounced the 
murderer, he gave him up to justice, but soon after- 
ward, like a great black spider weaving a net around 
helpless flies, Tiberius wound Aggrippina and her 
two bravest and best sons in such a net of suspicion, 
that he succeeded in having them convicted of treason 
and thrown into prison, where they all miserably 
perished. 

There was one man in Rome who understood the 
cruel, crafty emperor, and from whom he could hide 
none of his designs. This man was Sejanus, com- 
mander of the Praetorians, who was even more crafty 
than Tiberius, but gained a great influence over 
the emperor by a pretended devotion to him, which 
shrank from no cruel work. At last Sejanus con- 
trived to have the emperor go to Capri for rest and 
recreation, and the lean, bald, stooping Tiberius, his 
face covered with ulcers and his body racked with 
pain, was growing weary, for he was eight and fifty 
when Augustus died, and was now old. Sejanus, as 
soon as Tiberius was gone, set himself to work to 
make himself the successor of his master. Livia 
died about this time at the age of eighty-six, and her Triun,piK,i s,at„. .,t Aug„.tus. 

death was equally welcome to Tiberius, upon whom his imperious mother was always 
a check, and to Sejanus who feared her. 

For three years now the Praetorian commander was the real ruler of Rome, and 
the emperor at Capri gave himself up to such wild and vicious orgies, such beastly 
indulgences and pleasures, that history shrinks from relating them, but all the time, 
crafty as ever, he was, keeping an eye on Sejanus, and knew perfectly well at what he 
aimed. 

At length Sejanus made a plot to kill Tiberius and seize the empire, and it was 
at the moment when he felt himself the safest and most powerful that Tiberius directed 
the Senate to destroy the presumptuous plotter. Obedient to their master, and not 
unwilling to wreak their hatred on the man who, for three years had lorded ic over 
them with such a high hand, the Senate obeyed and strangled him in prison, then 
threw his body into the street and trampled on it. This was the beginning of terrible 
days for Rome. .Some of the noblest citizens despairing of their country and fearing 




250 ROME. 

the vicious emperor, killed themselves, and many others unjustly condemned, died 
l;y his orders. From his island he sent orders for the murder of those he believed his 
enemies, and men, women, and e\'en innocent children were slain by this monster 
whose thirst for blood seemed to increase ever\' day. 

To be sure, it was only those of noble birth upon whom his wrath fell, and the 
common people who received regular supplies of corn, and were paid largest from 
the public funds and not interfered with by the emperor's caprice, cared little what. 
befell their natural enemies, the rich and great. Roman arms, too, were successful 
abroad. Asia, Africa and Gaul, were firmly held in check anil in the main well- 
governed and it was only Rome itself and Italy that felt the blight of tyranny. 

With Tiberius at Capri were his two nephews Caius, a son of Germanicus, and ' 
Claudius, the son of Drusus, both of whom he had adopted. Claudius was so timid 
and shrinking that his uncle thought him an idiot and left him to his own devices. 
The other Caius, called Caligula by the Roman soldiers, because when a little child 
he used to strut about the camp in a pair of miniature caliga or military boots, was 
his favorite. This Caius shared his uncle's orgies, and being crafty by nature he 
paid such court to the old tyrant as to disarm his suspicions, or he too would perhaps 
have lost his life. 

The emperor, after eighteen years of such crime as made his name ever after- 
ward hateful to the Romans, felt death near, but woukl not name his successor. 
One day in March, 37 A. D., he had a fainting fit and was thought dead and Caius 
was proclaimed his heir. He revived after awhile, but his most trusted friend, 
Marco, caused him to be smothered with the blankets of his couch, and Caius 
became emperor. 

He began his reign well, for he was beloved for his father's sake, and the armv' 
and people were enthusiastic in their welcome to him. He made some good laws and 
proposed others; projected public works, recalled the banished from exile, and was 
in a fair -way to justify the expectation of a good reign when he was suddenly 
prostrated by a fever. He recovered his bodily health, but his mind, never very 
strong, nor well balanced, was completely lurniHl and Rome had now a madman for 
an emperor. 

The deeds of Caligula almost pass belief in their wild folly, and thai the Roman 
people submitted quietly to him is a wonder indeed, but we forget what they had 
become. He murdered people right and left, without form of trial, his father-in-law 
falling a victim. He rejoiced in the bloody combats of the arena, and contrived 
absurd spectacles in which he figured as a conqueror. He held angry disputes in a 
whisper with Jupiter, fed his favorite horse at his banquet table, and would have made 
the beast a Consul had he lived long enough to commit such folly. His banquets 
were upon scales of wildest extravagance, and he poured out the treasures of the 
empire to satisfy his insane caprices. He even went into Gaul as far as the shores 
of the British Channel, and sending home a heap of shells, gathered from the sea 
shore, had them placed solemnly in the capitol as "spoils of the ocean." 

No more dangerous madman than Caligula figures in all history, and his exampU- 
is that of unlimited power in the hands of a man without conscience. For four years 
his excesses shocked and terrified the people, then he was killed as he deserved to be, 
and the weak Claudius, whom he had long ago forgotten, was made emperor. 

Like his nephew, Caligula and his uncle, Tiberius, Claudius had a taint of mad- 
ness, but llu! Pr.Ttorian guards, notwithstanding that his weakness was known, made 



ROME. 



251 




Roniau Catapult, 



him emperor. Compared with Caligula, 
Claudius was a a^ood ruler, but compared 
with Augustus, how weak was this degen- 
erate Ca:sar. True, he led his legions to 
the borders of the German ocean, and 
sent them into Britain, so planning their 
campaign that they gained important 
victories, and even in Asia, Roman arms 
were successful under his generals. His 
son Brittanicus was greatly admired by 
the Roman people for his victories in 
Britain, and would perhaps have suc- 
ceeded his father, had not his mother, 
Messalina, fallen into disgrace. She was the most wicked woman Rome ever produced, 
but for a long time skillfully hid all her crimes from her husband. At length she car- 
ried her sins to that extreme, that Claudius learned of them, and put her to death. 
Soon afterward he married Aggrippina, the daughter of 'Germanicus, who was a widow 
with one son, Nero. Aggrippina was ambitious, and she easily persuaded the weak- 
minded emperor to make Nero his successor. When she had secured her son's 
future, she poisoned Claudius, and Xero ascended the throne. For the first five 
years Nero ruled judiciously, for he was under the influence of a wise tutor, Seneca, 
and an honest statesman Burrhus. At the end of that time he threw off all good 
influences and began a career of crime that made his name forever odious to the 
Romans. He put people to death to secure their riches for himself, and even con- 
demned Seneca himself to death. He caused his mother, Aggrippina to be assassinated 
because she wanted to share his power and then gratified his vicious tastes unre- 
strained. 

He descended into the arena to display his skill with the gladiators, and sang 
and acted on the stage. A terrible fire that destroyed the most beautiful portion of 
Rome, it is said Nero kindled with his own hand, and enacted the drama of the 
Destruction of Troy, singing and playing on the harp, while thousands of his sub- 
jects were being rendered homeless. 

The people, irritated beyond endurance, would have risen and crushed him then 
and there, had he not taken the warning of his friends and gone forth, and with the 
money produced from the sale of the estates of nobles he had murdered or banished, 
given them means to rebuild their dwellings. 

He did more. He accused the Jews anil Christians of setting fire to the city, 
and seized thousands of them. They were thrown to wild beasts, devoured by dogs 
or burned to death, and many Romans who had offendetl the emperor but who 
knew nothing of the doctrines either of Jews or Christians Avere punished in the 
same way and their wealth seized by Nero, until the people sick of such horrid 
spectacles of suffering and injustice prayetl him to desist. 

From this time forward Nero acted much like the insane Caligula. He made a 
journey to Greece and brought back to Rome eighteen hundred garlands, prizes of 
musical festivals, for who would dare contest the prize with a monster who murdered 
all who thwarted him. He built on the ruins of the burned portion of the city, a 
great palace extending over three of the seven hills, embracing groves and lakes and 
on a scale of magnificence never before seen in Rome. The people grew more and 



252 



ROME. 




The Emperor Claudius and HlB Wife. 



Tiberius aad Llvia, 



more angr}' with him. and when they 
heard that he had crowned his insane 
foil}' by wedding himself to a youth 
who resembled in face and feature a 
certain Poppea, an abandoned woman 
of Rome with whom Nero lived 
several years, and whom he killed in 
a drunken frenzy, their disgust knew 
no bounds and they sent to a certain 
general in Gaul intimating that they 
would not oppose him should he be 
proclaimed emperor. They shouted 
long and loud, it is true, when Nero 
came back from Greece with trophies 
of his folly, but they hated him as 
heartily as such a mongrel popu- 
lation could hate, and were as ready 
to shout for Galba, the brave old 
soldier who had grown gray fighting 
Rome's northern wars, when Nero, frightened at the news of revolt of the legions, 
at last put an end to his unworthy life. Galba entered Rome as its emperor, two 
months before Nero's death having been proclaimed by the army and confirmed by 
the Senate nine months before. 

The people shouted just as heartily two weeks afterward when the old hero was 
treacherously slain and Otho, the husband of Nero's notorious favorite, assumed the 
purple, and still again they shouted when three months and five days after Otho, 
borne upon the shields of the Pnetorian Guards had been presented to the .Senate 
as emperor, died by his own hand, being defeated by Vitellius at the head of the 
legions near Cremona. What was it to the people who wore the purple, so that they 
were amused as usual? What cared they, the sons of slaves, the spawn of degenerate 
ancestors, for crime and murder rioted in the palaces of the rich, so that they had 
their full of sport and were amused by the blood-letting of gladiators. New rulers 
meant new festivities for the populace. The cry "Down with the tyrant," was hardly 
lost upon the air before the people were bestowing their approval upon a new one. 

If Nero, Claudius, Caligula and Tiberius had been cruel, they were still of the 
blood of the great Claudian house. Hut Vitellius, the new emperor was more 
beastly than any former ruler, and equally cruel. The terrors of Nero's reign were 
insifnificant 'vhen compared with the atrocities of Vitellius. He put to death the 
verv guests at his table, and enjoyed their agonies as much as he did one of the many- 
rare dishes set before him, for he was a beastly glutton, whose appetite for rare 
tlainties was one of his ruling passions, and whose feats at the table and wine-cup 
were told in Rome in the same breath that his foul murders were detailed. 

Vile as were the Romans, Vitellius was too much of a beast for them long to 
bear his rule with patience, although they had not the spirit to throw it off, because 
the empire was now upheld by barbarian soldiers from Gaul, Iberia and other foreign 
provinces, who proclaimed the ruler in their camp, and supported him on the throne. 
In Judea the legions finally revolted before the walls of Jerusalem. They pro- 
claimed Vespasian as emperor. For two years he had been prosecuting the jc-wish 



ROME. 



253 




war. The Jews had been so goaded by Roman tyranny, that they 
hatl determined to be free, and Rome at once sent an army to put 
down the rebellion. As soon as Vitellius learned Vespasian had 
been proclaimed by the legions, he sent an army out against him, 
but it was defeated, and the victors marched to Rome where the 
people were rioting in a drunken festival. Vitellius defended 
Rome, but his soldiers, weakened by debaucher)', and bought 
off by Vespasians' friends in the city, gave way, and the streets were 
reddened with slaughter. \'itellius was killed by the infuriated 
populace and his body thrown into the Tiber, and until Vespasian 
himself arrived in the city, for of course the Senate proclaimed 
him emperor, there was dire confusion. Vespasian soon straight- 
ened matters out, for since the days of Augustus Rome had been 
subject to no such worthy master. He made good laws, repressed 
violence, brought I^oman Gaul into an orderlv condition, an 
conquered Britain to the river Tyne. He left his son Titus to 
carry on the war in Judea. The heroic Jews had been in sad straits 
during the reign of Nero, for the rule of the Herods, vile though 
it was, the}' thought happy, when compared to that of the Roman Provincial Governors, 
who since the year 44 A. D., had filled Judea with misery. Murders committed in 
the name of religion and libert)'; robberies under sanction of law, and all manner of 
internal disturbances distracted the unhappy country. The Roman Governors 
shared the profits of banditti and excited riots in the city of Jerusalem again and 
again, so that they might plunder the temple. They tried every means that oppres- 
sion could devise to drive the Jews into open rebellion, so that they might plunder 
them, still farther, and at last they succeeded. The Jews armed themselves, drove 
the Romans out of the holy city, while the many Christians who had residence there, 
voluntarily exiled themselves. 

Among the Jews themselves, were three factions, and shut up there in Jerusalem, 
menaced by the legions of Rome, these three factions fell to quarreling, and finally 
to fighting. Si.\ hundred thousand people were collected in the city to celebrate the 
Feast of the Passover, when Titus finally appeared before the walls. A large army 
defended Jerusalem with the courage of despair. The helpless women and children, 
as well as the brave Jewish soldiers within the town were soon suffering the pangs of 
famine, but there was no thought of surrender. 

Six months the siege was carried on, and the horrors of those months, long ago 
foretold by the old prophets, were such as to daunt any people less brave, but the 
factions fought and quarreled as fiercely as ever, and as fiercely as ever repulsed the 
Romans, assaulting their defenses. 

They were found fighting in the very courts of the temple, when the Roman 
battering-rams at last made a great hole in the walls, and Titus and his army entered 
to complete the work of carnage so terribly begun. The temple was burned, the 
people were massacred, and many threw themselves from the towers rather than 
submit to the Romans. At last Mount Zion was plowed and sown with salt. Then 
Jerusalem was leveletl to the ground, only a broken wall and three melancholy towers 
being left as a memorial of Rome's vengeance. The Jews who had not perished by 
the sword, starvation or fire, were taken captives to Rome. The golden vessels used 
so long in the service of the temple, adorned the triumph of Titus, and in Germany, 



254 



ROME. 




Gaul, Italy and every country 
of the world, were scattered 
the descendants of Abraham, 
bearing in their hearts the 
memory of the great tradi- 
tions of their race, still as 
separate and distinct a people 
in their fall as in their great- 
ness. Long afterward they 
tried to rebuild the temple, 
but balls of fire bursting from 
the ground, probably the fire- 
damp that sometimes gather 
in old cellars, frightened the 
workmen away. From the 
Jews the Messiah sprang and 
among them lived his won- 
derful life, and from Jerusalem 
went out that influence, which 

From the Arch of Titus. Home. Bringing the Seven.Armcil CaiKlelahni from Jornsal.iu grO wi ng Stronger and Stronger 

as centuries went by, purified the race, built up r.ew civilization and made faith 
something more than dead form. 

Thus the world became the empire of the Jew, for the Christian is but a newer 
and broader Jew whose God, law, hope, past and future, are so entwined with the 
story of the chosen people, that the holy city still lives imperishable in the minds of 
men, and the temple of the living God, purified forever by the blood of the blameless 
offering stands to-day above the power of time and war. The Romans destroyetl 
the visible signs of the Jewish empire but they nevertheless widened its spiritual 
sphere, and in spite of the offerings to wild beasts and persecutions of ten con- 
secutive emperors, Christianity, the new Judaism, conquered Rome and all Europe, 
and from Rome set out to subdue the islantls of the sea and the remote bounds of 
the earth. 

This then was the great achievement of Titus, though he never knew its import, 
and when Vespasian sank to rest after ten years ot rule, on the whole wise ones, and 
Titus became emperor, he was called "the delight of mankind" on account of his 
amiable character. 

It was in the first days ot the reign of Titus that the crater of Vesuvius, where 
so long ago Spartacus and his robbers made their lair, began to send forth strange 
mutterings and rumblings and to belch smoke and flame. Down at the foot of the 
mountain lay two rich and beautiful cities, Pompeii and Herculaneum. Their 
inhabitants knew what the strange sounds portended, and many of them immediately 
took ship and sailed away, while others, with the possessions they could easily carry, 
fled by land. No doubt there were many huntlreds of human beings in the 
two cities on that dreadful day in August, A. D. 79, when the mountain poured 
forth its deadly torrent of fire and lava. Down the slopes it rushed like a flaming 
sea, and the air was so thick with gases and ashes that it was like darkest night. 
The wave rolled onward, burying houses, temples, shops and people, covering deep 
all vestiges of the cities, entombing everything in its way. There the corpses of the 



ROME. 



255 




Female Acrubnf. 

Nerva reia-ned 



dead cities, enclosed in the hardened lava, lay for centuries, and 
Pompeii and Herculaneum were utterly forgotten upon the earth, 
until some workmen, digging one day at the base of Vesuvius, 
uncovered the top of a statue, and this resulted in the finding of 
those buried cities, where everything showed how sudtlen and 
awful had been the calamity that had overtaken them. 

Titus only lived two years after he became emperor, and when 
he died Domitian, his brother, came to the throne. Again did 
cruelty, lust and violence devastate Rome, and murder lurk in 
its palaces and banquet halls. Domitian lived sixteen years to 
vex the earth with his crimes, and then Nerva, the mild and mod- 
erate, was called from Spain to take his seat on the blood-stained 
throne of the Cajsars, for the people were tired of born princes 
who proved at last to be ruffians, and were willing to try the 
experiment of creating an emperor from a man of ordinary birth 
two years and then Trajan whom Xerva selected to follow him wore the purple. 

Trajan was a soldier of the old Roman kind, though he was born in fair Seville, 
in sunny Spain, and under him Rome's golden days seemed likely to return. Peace 
and order at home, the conquest of foreign foes, and the subjugation of the far East, 
are among the great deeds which stand recorded to his honor on sculptured column 
and storied arch in Rome, and nineteen years the empire flourished under his mild 
rule. When Trajan died in far-away Asia his ashes were carried in a golden urn to 
the Capital and buried under thi; column on which his northern conquests were 
recorded. 

True, he carried on the third great persecution of the Christians, and the good 
.St. Ignatius of Antioch died a martyr, along with thousands of others, during his 
reign. But in his day such a persecution was considered virtuous, for the Pagan 
world was striving to crush out a truth that would make plain the falsehood of long 
ages and discredit the legends of the gotls that had been worshipped by their 
ancestors long before the dawn of history. Neither Pagan Rome nor Christian 
Rome, with the various refinements of the cruelties of the amphitheater and the 
inquisition, could stay the irresistable tide of faith. 

The reign of the next emperor, Hadrian, was one of peace antl prosperity, 
though it was not unstained by jjrivate crime. The Romans were used to such things 
now, however, and let him indulge his humor. Me traveled much and brought the 
provinces into order. It was Hadrian who built the Roman wall in Britain, the ruins 
of which, overgrown with grass and weeds, still protects the Scotch shepherds from 
the sun in hot summer afternoons, yet there was little grief when, after a reign of 
nineteen years, he died, and Antoninus Pius, the first of the Roman rulers to protect 
the persecuted Christians, became emperor. 

Marcus Aurelius, the author of a famous book of "Meditations," that is still read 
and enjoyed, followed Antoninus on the throne and was like him in his virtues, although 
unlike him he persecuted the Christians and many martyrs revered in after years, 
died during his reign a cruel death. His son Commodus was as vicious as Nero, and 
Marcus Aurelius may be considered the last of the Roman emperors who cared any- 
thing for the happiness of the Roman people. 

Under Commodus the Praetorian Guards gained their old odious power, and 
murder, plague, revolt and all the evils bred by tyranu)-, urged Rome forward with 



256 



ROME. 





Miircus Aurt'lliis 



fearful speed down the decline of her great- 
ness and glorj". rwehe years and nine 
months this cruel emperor was permitted to 
live; then he died a violent death, by the 
hand of his most trusted female slave. After 
this, for nearly fifty years, the various generals 
of the legions were made emperors of Rome, 
holding the power sometimes for only a few 
days, weeks or months, and at others for a few 
years, before thej' fell victims to plots and 
conspiracies. A Thracian.a Syrian, a Moor, 
an Arab and se\-eral wicked Romans, among 
them Caracalla, whose name in history is 
1 \ \ ^-'^^ J' ^Mmtf \ placed side by side with that of Caligula, 

i r ^ ^ — '^^aHf' , \ Nero, and Commodus for cruelty, ruled over 

A '■■ \ '^m-mSk'v^ ■ Rome in that time. None of these deserve 

-■ >i to be remembered for their good deeds until 
. ^. _ ,„„„ »«>m^1 Jy \ve come to \'alerian, who in the year A. D., 

I , y, ^\r^« '1 ■'' 253, came to the throne. 

From the southern banks of the Danube, 
known long ago as the home of the Scythians, 
the Goths issued, and in their rude but well 
managed crafts, crossed the Euxine, ravaged 
Asia Minor, and threatened Italy, while the 
Allimani had come down into Italy, Spain and Gaul, crossed the straits of Gibraltar 
and plundered a great part of civilized western I-!urope. The Persians under the new 
empire of the Sassinidai were retaking the provinces so long tributary to Rome, and 
against all these difficulties X'alerian contended. At last he took the field against 
Persia, and was captured. 

For seven years Rome had the humiliation of knowing that hw emperor was a 
captive, insulletl, ill-used and suflering, but they could not or would not succor him. 
In the ten years following this calamit}' and shame to Rome, the empire was overrim 
by barbarians and in nearly every province of the empire a pretender sprang up, and 
established an independent kingdom which perished with its founder after a brief 
and inglorious career. 

Odentatus, a Roman citizen, founded in .Syria at this time the kingdom of 
Palmyra. \\ lien he was murdered by the Romans, his brave and beautiful queen, 
one of the most noble and picturesque figures in history, not onl}' ruled Palmyra 
wisely, but defied Aurelian, the bravest general of his time, who became emperor of 
Rome, A. I). 272, after a romantic career in Gaul. 

For si.x 3'ears this valiant woman held her kingdom, and conquering Egypt 
began to think of being supreme in Asia. Aurelian at length besieged her at Palmyra 
and Zcnobia at the head of her army defended its walls with courage and skill until 
hope was gone. Then she tried to escape to Persia but was captured by the 
victorous Aurelian and the city fell. 

The conqueror left a garrison in the city and started home to Rome with his 
army. Hut the Palmyrenes revolted and massacred every Roman soldier they could 
find. Aurelian then marched back, slaughtered the people young and old, men, 



ROiME 




258 



ROME. 



i/V^X. _A ^ 




P'tr' 



women and children, stripped the city of its 
wealth, and leaving it in ruins took his way 
back to Rome with the captive queen in his 
train. He wrested Spain, Gaul and Britain 
from the barbarians who had meanwhile almost 
wiped out Roman civilization in those provinces 
and when he rtnally reached Rome he was 
given a great triumph. Zenobia was treated 
with much respect, and settling near Rome 
became a private citizen. Her daughters 
married Romans but never laid claim to being 
princesses of Palmyra. 

Three Roman emperors reigned in the 
next eight years, but A. D., 284, Diocletian, a 
Dalmatian, was chosen by the legions. Dio- 
cletian saw that the Roman empire was in 
danger of being torn into fragments by the 
ambition of the generals in the far-away 
provinces, to become independent rulers, so 
he concluded to divide the empire himself. 
There was in his army an lUyrian peasant who 
was loyal, brave and well beloved by the 
legions. This man, Maximianus, was chosen 
to rule Gaul, Italy and Britain, with the force 
of the legions in those provinces and regu- 
larly made joint emperor. \'erv soon Diocle- 
tian, who hatl gone to the far East, realized 
that he still had more territory than he could 



CoDsbintlDC the Great Going Into Battle Amlnst Mailmlan. 

rule properly, for you must understand that the parts of the Roman empire, made 
up wholly of conquered nations who were oppressed by taxation and degraded by 
being so often subjected, could not be relied upon to be loyal unless frightened 
into peaceableness by the presence of an army. 

Diocletian now took two more joint rulers into the imperial partnership, and 
there were now four emperors, but not one of them made Rome, sadly sunken in 
luxury and wickedness, his Capital. When Diocletian had been twenty years emperor 
of Rome, he resigned his office, as did Maximianus also at the same time, and left 
Constantius and Galerius, whom he had last chosen to aid him, rulers of the divided 
empire. 

It would be hard to follow all the quarrels and difficulties in the various provinces 
after Diocletian retired to private life. Constantius had his hands full in Gaul and 
Britain, where he conquered the Alemanni and the Caledonians, and when he died 
at York, in England, his son Constantine was proclaimed by the Legion's Emperor 
of the Western Empire. 

Now comes the long struggle between the Roman empire of the East and the 
empire of the West. Constantine, finally, in the year, A. D. 312, conquered the pre- 
tenders to the dominion rightfully his through his father, then engaging in war with 
the emperor of the East defeated him and gained the whole vast empire for himself. 
Constantine has been called "the great," on account of his many different victories 



ROME. 



259 




Disc TIn-ower. 



both military and political, but more especially because he 
protected Christianity which had by this time spread to the far- 
away British Isles. He persecuted Pagans, as several emperors 
before him had persecuted Christians, as a matter of policy. 
Although we are told that he himself was a Christian he was 
certainly rather a fierce sort of adventurer to bear such a name. 
He murdered his wife and his own brave son, Crispus, because 
he was jealous of the love which his people bore them, and his 
private life was not one whit better than that of Tiberius or 
Nero. 

Constantine did not live at Rome, but wandered from city 
to city in Gaul, and finally built Constantinople on the site of 
Byzantium, for his capital, where he could be near the eastern 
frontier of the empire. Rome was stripped of her beautiful 
works of art. The wealth of Italy was carried away to adorn 
the new city, and the Roman Senators invited to the eastern 
capital. The Roman Senator was now a.s different from those of the old days, as the 
Roman Emperor'was different from the great Augustus. These emperors copied 
the manners as well as the vices of the oriental kings, wore a diadem and robe, and 
the Senators prostrated themselves like slaves in the royal presence. The army too, 
was no longer made up of Romans, or even Italians. Gauls, Britons and Germans 
considered themselves citizens, and were the fighters, while the descendants of the 
old Romans were vicious, debauched idlers. 

The Christians had been quarreling among themselves in regard to the nature of 
the Deity, and were almost as furious against each other as they were against the 
Pagans. There were Catholic bishops who denounced Arian bishops with all the 
sulphur and brimstone at their command, and the Arian bishops returned the com- 
pliment. Constantine undertook to makepeace between them, and from the throne 
expounded the dogmas of the faith of Christ to the bishops and people, thus uniting 
Church and State. 

Rome all this time had a Pagan Senate, but Rome was now of little account in 
the empire, and the Senate's power only extended to the boundary of Italy. The 
Romans did not dare persecute the Christians, and so they increased in numbers. 

In the East Greek ideas and culture- had spread far and wide, and Constantinople 
gathered them up and formed upon them a new empire that lasted long after Rome's 
glory had forever vanished. In the East Christianity took a different form, and in 
Eastern Gaul it received the impression of Constantinople. A few years after the 
death of Constantine the empire was again divided, and never afterward united. 

I will not follow in detail the history of the eleven emperors who ruled from 306 
A. D., to 394 A. D., over these two warring empires. Some of them were uncom- 
monly barbarous Christians, who fought with other Christian emperors, and plotted, 
conspired and assassinated in the same old heathenish way. 

In the year 395 A. D., the Goths, a Germanic people living on the shores of the 
Black sea, who had greatly troubled the emperor Valerian, had become somewhat 
civilized, and Christianized, were driven from their homes by a horde of Mon- 
golians or Turks who ravaged their whole country. These Huns, as they were called, 
were so fierce that the Goths, who were unwarlike themselves, believed them to be 
war demons and not real men, so they crowded to the Rhine and begged the Romans 



26o 



ROME. 



to allow them to pass over. The Romans 
finally agreed to give them land and food, 
and thousands of the Goths crossed into Gaul, 
having been compelled to leave their weapons 
behind them, for the Romans intended 
treachery. This treachery was completed as \ 

soon as the Goths were in the heart of Roman \ 

territory. The Roman officers took away their 
wives and daughters, if they happened to be fair of 
forn ind face; taxed and starved the whole Gothic 
nation, until they in revenge took up arms against 
their oppressors, and in a great battle at Adrianople, 
defeated Valens, the Roman emperor. They then 
rushed on to Constantinople to take still further 
revenge for the outrages they had received. The 
city withstood them, and as Theodosius, a Spanish 
peasant who became emperor about that time, was 
really by blood, kindred to the Gothic people, he 
succeeded in pacifying them, and enlisted great num- 
bers of them in the Roman army. 

After Theodosius died, Alaric, one of the 
noblest Goths of his time, a general who had served 
Theodosius \,ell in his wars, demantleil of Arcadius, 
his successor, the command of the armies of the east. 
Rufuinus was Arcadius' prime minister, and he 
promised Alaric what he desired, but broke his 
promise. The Goths were settled in Moesia, a 
country just north of Macedon, and they united into 
a nation, by putting themselves all under the rule of 
the brave, handsome, warlike Alaric, who was just 
such a hero as the martial Goths admired. Placing 
himself at the head of an army of his countrymen, 
Alaric ravaged Macedon, Thessaly and Greece, 
carrying off from the cities of Hellas what remained 
of their riches. Stilichio, a brave old soldier, himself a German of the Vandal tribe, 
who had defeated all the other foes of Honorious, the emperor of the western 
empi ^, drove Alaric back to Moesia, but ungrateful Honorious soon after caused 
Stilichio to be killed, because he was jealous of him, and Alaric pressed on toward 
Rome, the Germans and Gauls in the Roman provinces flocking to his standard. 

Of course the cowardly emperor ran av.ayand left Rome to her fate. He 
sheltered himself behind the strong walls and fortresses of Ravenna, and not a blow 
was struck by the degenerate Romans for their homes or their country's glory. No 
brave Horatius Codes guarded the bridge; no valiant Flaminius, Varus or Scipio led 
out the legions; no prayers were offered in the temples; for Rome's gods, like her 
heroes, were dead, and her patriotism was only known in legend and song. 

A million people dwelt upon the seven hills, and among them were Senators 
whose houses were filled with .gold, silver and jewels, the bribes of office and the 
spoils of war. The churches were rich with treasures no less valuable than those 




PNST^NTiNVS/V^^■■ 



CuQstautlue the Great. 



ROME. 



261 




Costume of Roman Matron. 



that in the olden days were offered upon the shrines of the heathen 
gods. In the stilhiess of an August night the trumpets of the 
Goths in the streets, awakened Rome. Alaric had entered, and Hke 
Brennus of old. demanded great treasure as the peoples' ransom. 
His coming had been long e.xpected, but there was no escape. His 
army had seized the port of Ostia, slaves and legions had deserted 
to his standard, and yet the Romans had hoped some lucky accident 
might de)'''er them. Long ago when Alaric was young, a prophet 
had foretold that he should destroy Rome, and now like the fairy 
prince in the old story, he was urged onward by mysterious voices, but 
not as was the legendary prince, to rouse to life by his touch, a fair 
princess, but to bow low in the agonies of death, the proud queen 
of the west, who still in her old age was royal, for Rome was still 
great and splendid, though her political glory was gone, and she yet 
occupied a place in the minds of men that invested her with aignity. 
It was the twenty-fourth day of August, 410 A. D., just eight hundred 
years after Brennus and his warriors first set foot within the pre- 
cincts of Rome and gazed in wonder on the Forum and the Capi- 
tollne, that Alaric led his army through the gates opened by the guards at his com- 
mand. Pagan Rome had become Christian Rome and heathen Goth had become 
Christian Goth, yet the hatred of the eight centuries was much the same, for national 
hatred like wine often becomes stronger with age and ferments in silence and 
darkness. 

Alaric could not restrain his soldiers and the palaces of Rome were set on hre to 
light them as they plundered and pillaged. Six days and nights the work went on — 
cruel work, unhindered by the wail of women and children, whose husbands and fathers 
had been slain in the defence of their lives or their honor. The churches were 
spared, for as the Pagans sought asylum at the shrines of their gods, the Christians 
sought sanctuary in the great cathedrals, and the Goths respected the churches, 
neither burning them nor robbing them. 

For six more days the Goths revelled in their triumph, marching out of the city 
at the end of that time to ravage the country beyond, sparing nothing. Rich nobles 
lost slaves, treasure and houses. Their families were scattered or slain, and Italy 
received a blow from which it never recovered. 

Alaric laden with plunder reached the most southern city of Italy and was about 
to cross over to .Sicily and Africa, but death found him in the height of his triumph, 
and not upon the field of battle, but like the humblest and most peaceful peasant 
who never heard the clang of arm nor felt the fierce joy of conflict, he died in his 
bed of a common illnesb. His last command to his followers was that his body 
should be buried where no man might find his grave. So the Goths diverted the 
channel of the river Busentius, and laid him beneath its bed, then turned the waters 
back again, and to this day no man knows just where Alaric'sdust reposes, or whether 
the river, ages ago bore his bones out to the sea, for the slaves who dug the grave 
were put to death, and the Gothic chieftains told not to their children where their 
king's body was lain. 

For ages Rome had stood as the emblem of power and now when she lay pros- 
trate it seemed as if the end of the world had come. The gods that the Pagans 
believed would protect Rome forever, had been shown to have no power and from 



262 ROME. 

that time forth Rome became wholly Christian. Another horde of barbarians, the 
Vandals, had entered Spain and in a few years made themselves master of that pro- 
vince which had cost Rome two centuries of war and vast treasure to conquer and 
hold. .Some of them also crossed from Spain to Africa and founded a kingdom. 
Thirteen jears after the sack of Rome the descendants of Alaric founded a kingdom 
in -Spain, after conquering the Vandals. 

The terrible Huns, all this time, nearly seventy years, had held the country on 
the borders of the Danube, and about the time that the Emperor I lonorious died, 
A. D. 423, their King Ragilas also passed away, and his two sons Attilla and Bleda 
were made the leaders of these wandering robbers of the north. 

-Attilla was the most ferocious and bloody-minded savage king that the world 
ever saw. lie had but one pleasure — destruction. Me never built a palace or a 
house of any kind, for like most of his people he was uneasy under a roof, and felt 
that walls were fetters, lie calleil him.self "the scourge of God," and certainly he 
was a terror to mankind, the Greeks, Romans, and rude barbarians of the North 
being equally afraid of him. In our own day the Turk and Mongol blight every land 
they touch, for they have no proper notion of civilization or government, so we 
may have an idea how the Mongol Turk as a savage could easily be considered a 
scourge. 

Attilla ravaged the Roman empire of the East until Theodosius bought him off, 
then he turned westwartl and his passage through Gaul was marked with fire and 
sword. He intended to advance on Rome but the Vandal king in Africa invited him 
to wrest Spain from the Goths. Gaul, you must remember, had lojig been con- 
sidered all the country between the Danube and the .\tlantic and from the Alps and 
Pyrenees to the northern border of England. 

Eranks, Gauls, Buigundians and Romans united against Atilla and near Chalons, 
a dreadful battle was fought in which the Huns were beaten. They at once turned 
southward and with fearful cruelty ravaged poor war-wasted Italy. The inhabitants of 
several of the cities retreated to the islands of the Adriatic and founded \'enice, and 
the Huns spread over Cisalpine Gaul and would have attacked Rome had not Pope 
Leo gone to the camp of Attilla and by his eloquence roused the superstitious fears 
of the barbarian king. Attilla went back to the stockade on the Danube which he 
called his capital, where the vengeance of God overtook him.. He wa.s found covered 
from head to foot with his own blooil, dead on his couch one morning, and no wound 
showed how he died. It may be tliat he broke a blood-vessel in the night, but of 
course there were those who believed that his death was a judgment for his sins, 
although if it were, it was certainlv too light a punishment for the evil he had been 
permitted to do. 

Perhaps you can see how Providence, throughout all history brings good out of 
evil, and weaves everything in the great web of human destiny in such a way that no 
threads, however dark or bloody, are allowed to make the fabric worthless, though it 
is dreadfully stained here and there with crimes, sorrows, and mistakes. 

What the Goths had left in Rome the Vandal king wiio had so long threatened 
the empire, bore away to his capital in Africa, 454 A. D. The treasures which they 
did not care to take, the X'andals broke to pieces and destroyed, .so that to this day, 
" vandalism " means wanton destruction. Pope Leo, in vain pleaded for the city. 
The barbarians spared nothing, they plundered the churches of the treasures taken 
from Jerusalem by Titus, and when the city was stripped, and they had for fourteen 



ROME. 263 

days rioted in its streets, they took the empress, who was thought to have invited 
them into Italy, and with sixty thousand captives and great treasure, sailed away. 
For the next twenty-two years, first one emperor, then another, was set up by 
the hired barbarian troops of Rome. Then Romulus Augustulus became the last 
emperor of Rome, as a Romulus Augustulus had been the first king of the ancient 
kingdom. The second Romulus was soon an emperor without an empire or a 
scepter, for the German chief Odoacer, deposed him and was made ruler of Rome 
under the title of " Patrician of Italy." 

After Romulus Augustulus, bishops and barbarians ruled Rome, until a German 
prince, of whom I shall tell you hereafter, three hundred years later revived the 
name, but not the glory of the Roman empire, for its glory departed forever, when 
Alaric the Goth completed the work begun long centuries ago in the moral decay of 
the people. 

Thus you see the story of empire repeats itself with some variation. The lines 
of all ancient history lead to Rome, and the lines of all modern history lead from it, 
but before we pass on to the great empires founded on the ruins of Rome's dominion, 
I must tell you a little more about Constantinople. 

As Athens had once been the center of Greek culture, so now was Constan- 
tinople, and the empire of the East was a Greek empire. It had so little influence 
on after history, though for ten centuries it dominated the East, that I v.'ill pass over 
it but lightly. I have told you that the Christianit}- of the East was different in 
practice from that of the West, and the Greek church was separated from the Roman 
or Catholic church before the days of Honorious. After Arcadius, who reigned in 
the East while Honorious reigned in the West, there were several emperors who 
were not in any way noticeable, and who had short reigns, until Justinian came to the 
throne 527 A. D. He was king thirty-nine years. He overthrew the Vandals in 
Africa and the Goths in Italy, through the genius of his great general, Belisarius, 
whom by the way, he rewarded, as princes have usually done those who serve them 
well, with ingratitude. 

Justinian wagetl war with the new Persian empire for many years, and began 
that struggle with Bulgarians and .Slavonians, which has never been quite settled. 

The Persian empire under a long list of valiant kings, had grown great and 
powerful, and in many campaigns against the Romans in Asia had subdued nearly 
all the provinces held by the Romans to the Strymon river, taking Armenia, perse- 
cuting Christians and establishing again the old religion of Zoroaster, and the 
history of the empire at Constantinople after Justinian died, is a story of continued 
struggle between these two powers. 

It is not necessary to burden the memory witli the names and campaigns of these 
various Eastern sovereigns. Justinian may be considered the last truly great of the 
Byzantine or Greek emperors, for after him the empire declined. As for Persia 
under the Sassanida?, it too died and left no sign upon our times, so we will leave it 
to its repose under the dust of centuries, and go on to tell you how the Aryans of 
Europe traveled the highway of civilization, antl their adventures. In fact Asia is 
now bountl up with the history of Europe, as is also Africa, and I shall only incident- 
ally tell you the future story of those grand divisions. The history of Asia belongs 
to the past, and the wars of petty kingdoms cannot interest us greatly. We are 
following link by link the world's story, and as Asia and Africa have played their 
part, we will pass them by, telling you only of a great religious revolution which 



264 ROME. 

occurred in the dark ages. While the Byzantine empire defending itself from the 
Persians in ihe East, and Rome in the West, was ruled by bishops and barbarians, 
in the desert bordering the "cd sea, an "event occurred which changed the destinies 
of the whole civilized world, and for twelve centuries, up to this very hour, has 
influenced the life and thought of one hundred and eighty millions of people. 

This was the birth of Mohammed, the great law-giver and apostle of the Arabs, 
who founded a new religion and kindled in Asia and Africa a new light. When 
Mohammed was born the world was in a sad state of disbelief. The Christians 
were quarreling and wrangling so much over the nature of Christ, whether he was 
simply one person, two in one,' or a Trinity, that they neglected to follow the example 
of the great teacher. Image-worship and pompous forms, had more place in men's 
minds than the noble truths of religion, and the Christians though of course having 
received a glimmer of divine revelation through priests and preachers were ignorant, 
superstitious and almost as idolatrc .s in their Christianity as they had been in their 
Paganism. The Jews scattered over all Asia, though still holding on to the faith of 
Abraham and rejecting the new faith, had now long had no visible kingdom and 
Paganism, Zoroastrianism, Magism and idolatry of various kinds filled the East, and 
truth seemed likely to die amidst the mass of error. 

It w^as in the year 509 A. I)., that Mohammed was born, a son of the Koreish 
tribe of Arabs, whose ten chiefs were then the rulers of Mecca, the old, old city that 
had been the center of Arabian life for ages. His people were a mixture of the 
Cushite and Semite, a wild, noble, passionate race, whose minds were brilliant and 
whose bodies were beautiful, lithe and graceful. Quick of thought, swift of action, 
and firm of purpose these .Arabs of the desert, like the Hebrews of old, were poets 
by nature. 

The land in which ihcy lived was a country of desert, and fertile valley, or barren 
mountains and fruitful oases, of tropic heats and desolation, away from the rivers and 
streamlets, but by their sides was such verdure, coolness anil perfume that they called 
the portion where rivulets most abounded "Arabia, the blessed." Over all was the 
deep blue sky with its glittering stars and fathomless mystery, and these impressed 
the fancy of the race. 

Mohammed, w^hen he was a lad, tended his uncle's tlocks and herds amid the 
solitudes and grew up, like the prophets of old, a wandering shepherd. His father 
and mother had died when he was very young and his kind-hearted uncle had given 
him a home. This uncle was a man of sc.ie wealth and much influence in his tribe, 
and when he went to Syria on a caravan journey when his little nephew was thirteen 
years old, took him along. In Syria the young Mohammed received many new 
impressions an I these were deepened and strengthened by other journeys made in 
the next five years. He came in contact with Christianity and Judaism and pondered 
much over their great truths. 

When he was five and twenty, he was noted for his pure life, sober manners and 
beauty of person, winning the heart of a widow, "rich, fair and forty," he married her 
and lived a quiet peaceful life in his native city. 

Xow you must know that the Ar.bs were idolators who worshipped the sun, 
moon and stars as did the Cushites of old, but like the Jews th'ey had traditions of the 
Patriarch, who went out from I'r in the old times. At Mecca was a temple called 
Caabah which thej' declared .Abraham built ami in it suspended from the roof was a cele- 
brated black stone which they said fell from heaven. Near by was the well of Zem- 



ROM 



ti. 



265 



T;il)k'ts luiil Stylus. 



zem, so-called from the musical gurgle of its waters and there it was that 
the angel directed Hagaar and their ancestor Ishmael. The city itself, they 
strongly asserted, was as old as Adam. The Caabah was a sacred place to 
all the Arab tribes, and Pilgrims came every year to the well of Zemzem 
which was also considered holy. Merchants also came, and in time Mecca 
became the fair of Arabia, just as Njina Nov-gorod is now the fair of 
Russia. It was natural that a city should grow up about the temple and 
the well, even though they were situated in a melancholy valley :. ..rrounded 
by dreary rugged hills but scantily clothed with verdure, and Mecca soon 
became a station of the commerce between India and the Western 
countries. 

■ Mohammed was convinced after years of thought, for he was a 
thoughtful man, that the image worship of hi.=, nation was a false religion, 
that Jesus had been divinely sent and that there was but one God. His 
faith in this God was submission, or Islam, and when he told his wife his 
belief she was convinced that he was right and became his first follower. 
To Seid, his slave, he told the same story, and to Ali, his young cousin, 
and they believed him, but when he told this man and that man who came 
to worship in the Caabah that the idols were only senseless images, they 
would not listen, and in three years he had but thirteen followers. Then 
he made a feast to which he invited forty men, and when the banquet was 
being served, preached to them the revelation his soul had received, about the true 
God, but only Ali professed faith in it. 

After this Mohammed preached with the natural tirey eloquence of an enthusiast 
but not with the skill perhaps of the learned bishops of the church, for he could 
neither read nor write. His creed slowly gained ground until the Koreish tribe 
determined to kill him, fearing that his succes would make their city no longer the 
resort of pilgrims. Mohammed fled from his foes and lived in a cave until the 
danger was past, then he went to Medina, two hundred miles away, where he made 
many converts. He had been patient many years, and now he was growing old and 
there was little time left to accomplish what he considered his mission. He thought 
he had tried gentle means long enough, thirteen years, so now he took up arms 
against those who would not believe. His followers were fired with the same zeal, 
and for three-and-twenty years he preached, fought and taught, coixjuering every- 
where, wresting Syria a'" well as all Arabia from the Jews, Idolaters and Romans. 
When he died, in the sixty-third year of his age, one hundred and fourteen thousand 
soldiers were enlisted under his banners, and from the Persian gulf and Indian Ocean 
to the Red Se ., Mohammedamism was the accepted faith, the new religionists calling 
themselves Moslems or Mussulmen, (the faithful). 

To the very last, though surrounded with the pomp of oriental royalty, Moham- 
med lived a simple life, eating only barley bread and dates, and drinking water, 
clothing himself in rough garments which he himself washed and mended. 

After him, the Caliphs who ruled his empire, carried Islam with fire and sword 
into Egypt, took Alexandria from the Greeks, burned Carthage which had long been 
rebuilt, but was only a shadow of the once mighty city, and destroyed the Vandal 
kingdom in Spain. They also overthrew the new Persian empire and made western 
Asia and northern Africa Moslem, which they are to this day. The Mohammedans 
crossed also into Europe, and conquered the Goths in Spain, for these people grown 




266 ROME. 

civilized and unwarlike in that country, had built cities and towns, and founded a 
flourishing kingdom long before. In Spain, for eight hundred years they reigned, 
leaving beautiful specimens of their art and architecture. The good Horoun-al- 
Raschid of " The Arabian Xights" was one of these mighty Mohammedan kings, 
whose capital of Bagdad was the Athens of the East, where learning, arts and 
sciences which are useful to this day, were preserved to us, and where ambas.sadors 
assembled from every court in the known world. 

The Mohammedans conquered Jerusalem, which had been rebuilt by the Chris- 
tian Romans, and was revered by tiie whole Christian world. But Jerusalem was a 
holy city to them, also, and they let the Christians keep " the place of the holy 
sepulchre," but built on the ruins of the temple of Solomon, the mosque of Omar, 
which still stands there. They ravaged the coast of Italy, Sicily and Crete, and 
settled there, and if they had succeeded in their many attempts to conquer Constan- 
tinople, all of Europe might have become Moslem, and Christianity and civilization 
been long delayed in their development. It was very early in their warlike history 
that the Moslem gained the title of " Saracens," or Marauders, and they were so 
fierce, zealous and persistent that the Koran, which is their sacred book, seemed 
likely to become the gospel of the whole world. It was th'- invention of a combus- 
tible material called Greek lire, which saved Constantinople. The valiant Saracens 
believed this material to be some demoniac preparation, but we know that it was 
only a combination of pitch, naptha and sulphur, which Callinicus, a Christian subject 
of the Caliph, discovered and made known to the Byzantine Greeks. 

This liquid death was poured upon the besiegers of Constantinople from the 
walls of the city, shot by arrows dipped in it into their armors, and to the rigging of 
their ships. W ater only made it burn more fiercely, and when an unfortunate wr*etch 
was once struck with a shaft dipped in the compound, his flesh was burned to the 
\ery bone, and he died in dreadful agony. 

After awhile the Saracens determined to conquer all of l-^urope starting from 
Spain, but the Christian hosts under the Prankish king, Charles Martel, met them 
at Tours and there just one hundred years after the death of Mohammed, the greatest 
struggle of all history took place. For seven days the hosts confronted each other and 
on the eighth Charles Martel earnetl his title "the hammer," by driving the invaders 
across the mountains with the loss of many thousands of their bravest trooi)S and 
ended forever all Moslem attempts upon Europe. The Saracen kingdom in Spain 
declined^ irom that time, was broken into several petty states, and hnallv conquered 
by the Christians sovereigns of Arragon and Castile, Isabella, of blessed memory, 
and Ferdinand, her husband. This occurred in the greatest year of the world's 
history, 1492, and e.xcept the year of the advent of Christ none other was so 
momentous since the dawn of history. 

In the East the Saracen empire long flourished, and in Egypt Christian civiliza- 
tion alniost perished under their heavy \oke, but after awhile both were conquered 
by the Turk, as we shall see hereafter. 




Koniau Chair. 




^^^ ROM Rome's earliest days she was harrassed by 
-^ tribes of barbarians that from time to time 



issued from the forests of the north and plun- 
dered Italy.' The Romans, as you have learned, called 
these people Gauls and Germans, though they were of many 
different tribes, some of them Celtic Aryans, others of Scan- 
dinavian origin, and all extremely fierce and warlike. 

Marius carried war beyond Cisalpine Gaul into the country where these bar- 
barians hunted in the woods, fished in the streams and lived in huts built of mud 
and sticks, something like those in which the Indians of North America lived a 
hundred years ago, but the defeats he inflicted upon the Gauls were not lasting 
checks. It was Julius Ca;sar who was the first of the great Roman generals to realize 
that Rome could only be preserved from the Gauls by thoroughly conquering and 
civilizing them. 

We have seen how well Cassar accomplished the work of conquest and how his 
successors followed it up with civilization. We have also seen how Southern Gaul 
became thoroughl^^ Romanized and Christianized, and even the Goths received the 
Arian form of Christian doctrine before they settled in Spain. We must remember, 
however, that when the Romans spoke of Gaul, they meant all the land between the 
Rhine and Atlantic and stretching from the borders of England to the extremity of 
the Spanish peninsula. 

At the time when Atilla, "the scourge of God," threatened the civilization of 
Gaul with utter destruction, there were several German tribes settled in Western 
Gaul who joined themselves to their Romanized kindred of the South to beat off the 
invader, and it was for these later comers into the Gaulish land that the victory over 
Atilla bore the richest fruit. The Romanized Gauls had laid aside their martial 
habits, while these Germanic tribes that had settled in the country were as warlike 
as ever, thus il was natural that the latter should in time conquer them and become 
possessors of the soil. 

How long the Franks had been fixed in Gaul, when they first appear in history, 
we do not know, but evidently for many centuries. They were divided into two 
tribes v.'ho lived along the Moselle and Rhine, and at different times had allied them- 
selves with the Romans against various enemies of the empire. They had traditions 
of several kings before.the fifth century, but their sovereign power was exercised 



268 



FRANCE. 




Costuine of Ancleiu Gnu). 



under the eyes, and with the consent of the Roman governors of 
^ ^ Gaul, and was bounded by the narrow limits of the place of their hrst 

' residence in the country. The Franks (or freemen I of the river Saale, 

felt themselves strong enough in the fifth centur}^ to throw off Roman 
restraint, and under Clovis, their great nation-builder, became respected 
and feared by their neighbors, the Burgundians, who had founded a 
kingdom on the Rhone and Saone, and by the Romanized Gauls. 
Clovis was the grand-son of Meroveus, the founder of the first historic 
line of Frankish kings. His people were imperious, fierce, half-savages, 
Druids in religion, who despised the civilization of the Romans with its 
restraint upon personal freedom. Clovis was only sixteen j^ears old 
4.t=<i when he became the chief of his tribe, but even then he had an ambition 

fk^ to be something more than a petty chief. At one-and-twenty the bent of 

this ambition was clear, and thereafter he followed it as long as he 
lived. At Soissons, not far from the country of the Salian Frank's, the 
tribe over which Clovis ruled, there was a Roman governor who had 
shown himself hostile to them. Clovis determined to conquer him, but 
as he was not strong enough to accomplish it alone, he sent to Sigbert, 
chief of another Frankish tribe upon the Rhine, and asked his aid. 
Sigbert, fearing the vengeance of the Roman Gauls in case of failure, refused. 
His cousin, Ragnacaire, chief of the Cambrian Franks, was, however, persuaded to 
join Clovis. and the two allied tribes drove the Romans from Soissons, and plundered 
the city. 

What reward Ragnacaire received for his help I will tell you in due time, but 
thereafter Soissons was for a long time the headquarters of Clovis. 

The Christian churches in those days were almost as rich in the treasures which 
the pious had dedicated to the service of religion, as the heathen shrines were in ancient 
times, while the monasteries, too, had their share of worldly goods. It was against 
these churches and monasteries that Clovis directed many of his plundering expedi- 
tions, for he had a desire to enrich himself and his people with gold and movable 
property as well as with land. In reality the Salian Franks were then but a rufiianly 
band of robbers, who took everj'thing they could lay their hands upon, and their king 
was but a bandit chief. 

Nevertheless, Clovis became the hero of the Franks, for he was not at all 
particular about the rights of others, and did not scruple to knock upon the head 
those who opposed him, cut their throats, or otherwise dispose of them, and take 
unto himself all of their possessions. In the old days of violence, when society con- 
sisted only of two classes — those who were doing wrong and those who were being 
wronged — the wrong-doer received the lion's share of name and fame, and con- 
querors from the days of Rameses the Great, or even before him, down to our own 
times have usually been ruffians, gilded with a halo of romance. 

Clovis was as fierce and brutal as the people over whom he ruled, but he was 
crafty, too, and could be patient when there was any motive therefor. To show you 
this trait in his character, I will tell you an incident that occurred when he was still a 
very young man. 

One of the expeditions he led out from Soissons plundered the church of the 
town of Rheims, taking from it, not only the silver candlesticks, richly embroidered 
altar cloth, censors, images and like temporal emblems of spiritual things, but carrying 



FRANCE. 269 

away also a beautiful vase of remarkable size and workmanship, wliicli was tlie 
baptismal font, an 'i highly prized by Saint Remi, the bishop. The good Saint Remi 
was greatly vexed on account of the loss of all the costly ornaments of his church, 
and especially concerning the vase. In times past he had shown himself the friend 
of Clovis, and he therefore decided to send a messenger to the king and request 
him to return the property of the church, or at least the vase. 

The messenger came up with Clovis and his band near Soissons, and preferred 
his requ< t. The king told him it was not in his power to grant it just then, but if 
he would follow to Soissons he would cause the vase to be restored. Accordingly the 
messenger went on to Soissons where the booty taken upon the expedition was 
heaped up to be divided among the warriors. Lots were cast, each warrior rf^^eiving 
his share, according to his rank and valor. 

In those days the king could not claim the whole right to any conquest and 
reward whom he pleased, but was obliged to take his portion. Clovis was allotted 
his, and when it was separated from the boot)^ he asked to have over and above his 
share the vase taken from Rheims. Most of the warriors were willing, antl told him 
to take not only the vase but anything else that he wished, for his valor and power 
deserved the best that could be offered. There was one hot-headed young warrior, 
who could not see any justice in the king having more than his lawful share and he 
cried out: 

"Thou shalt have naught of all this but what the lots truly give thee," and struck 
tl.e vase an angry blow with his battle-axe. 

There was a great hubbub, we may be sure at these presumptuous words and the 
young Frank was unceremoniously crowded into the back-ground by his elders who 
with many apologies pressed Clovis to accept the vase. Clovis took it with an air of 
patience and dignity that implied that he was above the hurt that the young warrior's 
words were intended to convey; he gave it to the messenger to carry to the bishop, 
and soon all had forgotten the hasty words of the young Frank — all but Clovis and 
he never forgot an injury. 

All that year Clovis was busy conquering and plundering cities, and showing to 
his Gothic and Roman foes some of the qualities of his genius as a warrior. When 
the year was over he called all of his men fully armed to parade before him for 
inspection. He passed his warriors in review, one by one, until he came to the 
Frank who had spoken so insultingly to him concerning the vase. Pausing before 
him Clovis scanned the young man fiercely from head to foot, his blue eyes flashing 
and his proud lips curling in scorn. No doubt the young warrior's heart quaked, for 
even a courtier needs to fear when his king looks thus upon him, much more, then, a 
blunt-spoken offender against majesty; but the man who has the courage to defy a 
king can bear his most withering glance and the young Frank returned the gaze 
c ilmly, without any outward sign of confusion. After a brief pause the king spoke: 
"None hath brought thither arms so ill-kept as thine; nor lance, nor sword, nor 
battle-axe fit for use," he thundered, and plucking the soldier's battle-axe from him 
flung it on the ground. 

The soldier said not a word in reply, and if Clovis had been a little less brutal 
he would have been satisfied with the humiliation he had already heaped upon the 
warrior. When the Frank, shame-faced, at the public rebuke, as unmerited, as 
unexpected, bent and would have recovered his weapon, the king raised his battle- 
axe and with a mighty blow clove the fellow's skull saying, "Thus didst thou t^ the 



270 FRANCE. 

vase of Soissons." Having shown how he would revenge insults the king then 
allowed his warriors to disperse. 

When Clovis was about five-and twenty he began to cast an eye about him for a 
ivife. There were many fair maids among the F"ranks but he set his heart upon a 
Burgundian p'-incess named Clotilda, or rather he set his heart upon gaining 
Burgundy through his marriage with Clotilda. The maiden was the niece of the 
Burgundian king, Gondebaud, and like all of the heroines of romance was "the 
fairest woman in the whole world." Clotilda had been orphaned by Gondebaud, 
who had taken the precaution, not unusual in those days, of killing his brother, 
fearing that he might one day aspire to the throne. 

His prudence did not stop there. He cut off the heads of his two nephews and 
cast their bodies into a deep well and flung their mother into the river Rhone with a 
weight about her neck to make sure that she would drown speedily. 1 lis two nieces 
he spared, allowing one of them to go into a nunnery, and the other, Clotilda, to live 
in humble poverty and retirement in Geneva. 

Now the fame of Clotilda's beauty and goodness reached the ears of Clovis and 
fired his imagination. She was a royal princess, of old German blood, a fit consort 
for him, and above all by marrying her he might have a just pretence for seizing the 
kingdom of Burgundy. 

It seems that Gondebaud kept strict watch over his niece antl would allow no 
suitors to approach her, but Clovis was clever enough to attain his object. He knew 
a Roman named Aurelian, the same who was afterward emperor, who was anxious 
to help him win the maid. Aurelian had his own reasons for desiring Clovis to 
prosper in his wooing. Clotilda was a devout Catholic, and Clovis was a Pagan. If 
Clotilda married the Prankish king, she would no doubt convert him, and the church 
throughout that portion of Gaul would have ig him a powerful protector. Aurelian 
dressed himself in rags and went on foot to Geneva, appearing as a holy pilgrim 
before Clotilda, who was as charitable as she was beautiful. The gracious lady 
received the supposed pilgrim who blessed her with as much unction as any holy 
father could have done. As she bent over him to remove his dusty sandals and 
minister to him, he whispered to her: "Lady, I have great matters to announce to 
thee," and asked to have a secret talk with her. Clotikla managed to find an oppor- 
tunity to hear the purport of Aurelian's mission, and when he showed her Clovis' 
signet ring, and told her that the Prankish king loved her for her beauty, sorrows 
and good deeds, and wished to marry her, she was glad and told Aurelian to hurry 
back to Clovis and tell him to send messengers at once to her uncle, Gondebaud, to 
ask her hand. This haste was necessary, she said, for her uncle's chief adviser, 
Aridius was in Constantinople and might return at any time and persuade him not 
to grant the request of Clovis. This Aridius was her enemy, and she feared him, 
but with haste all might be well. 

She gave her ring to Aurelian that he might carry it to Clovis, and after receiv- 
ing, also a purse from her hands he journeyed back home. On the way he was 
robbed of the purse by a holy pilgrim, for many of them were thieving vagabonds, 
who found it more easy and profitable to get a Hying by mumbling prayers and 
robbing travelers than to work for it, but he took the ring to Clovis, to whom he 
recounted his adventures, and also related Clotilda's suggestions. 

Without an hour's delay, a deputation was sent to the court of Gondebaud, to 
propose the marriage. The Burgundian king either afraid to refuse, or thinking that 



FRAN'CE. 271 

he could make a powerful friend of Clovis by marrying his niece to him, at once 
consented, and after the ambassadors had offered a small sum of money, according 
to an old German custom, Clotilda was declared bethrothed to Clovis, and the depu- 
tation demantled that Gondebaud yield her to' them straightway, to be married to 
their king. 

At Chalons, the Franks received Clotilda from Gondebaud, who sent along also, 
some treasures as her wedding gift, and they put them and her into a covered car- 
riage drawn by oxen, to take her to Clovis. Some faithful friend had told Clotilda 
that Aridius had returned, and was perhaps, even then, at the court of Gondebaud. 
Fearing that her uncle might repent his consent after he had consulted with his 
adviser, upon dismissing the Burgundian escort who went some distance with her 
upon her journey, she told the Franks that they must take her out of the carriage — 
a slow lumbering affair drawn by oxen, put her at once on a swift horse, and take 
horses themselves, for if they did not make all haste, they would surely be overtaken 
by messengers from Gondebaud, and Clovis robbed of his bride. The Franks did as 
she desired, and rode night and day to Villers, where Clovis was waiting her, and as 
a sign to her uncle of what the future had in store for him, just before she crossed 
the borders of his kingdom and entered Frankish territory, Clotilda received per- 
mission from Clovis to plunder, burn and destroy, in his name, all Burgundian 
property for a space of si.\-and-thirty miles along the road, and having done this she 
was taken to Clovis who was overjoyed to meet her, and they were married. 

Now Aridius had indeed reached the court of Gondebaud and was amazed when 
he heard the Burgundian king had given his niece to Clovis. He excited the fears of 
the monarch by predicting endless wars which she would incite the Franks to make 
against him, in revenge for the murder of her relatives. Gondebaud speedily repented 
his haste, as Clotilda had foreseen, and sent a body of armed men to bring his niece 
and her wedding portion back, but she was safe with Clovis when the Burgundians 
came to the place where she had left the carriage and taken to horse, and they were 
compelled to return without her. 

The Catholic Christians were greatly rejoiced when Clovis and Clotilda were 
wed, and thought that his love for his queen might lead him to profess the faith, but 
for along time, in spite of her arguments and persuasions, he would not do so. In 
course of time a son was born to the royal pair, and pious Clotilda wanted to have 
him baptized. She told her husband, as she had often done since their marriage, that 
his gods were only senseless wood and stone, but that the great unseen God was the 
only true one. For some time Clovis refused to allow the babe to be christened, but 
at last consented, for despite his fierce cruelty, his craft and wickedness, he loved his 
fair young wife too well to refuse her anything upon which she had really set her 
heart. 

Soon after the little creature was baptized, it sickened. All that agonized love 
could do, all the prayers of the mother and the good bishop who had touched its 
forehead with the holy water, and made upon it the sign of the cross, in memory of 
Him who loves little children, did not save the young prince. He died, and Clovis 
in his grief declared that it was because the babe had been dedicated to the God of 
the Christian, that his life had been taken. 

Another son was born to Clotilda and he too was baptized in the name of Christ, 
and he too sickened. Again did Clovis reproach his queen, but the child lived, and 
Clovis began to believe a little less in his Pagan idols, and more in Christ. At 



272 



FRAXCi:. 


















Karlj- Gallic Hut. 



length, accompanied by Aurelian, Clovis led 
his Prankish army against a wild German 
tribe who were attacking tlic Franks that 
were settled upon tl. j Rliinc. A desperate 
battle w'as in progress at Talbiac, near 
Cologne, and the Prankish forces were 
being driven back when Aurelian turned to 
Clovis and urged him to have faith in Christ 
and the Cod of Clotilda and all would be 
well. The Pagan king solemnly called 
upon Christ asking liim for the victory, 
jileading with llim to save his cause and 
he promised that should his prayer be 
granted he would forever worship God and abandon his old idols. Afterwards lead- 
ing his Pranks again to the charge, Clovis gained a glorious victory. 

Great was the joy of the good queen when she heard of the vow of her husband 
and she straightway sent to Saint Remi.the Bishop of Rhcims, to ask him to come and 
labor to show Clovis the truths of the Gospel. He came and the Pranks al! 
assembled from far and near at the bidding of the king, who e.xpected them lo 
murmur a little when commanded to give up their gods. Perhaps the people remem- 
bered the incident of the vase of Soissons, or it may be they were really tired of 
their gods, at any rate before the king could open his mouth to command them, they 
cried out that they would no longer worship idols and would believe in Christ — all 
except three thousand warriors, who shouted for their old gods and marched off to 
join Ragnacaire, the chieftain, who, as I told you, was Clovis' neighbor and cousin 
at Cambria. 

it was on Christmas Day, 4q6, that Clovis was baptized with great sliow and 
pomp in the presence of his people. As he stood with his head bowed over the font. 
Saint Remi said solemnly, "Lower thy head, with humility, Si-Cambrian. Adore 
what thou hast burned and burn what thou hast adored." Then he baptized the 
king, his two sisters, and three thousand of his warriors with their wives and children 
and the Salian Pranks, or Franks of the Saale, as they were called, became Christians. 
Clovis and his people were not very much changed by this baptismal ceremony. 
They plundered and killed as before, sparing however the churches, and the king 
used his fame and influence as a Catholic, just as many people of all creeds use their 
religion these days — he made it a cloak for his evil designs and an instrument to 
work out his ambition. We know he had always intended to conquer Burgundy, but 
being now a Catholic he had a good excuse. The disputes between the Arians and 
Catholics of that kingdom Gondebaud had vainly cried to settle, for secretly, 
Clovis all the time fermented them through trusted agents. These gave him a 
pretext for an invasion into Burgundy with an army in defense of the Catholic cause. 
He subjected Gondebaud and only consented to leave him his crown on payment 
of heavy tribute receiving the hearty congratulations of the Pope for his action and 
pl'miing himself greatly on his services to the new faith. 

The Visigoths in Southwestern Gaul were Arians and now the righteous Clovis, 
who burned with the desire to seize their lands but pretending to burn with zeal 
toward the Catholic faith, determined to conquer them. The king of these Goths 
was Alaric II., son-in-law of Theodoric the Great, king of Italy, and he was married 



FRANCE. 273 

to the sister of Clovis He was an amiable, peaceful, monarch who had never injured 
Clovis or his kingdom in any way and there was no real cause of dispute between 
them. 

When Theodoric saw that Clovis was inclined to war he was anxious that blood- 
shed might be avoided and to this end brought about a meeting between the two 
kings on an island in the river Loire. They were so very loving and courteous to 
each other that one who did not know them would have thought all their extrava- 
gant pledges of friendship were made in good faith. Alaric's were, for he earnestly 
desired peace, but Clovis was as determined upon war as ever and only waited for a 
more reasonable pretext. 

This was furnished him by a meddlesome priest of Rodez, who when Clovis lay 
ill publicly prayed that he might get well again. The Visigoths hated Clovis and 
some of them openly murmured that the priest had prayed for the restoration of 
their enemy. It is not at all certain that the priest had not been secretly bribed to 
the course he took, foreseeing its consequences. At all events he claimed that his 
life was in danger an account of his friendship for Clovis and fled to the protection 
of the Franks, whereupon Clovis speedily set out to drive the Goth_ out of Gaul. 

How very pious Clovis was, is told by the old chroniclers. When he crossed Tours 
he told his soldiers not to take anything except water and grass in the province, in honor 
of Saint Martin of Tours. One of his soldiers took some hay, and was struck dead 
by the king for the offense, the difference between hay and grass not being of so 
much importance to the Saint as the opportunity of exercising his natural cruelty in 
such a holy cause was to Clovis. We are told too that as he crossed Tours, he 
vowed his horse to Saint Martin in case of victory against the Goths, but after he 
had gained it, he made up his mind that it was lawful to cheat the Saint and keep 
his horse. The priestly chronicle then relates that the horse refused to stir from its 
tracks whereupon Clovis, with a great oath swore that Saint Martin was useful in time 
of trouble but a hard creditor and unwillingly enough slew his beautiful war horse. 

W'hen Clovis had routed the Goths, taken most of their treasure and their 
country, he went back to his own kingdom, fixed his capital in the town of Paris, a 
collection of rude huts on the Seine, and made new plans of violence, for he had 
determined to be king of all the Franks as well as of his own tribe and of the nations 
already conquered. 

First he sent a message to Cloderic, son of Sigbert, representing that since 
Sigbert was old and could not live long anyway, it would be well were he dead, and 
Cloderic the king, for Sigbert had always been the enemy of Clovis, while his son 
was inclined to be his friend. Cloderic took the hint, and having killed his aged 
father, replied to the messengers that the power and treasures of Sigbert were now 
his, and Clovis might send trusty people to him, and he would give to them what 
pleased the great king of Paris. This was rash in Cloderic, for had he known Clovis 
better, he might have been sure that only the whole would satisfy him. The Ambas- 
sadors came to Cloderic, and as he was displaying to them his father's treasure, he 
opened a box piled high with shining gold. When he bent forward to plunge his hand 
into the coffer, to show his guests that it was full of yellow metal to the very bottom, 
one of the ambassadors of the most Christian king of all Gaul, at the direction of 
his master, who had sent him for the express purpose of killing Cloderic, clove his 
skull with a battle-axe, ant, carried his treasure to Clovis. The crafty king assembled 
the subjects of Sigbert, and told them a story about Sigbert having been murdered 



274 FRANCE. 

by robbers, and Cloderic too, having lost his life by some unknown assassin, and 
solemnly declared that he had nothing at all to do with the death of the two who were 
his relatives. Then he intimated that the tribe might as well make him their king. 
and knowing perhaps that he would make himself king if they did not, they raised 
him on a huge buckler, hailed him their lawful king, and promised to obey him 
forever. 

So far good, but there were a few other Prankish chiefs that must be removed 
before Clovis could be king of all the Franks. One of these had refused to help 
Clovis drive the Romans from Soissons, twenty years before, and he had treasured it 
up against him all that time. He now invaded his territory, and took him and his 
son prisoner. 

It was the custom with the Christian kings of those days, when they unlawfully 
took the crown and provinces of some neighboring prince, if they spared the owner's 
life, to make him don the gown of a monk, have his crown shaved, and retire to some 
monastery to pray for the souls of his enemies, no matter whether he felt so disposed 
or not. Once thus gowned and shaven, the poor captive princes were as dead to the 
world as though the mold rested over their bones in the church-yard, and we don't 
wonder that they thought the latter a better fate, when we recall the free life they 
led and their active habits of bod}-. 

Clovis condemned this chief and his brave, handsome young son, to a monastery. 
They were duly gowned and shaven, and as the father bemoaned their sad future, 
the son pointed to some green branches that had been broken from a tree near by, 
and expressed a wish that Clovis might die before new branches could sprout on the 
tree from which the twigs had been broken. Some wretched tale-bearer repeated 
the young man's words to Clovis, and on account of them, both father and son were 
straightway beheaded. 

Ragnacaire helped Clovis against the Romans, you will remember, but now he 
was the last but one of the F"rankish chiefs, and Clovis invaded his territory. Rasjna- 
caire was defeated in battle, and with his brother. Riquier, escaped from the field, 
but they were captured by some of his own treacherous warriors and brought before 
Clovis with their hands bound behind them. When the king looked upon Ragna- 
caire, bound and helpless, he pretended great indignation. "Wherefore hast thou 
dishonored our race by letting thyself wear bonds, " he cried, "'twere better to have 
died"! Then he lifted his great battle-axe and struck the helpless prisoner dead at 
his feet. Turning to Riquier, Clovis reproached him for not aiding his brother better, 
so the disgrace of his having been bound would not have occurred. When he had 
vented his humor, he struck Riquier dead also. Only one other chief now remained. 
He was quickly disposed of, and Clovis remained, " by the Grace of God," sole king 
of the Franks. 

When he had murdered all of his kindred, Clovis pretended to mourn over his 
solitary condition, but he paid a large sum of money into the church, and pretended 
to be very penitent for his crimes, so of course he was granted absolute pardon, 
written upon paper by a divine hand in answer to the prayer of the bishop, Eleu- 
therus, we are told, though we are inclined to think that the " divine hand " that 
wrote that pardon in the queer cramped old Gothic characters, had already clutched 
and counted over the gold, stained with blood and crime, which Clovis had poured 
into the church treasury, and if it had been heaped monntains high, could not have 
purchased pardon for one of the many murders with which this barbarian king had 



FRANCE. 



275 




stained his soul. Clovis though not an old man had lived up his 
strength in deeds of violence, and his life was now about to close 
with an act for which posterity was to be long grateful to him. 
He called together at Orleans thirty bishops, who represented the 
education, piety and wisdom of Gaul, and they framed thirty-one 
laws, which were in the main, favorable to humanity, and which 
bound together the church and State, in a close union, giving 
also great powers to royalty. Having done this, he died in the 
year 511 A. D., in the forty-sixth year of his age, leaving his 
kingdom to his four sons, who divided it among them into four 
kingdoms, each having a different capital. 

Queen Clotilda had seen many sorrows in her time, but others 
were to fill her cup, for her sons had much of the cruel disposition 
of their father, and Clodomir, one of these sons, went to v/ar 
against the Burgundians, the old enemies of the father, and 
defeating them captured the king, queen and their two sons and 
kept them in prison in his capital of Orleans a whole year. Finally 
he made up his mind to kill them, but a certain good Abbot warned iTaucLsam Mont :ma .\ m,. 

him that if he did so he himself would have measured out by fate the same com- 
passion he showed to the captives. Clodomir had seen wickedness prosper too often 
to be easily frightened, so he scorned the priest's admonition. 

Soon after this he himself was taken in ambush by the Burgundians and killed, 
and his three little sons became heirs to his kingdom. These children were greatly 
beloved by their grandmother Clotilda, who kept them with her in Paris, but two of 
the other sons of Clovis were jealous of the love their mother bore the orphans, and 
plotted together to get rid of them so that they might have their portion of the 
kingdom. They sent word to Clotilda telling her that if she would send the children 
to them they would seat them on their father's throne. The unsuspicious Clotilda 
sent the little ones, with their tutors and servants to the uncles, one of whom was 
king of Paris, with a palace near at hand. 

As soon as they got the young princes in their power, the two kings sent to 
Clotilda a sword and a pair of shears asking her whether she "would that the sons 
of Clodomir be shaven or shorn," or in other words whether the little ones should 
wear their lives out behind the dreary walls of a monastery or be killed at once. 
The poor queen wept and lamented, saying she would rather see the children corpses 
than monks, and the messenger returned this answer. As soon as he had repeated 
it to the kings in the presence of the little lads, one of them seized the eldest boy, 
flung him upon the floor and stabbed him to the heart. The other little prince, a 
boy of seven, seeing his little brother who was three years older, thus wantonly mur- 
dered, threw himself at the feet of the other king. In the most pitiful ami touching 
language he begged him to save his life, clasped his knees and clung there imploring 
mercy, until the heart of his wicked uncle was melted and with tears running down 
his cheeks he too begged the murderer to spare the child. The assassin was furious 
and threatened to take the lives of both if his brother did not at once fling off the 
child. Childebert then thrust the child toward his brother, Clotaire, who killed him 
with a stroke of his dagger, and then looked about him for the youngest prince, 
scarcely more than a baby, but he looked in vain, for a certain brave baron had 
snatched him up and carried him away. I would like to tell you that the little prince 



276 FRANCE. 

thus saved grew up to punish his cruel uncles, but he did not, for he was reared in 
seclusion, and when he was a man became a pious priest, and founded the monastery 
of Saint Cloud near Paris. 

In the next two hundred and forty-one years, eight and twenty Merovingian 
kings reigned over the kingdom of the Franks and eight royal princes were mur- 
dered, and thus never came to the throne at all. In the history of even the Persian 
kingdom there were never more i uel, faithless and wicked monarchs than these 
Merovingian rulers, and there were among them queens not a whit less bad than the 
kings. You have no doubt read of Fredegondq, the daughter of a peasant who 
became queen and whose dark crimes stained forever the fame of her beauty and 
genius, for she was both beautiful and gifted. F"redegonde raised herself to power 
through her remarkable beauty which attracted the attent,ion of the king of Neustria, 
or Western Gaul, who murdered his wife, the sister of Brunehaut, to marry her. 
Brunehaut was a princess in whose veins ran the bK)od of a long line of kings and in 
spite of her wickedness she gained the friendship of popes and bishops and was the 
wife of the king of Austrian or Ei^stern Gaul. These two infamous women murdered 
their relatives, plunged the nation into war and stirred up all manner of dissensions 
for many years, but at last after thirty-nine years of strife Brunehaut's own nobles 
united with her enemies against her, took her prisoner and gave her up to Clotaire 
II., son of Fredegonde. 

Brunehaut was eighty years old but her age did not save her from Clotaire's 
vengeance. I le seated her upon a camel and paraded her in front of his army, then 
caused her to be tied by the hair and one arm to the tail of a wild horse thit dashed 
her to pieces before the eyes of the savage Franks as it plunged and kicked to rid 
itself of its burden. 

Dagobert who was ne.xt to Clovis, the greatest of all the Merovingians, was made 
a saint after he died, though while he lived he was anything but saintly. Once he 
promised protection to nine thousand Bulgarians, who had been driven from Pan- 
nonia, and had taken refuge among his Bavarian subjects. Being not a little puzzled 
to know what to do with the refugees, and how to provide them food, as the most 
natural solution to the problem, he ordered them all murdered in one night, and 
scarcely seven hundred of them escaped by flight. 

The Merovingian kings, after Dagobert amounted to nothing. They were kept in 
retirement by the Mayors of the palace, who were the real rulers, and who saw that 
the weak kings had plenty of amusement, and were only shown to the people once a 
year. One of these Mayors of the palace, Pepin D'Heristal, conquered the Neus- 
trians or western I"" ranks, and for twenty-seven years was ruler of France. He forced 
the tribes of Germany to acknowledge his power, and introduced Christianity among 
them. When he died, sometime in the year 764, his son, Charles Martel, became 
Mayor, or Duke in his p. .ice, and was even more famous than his father. 

You will remember that the Arabs had long ago mastered the Visigoths in Spain, 
and they had also conquered the Berbers or Moors of the Mediterranean countries 
of Africa, and compelled them to accept Islamism. The Moors had settled in Spain 
along with the Arabs, but had never outgrown their hatred to their conquerors, 
although they were enthusiastic Mohammedans. A gallant Moorish chief was ruler 
in northern Spain in the days of Charles Martel, and in southern France a Duke of 
Aquitania made an alliance with him against the Arabs who had harrassed his 
dominions and plundered his richest cities, also against Charles Martel, who on the 



FRANCE. 277 

north was threatening to take his little kingdom from him. Now, this Duke had a 
daughter, Lampagie by, name, a maiden whose wonderful beauty was celebrated 
throughout the land. To seal the alliance with the Moors, he sent Lampagie to the 
chief to be his wife. Her beauty won the fiery heart of the Berber, and he loved 
her most truly and tenderly. 

When the Arab governor learned tnat the Moorish chief had plotted to overthrow 
the Arabs, and was collecting an army to make himself supreme in the province over 
which he had been appointed governor, he marched against him with a large army. 
The Berber chief was loath to leave his bride and take the field, so he shut himself 
up with her in a strong fortress and gave himself over to his dream of love. .Soon it 
was rudely broken. The Arabs followed him liotly, took the fortress and the gallant 
chief with his lovely bride were compelled to fiee on foot to the mountains. 

They reached a wild and lonely pass, and a.he'- quenching their thirst at a clear 
waterfall, reclined upon a mossy bank, enjoying the blue of the summer sky, the 
balmy air, and the sweet stillness of nature. .Suddenly the clang of ariuor and the 
tread of soldiers was heard. The brave Berber chief could have easily escaped, but 
Lampagie was utterly spent and could not follow him. 1 le would not leave her, and 
drawing his sword placetl himself before her. The soldiers came nearer, and he saw 
that they were as he had feared, Arabs in search of him. They descried the Berber 
standing with drawn sword before Lampagie. They rushed upon him, but his swift, 
keen blade flashed in the sunlight, and the foremost fell. The others pressed for- 
ward to avenge upon the Moor the death of their fallen comrades, but the chief did 
such brave work with his trusty weapon that he held them at bay. Soon his sword 
was broken short in his hands, and the Arabs called upon him to surrender, but still 
defying them he fell, pierced by a score of wounds. His head was cut off and carried 
to the Arab governor, into whose presence also the beautiful Lampagie was led. The 
Arab swore by the beard of the prophet that she was the fairest woman in the whole 
world, and that none but the Caliph, his master, was fit to possess her, so he sent her 
away to Bagdad and marched across the Pyrenees into France with si.\ty-five thousand 
men, though the old chroniclers say three humlred thousand, to carry Islam into 
Europe. 

Pillaging cities and gathering immense ooty, the .Arabs advanced in j Aquitania. 
The Duke was helpless against the invaders, and prayed Charles Martel, his old 
enemy to come and aid him. The gallant Charles, made the Duke solemnly promise 
to obey him in future, and then with a great army marched to Tours. The Arabs 
were already so laden with booty that they marched but slowly, but they still dreamed 
of pluntlering the rich city of Tours, and carrying its spoil back to their strongholds 
in Spain. 

The fate of Christendom nung upon Charles MartCi and his army of Gauls and 
Franks, who for seven days confronted the Arab host, that seemed little inclined to 
dash itself against the stern, tall, yellow-haired, steel-clad northern warriors. The 
disciplined ranks of the Gauls presented a strong contrast to the disorderly array of 
the invaders, who scurried hither and thither upon their fleet horses, skirmishing 
along the line, but avoidmg for seven days a general encounter. Upon the eighth 
day, the two armies seem to have mutually decided on battle, and a dreadful battle it 
was, raging all day with such fury and lors on both sides, that when the night came, 
the Franks were unable to decide who were the victors. They learned, however, the 
next morning, for when they arose, ready to renew the fight, and dashed down upon 



278 FRANXE. 

the camp of die enemy, they f ouna the tents silent, except for the groans of some dying 
Arab whose comrades had left him behind, for the Saracen arr.iy had stolen away in 
the night, and was far back on its way to Spain, leaving not only the dead and dying 
but the precious booty collected from many sacked cities. On account of the blow 
which this defeat was to the Arab plan of European conquest, Charles Martel was 
ever afterward called the " Hammer." 

This was not the last hard blow "the hammer" struck. He tought the Saxons 
and reduced them to order, and when another duke of Aquitania called the Arabs 
again into Gaul to aid him against the Franks, the gallant Martel, drove them back 
beyond the Pyrenees and made himself ruler of all of Southern Gaul. When he came 
to die he left his office to his two sons, Pepin, The Little, and Carloman. Though so 
long the real ruler of the country, he was never crowned monarch of France, for a 
Merovingian sluggard lived in the palace and bore the name, but neither the dignity 
nor power of king. 

Carloman was a pious youth, and preferring praying to lighting he became a 
monk, giving to Pepin his share of the kingdom of I'rance. Pepin cut off the hair 
of the last of the Merovingian kings, which shows that Christianity had made some 
progress since the days of Clovis, for he usually cut off heads when they were in his 
way. Pepin also called a pope from Italy, had himself anointed with some of the 
sacred oil that had been used to anoint Prankish kings for centuries, and became 
king of France in name as well as office. Pepin was called "The Short" because of his 
stature, but he was nevertheless a great king. Barbarian tribes of Avars and Huns 
on the East who were continually trying to break in and overrun the Prankish king- 
dom, were kept out and the Lombards, a northern tribe that had subjected Italy and 
harrassed the Pope of Rome, were defeated by the Franks who espoused the Roman 
cause. The Lombards were compelled to forego all attempts upon the old capital of 
the fallen empire. The Sa.xons and Bretons too were chastised more than once and 
Pepin ruled right royally. 

He was a good-natured king, and his courtiers used to often joke him about his 
small stature, Pepin bore it patiently for a long time, but one day he invited these 
courtiers to see a fight between a lion and a bull. The beasts were in the mi 1st of a 
most terrific combat, when Pepin turning to his courtiers asked which of them v:ould 
enter the arena and separate the animals. The bravest man might well have s'hrunk 
from such a task, and the courtiers cast their eYes down and were silent. Pepin 
looked at them with a smile, then throwing off his cloak he grasped his sword and 
sprang into the arena. Advancing fearlessly towartl the lion, he awaited its spring, 
and with one stroke pierced its heart. Then swerving nimbly aside to avoid the rush 
of the maddened bull, before it could turn to again attack him, he drew his bkulc 
from the lio.. s body and cutting the tendons of the bull's legs hewed off its head and 
calmly returned to his place. After that Pepin was joked no more about his stature, 
for he had proved that courage is not a ma'ler of size and that skill and coolness are 
more valuable to a warrior than brute strength. 

Pepin had gained his crown by the influence of the Pope, and his kingdom 
through the support of the church and he felt in duty bound to uphold both with 
might and main. Under his protection Christianity spread rapidly, not only in Gaul 
but bevond the Rhine, for Pepin sent missionaries to the German tribes to persuade 
them to forsake their idols, and to the Druid Saxons in their forest fastness. One of 
these missionaries, the good Winifred, converted many of the heathen and built 



FRANCE. 



2/9 




Costume of Franklsh King and Queen. 



schools and colleges throughout France. The old 
struggle with Aquitaine which had been continued at 
intervals since the days of the first mayor of the 
palace was renewed while Pepin was king and the 
Duchy was only brought under control after an eight 
years' war. 

Pepin died in the year 768, and, as his father 
had done, left France to his two sons, Charles and 
Carloman. They fell to quarreling almost imme- 
diately. Their mother reconciled them for a time, 
but no doubt they would have come to blows, had not 
death stepped in to make lasting peace. Carloman 
died, his wife and children fled to the Lombard king 
for safety, and Charles, afterward known as Charles, 
The Great, or Charlemagne, became king of the 
Franks, the greatest and best king of any time or 
nation. Gigantic in figure and remarkably beautiful 
of face, Charlemagne little resembled bis diminutive 
father, Pepin, The Short, although he had his warlike 
spirit, courage and perseverance. He desired every sort of greatness for himself and 
people, religious, political and mental greatness, and this was the ambition of his life. 
To be sure the times were rude and the people ignorant, even the king himself sharing 
the superstitions of the age, but he was a Christian as he understood his duty, for he 
was not only a defender of the faith but eager to carry it to the heathen. The 
Franks called themselves "The defenders of the West," and Charlemagne was a 
king after their own heart. His grandfather, Charles Martel, had decided the 
struggle between Christianity and Islam in Europe, and Charlemagne was to 
overthrow Paganism. 

The Saxons on the right bank of the Rhine had vexed the Franks since the daj's 
of the Merovingians, and had grown more and more bold of recent years. Charle- 
magne determined to conquer them thoroughly, so he assembled an army and 
entered their country, laying it waste with fire and sword, for he considered it little 
crime to kill heathens that jie could not convert. He even penetrated as far as the 
mouth of the River Lippe, where the gallant Arminius nearly eight hundred years 
before, had cut to pieces the legions of Varus and freed all Germany from the 
Roman yoke. At the spot where this ancient battle was fought a rude column had 
been reared by the Germans in memory of the victory. To the Germans this column 
represented the valor and patriotism of their race, and through all the centuries in 
which their traditions preserved the memory of the great deeds of Arminius, they 
worshipped this column as their national emblem, and it was called by the name of 
the gallant deliverer of their country. 

Charlemagne overthrew and destroyed this object of the national worship of the 
Germans, among whom the Saxons were the most numerous and warlike, for he 
thought it a mere Pagan god, antl had no reverence for the associations connected 
with it. The Saxons were in no condition to resist Charlemagne, but they waited 
until he had gone back with his army to Aix la Chapelle, then they killed the soldiers 
he had left in the iovts, murdered the missionaries who were under the protection of 
the garrisons, and invading Frankish territory burned churches, and destroyed every- 



28o 



FRAXCE. 



thing in their way. The Saxons were a fierce, passionate people, divided into many- 
tribes tha t were often quarreling and fighting each other. Charlemagne attacked these 
tribes one by one, and when he had conquered many of them, called them together on 
the borders of their kingdom, and told them what they might e.xpect from him in the 
future if they should rebel. Furthermore, he commanded them to become Chris- 




L^a.. 



CharlcmaBno InsOtuUnp ibe Christian Religion, and DMtrojIng the Sacrji Oaks. 

tians at once. It must have seemed rather strange to those barbarians to have the 
doctrine of peace and love proclaimed by bishops at whose back were half a hundred 
thousand soldiers, ready to give a practical demonstration of vengeance and hatred. 
The soldiers no doubt had more influence in deciding them to accept Christianitv, 
however, than did the bishops, for swords in those days were more powerful than 



FRANCE. 28! 

sermons, and having their choice of being dead heathens or live Christians, the 
Saxons of course chose the latter. Therefore they sullenly professed themselves 
Christians and submitted to having baptism inflicted, meaning all the time, perhaps, 
to revenge themselves if they could find the chance. 

One bold Saxon chief, Wittikind, vainly tried to unite his people against Charle- 
magne. He would not obey the summons which was sent to him as to the other 
chiefs to come and meet Charlemagne, but placed himself under the protection of 
his brother-in-law, the king of the Danes. After a time Wittikind's countrymen 
began another war against Charlemagne, and Wittikind returned to Saxony and 
placed himself at the head of the rebels. For three years he ravaged Prankish 
territory on the Rhine, but again Charlemagne conquered the tribes, one by one, and 
again he made them swear to become Christians, thinking that this time he had surely 
subdued the Saxons for all time, he went back to Aix, leaving a large force of troops 
in the country. 

The Saxons then, like their posterity now, would not stay conquered any great 
length of time. Again Wittikind, who this time had taken refuge with the fierce 
Northmen, kindled a reyolt. It flamed up fiercely, and the whole Prankish army in 
Saxony was destroyed. Charlemagne was filled with mighty anger when he heard of 
this new uprising in Saxony. He mustered another army, marched into Saxony and 
called the chiefs together. When they were assembled he asked them who it was 
that had started the war, and they all with one accord cried " Wittikind." Wittikind 
could not be punished, for he was safe with the Northmen. But Wittikind had not 
been alone in the revolt, warriors from the various tribes had fought under his com- 
mand. Charlemagne made the chiefs seek out every man in their tribes who had 
fought with Wittikind, and these to the number of forty-five hundred, were placed in 
the hands of the Prankish ki.ig, who had all their heads cut off the same day — a way 
of reconciling the Saxons to him, that was not exactly Christian. It was a long while 
before Wittikind submitted, but he did at last, having received Charlemagne's 
solemn promise that no harm should befall him, and became a true Christian and a 
firm friend of the Pranks. 

These wars with the Saxons lasted thirty years, but in the meantime Charle- 
magne had other wars on his hands, but his military victories were the least of his 
great deeds. Seeing the misery that ignorance produced, Charlemagne everywhere 
caused schools to be established, where the children of laborers and freemen could 
learn to read and write. He went to Rome to settle a quarrel between the Pope and 
a new Lombard king, and while there was crowned with the diadem of the Roman 
empire. This visit to Rome made a grea*" 'mpression upon Charlemagne, broadened 
his ideas of civilization, and gave him deeper views of education. He could speak 
Latin and Greek in addition to his mother tongue, but he could neither read nor 
write and he never learned to do so, but he enjoyed literature and a certain priest read 
to him while he ate his meals or in the quiet of his chamber. After he came back from 
Rome he built a beautiful palace and lived more in the state of a king than had any 
king of the Pranks before him, though he never drank wine, ate few and simple 
dishes, and in his personal habits was extremely plain and frugal. He dressed 
differently from most of his subjects, but not very elegantly, according to our stand- 
ard. He wore next his body a linen shirt, over that a long purple gown edged with 
silk, and a cloak. His long stockings were cross-gartered and his shoes of dressed 
skin were bordered with fur. In Spain the trouble between Moors and Arabs had 



282 FRANCE. 

again broken out and some of the Spanish chieftains of the Saracens came to Charle- 
magne's court beggmg him to invade Spain and drive the Arabs from Saragossa. 
Charlemagne was eager enough to go, so in the spring of 778 he marched with his 
army across the mountains into Spain. 

No sooner did the Mohammedans see a Christian army in their midst, than 
Moors and Arabs forgot their quarrel, and rose everywhere to defend Saragossa. 
Charlemagne settled down to besiege the city, but he had nothing with which to 
feed his hungry soldiers, and was glad enough to accept a sum of gold from the 
Mohammedans and march back again to France. 

There is a story told of this Spanish expedition, that will forever live in the 
hearts of men, and has been sung by many a rude soldier as he marched to battle, 
and by many wandering minstrel and troubador in castle halls. Of course this story 
does not say that Charlemagne abandoned Saragossa but that he fought for seven 
years valiantly in Spain and when he had reduced the Saracen king, Marsile, almost 
to despair, the latter called together his officers and counselled with them as to what 
had best be done. They advised him to yield to Charlemagne. Marsile then sent a 
messenger to the Frankish king telling him that if he would withdraw his army from 
Spain, he would come to him at Aix la Chapelle and do him homage. There was 
among Charlemange's officers, or paladins as they were called, Roland his nephew, 
Oliver his sworn friend, and a certain knight named Ganelon, who hated Roland 
heartily. This knight advised the king to agree to the suggestion of the Arab, but 
Roland thought, as a sensible man well might, that it would be extremely foolish to 
do so, after having so long withstood and defeated him. Charlemagne, so the story 
runs, agreed to give the Arabs peace and asked which of his paladins would under- 
take to carry the message to Marsile. Ganelon and Roland quarreled hotly, each 
wishing to be sent, but the paladins were displeased that Roland was so persistent 
and the king sent Ganelon. 

Now Ganelon was determined to revenge himself upon Roland, so when he went 
to the Saracens to arrange the treaty, he managed to make a plot by which the rear- 
guard of the Frankish army could be overtaken at Roncesyalles pass, and cut off 
from the main body, for he knew Roland would lead the rear guard. At Ganelon's sug- 
gestion the Saracen king sent a host of soldiers who hid themselves in the woods and 
among the crags overhanging the pass of Roncesvallcs. The main body of the army 
passed through in safety, then came Roland and his troops, at some distance behind. 
There was no sign of an enemy, and the Franks, doubtless thinking of their homes, 
and rejoicing that their faces were turned thitherward, entered the pass. Suddenly, 
as they were winding about the narrow road, the Saracens assailed them on every 
side. Oliver, from a point where he could overlook the road, called to Roland that 
they were attacked by overwhelming numbers, and begged him to sound his horn so 
that the king would turn back to his aid. Roland was a knight without reproach or 
tear. He thought it unknightlv and unworthy to thus weaken before an enemy, and 
declared that his good sv,'ord and those of his paladins should deal terror to the foe 
and make them regret their treachery. 

The Saracens began to hem the little band in on every side. ".Sound your horn!' 
sound your horn!" begged Oliver. But Roland had faith in the valor of his knights, 
and the justice of their cause, and again refused to do so. Good bishop Turpin made 
the Frankish soldiers kneel, and while they confessed their faith, he absolved their 
sins, then urged them in the name of their God and their cause to strike mighty blows. 



FRANCE. 



283 




284 FRANCE. 

Such blows were struck and many of them, but the vast host of the Saracens over- 
whelmed the Christians. Swords that had flashed amid the forests of Saxony, and 
in the light of the Italian sun, were struck from hands that never more would raise 
them in defence of Christendom. Helmets dented by the strokes of many a futile 
lance, rolled, cloven and bloody from dead faces. Lances were shivered, blood 
flowed like water, and at last only the good bishop and the gallant Oliver and Roland 
were left alive. All three were sorely wounded, but the two knights still feebly 
resisted the paynim. At length Roland said to Oliver, " I will sound my horn, Charles 
will hear us, and we may yet hope to see again our beloved France." Oliver 
reproached him that he had not long ago done i o, and declared that now that the 
flower of the chivalry of France had fallen, there was no course left but to die with 
them, but the bishop insisted that the horn should be blown as a signal to Charle- 
magne. Roland then raised his horn to his lips, and blew such a blast that the blood 
spurted anew from his wounds and poured in a crimson tide upon the trampled turf. 

Far away from the fatal pass, Charlemagne was riding at the head of his army, 
when upon the wind came the faint sound of a horn. He halted his charger and 
turning to Ganelon who rode at his side, said, "Our people are taken at disadvantage 
we must hasten to succor them." The traitorous Ganelon laughed away the king's 
fears, and the troops rode on. In the agonies of deatii Rolanil, with his last feeble 
strength, again put his horn to his lips and blew a wild wailing note. Again Charle- 
magne halted. " Evil has come upon us, those are the dying notes of my nephew, 
Roland," he said, then he turned and rode back, followed by his army, toward the 
pass of Roncesvalles. When they neared it they heard no clatter of horses' feet, no 
sound but the whisper of the wind in the tree tops, or the gurgle of some wayside 
waterfall, leaping from rock to rock. They saw no pennons fluttering in the wind, no 
glittering lances nor gallant array, and they knew some dread disaster had occurred. 

At last they reached the pass, but they found only more dreadful silence still. 
The sod was wet with blood, and corpses choked up the road. With his good sword 
clasped in one hand and his horn by his side, Roland lay dead, and near to him 
Oliver and the Bishop, while all about him were the ghastly bodies of his comrades 
who had so gallantly fought and so nobly fallen. Charlemagne buried them with 
solemn rites, and for ages the bards sang "The song of Roland," recounting his life 
and death with such eloquence and pathos, t! .it it has justly been called one of the 
great poems of the world. 

Whether or not Roland of Brittainy died as described by the song, he certainly 
perished at Rtincesvalles, and with him the whole rear guard of the Frankish army. 
The Saracen king did not come to Aix la Chapelle to do Charlemage homage, so 
the French king claimed the territory in Spain that had yielded to him as spoil of 
war, formed it into a province or "march" and added it to F"rench dominion. 

Charlemagne had a hard task on his hands at home to keep his fierce unruly 
chiefs in order and to teach them the Franks were not a collection of petty tribes, 
owning to no law but the will of their chiefs, but a great nation who must submit to 
government, education and civilizing influences. The Roman empire had for 
centuries diminished in influence and size, and had long been a wreck. The civilization 
of the Romans in Gaul had been compelled to struggle against barbarians for so 
many centuries that its strength was almost gone. Paganism might again have 
revived, and confusion and disruption would certainly have prevailed everywhere in 
Western Europe, had not the right man been sent at the right time to gather up all 



FRANCE. 285 

the discordant elements and create from them an empire. I shall not tell 
you about the many remarkable laws made by this king who could neither 
read nor write, nor how people even in these days of education and 
culture regard him as one of the grandest figures of all the ages. Neither 
shall I tell you how powerful was his mind, nor how truly great his 
character, i..id though we may think him somewhat cruel, the times were 
of such violence and turbulence that cruelty was in a measure excusable. His 
beloved queen, Hildegarde bore him three sons who were his heart's delight. 
They grew up noble, handsome and promising, and the eldest, Charles, 
he took with him in all his wars, made him his companion in peace, 
and trained him in all knightly ways. He was destined by his father 
for great deeds, but in the flower of his manhood God took him, 811 A. D., 
and the king bowed his heart to the chasteni'ng of a great sorrow. Pepin, 
his second son, was scarcely less beloved and he made him king of Italy 
when he was a little child of four, but he too, died at three and thirty, and 
only Louis, his voungest son, whom he made duke of Aquitania was left to 
cheer his old age and ui)on whom he could rest his hopes for the future of 
the empire. 

To Louis (called the Debonaire, or Good Natured,) Charlemagne gave up his 
crown two years after Charles died, for he felt that as he was now three score and 
ten, was weary of toil and care, he would like to see his son seated upon the throne, 
and he longed to enjoy some of the peace and quiet which had been denied him 
in the course of a busy life. He lived only a year after Louis was crowned king, 
dying January 28, 814, A. D., mourned by all his people, and was buried in the crypt 
of a church that he himself had built. Charlemagne dreamed of creating from the 
ashes of the dead Roman empire a new Roman empire, but though his fame went 
throughout the world as a conqueror and law-maker, his empire died with him. 
The Christianity he had cherisheil and protected lived, however, to create civilization. 
Charlemagne built up strong barriers about Europe against influences destructive to 
progress, and made it possible for the States of to-day to grow and develop 
naturally. 

For many centuries, as we have told you in the story of Rome, barbarians from 
the North poured down over Gaul and -Southern Germany, driving before them the 
inhabitants of the more southern regions. These barbarians overran the Roman 
empire and finally destroyed it. I have also told you that the country in which a 
nation lives has much to do with forming its character, and influences its mental and 
moral nature and pursuits. The Greeks, surrounded on every side by the sea, enjoying 
a mild climate, and having always before them the most charming landscapes, grew 
up as we have found them, a noble, thoughtful people, but not very constant, because 
romantic and easily moved to tears and laughter. 

In northern Europe, there is a peninsula much like Greece, surrounded in the same 
way by islands and blue water, but the ocean there is wild and stormy, the seasons 
come and go, not in gentle irocession, but with tumult of the elements. Winter is 
filled v/ith fierce storms of sleet and snow, spring is damp and cloudy, summer short 
and ardent, and autumn has not the melancholy of ripened beauty, but heralds the 
king of the year. That peninsula is Denmark, and beyond it lies the peninsula of 
Norway and Sweden, and there, separated by the Baltic and North seas from kindred 
people of the same Aryan branch of the human race, the Northmen, a ":i-ave, deep- 



286 



FRANCE. 







French Head-Dress. 



dark and cloudy 



hearted race, lived as savages for unnumbered centuries. Long 
before Greece was peopled, the ancestors of the Northmen 
must have known well the ancestors of the Persians, for the 
same idea was at the foundation of their religion, r.hich was as 
poetic in its way as that of the old Greeks. Indeed it is said, 
too, that their religion resembled that of the Greeks, its differ- 
ence being caused by the different character developed in the 
people by the nature of the rugged Northland, which was their 
home. In Egypt, Typhon, the summer heat, was the evil god, 
but in the Northland, the ice giants were the demons. I have 
told you something of the religion of the various nations who 
have made history, so I will also tell you something about the 
religion of the Northmen, as it is quite as interesting as the 
others. In the first place, they believed that there was a time 
when there was no earth, nor sea, nor heavens, and naught but 
a great empty space, dark and terrible. Then two worlds, a 
one in the North, and a flaming, fiery one in the South 
appeared. A torrent of poison flowed from the dark world and filled space with 
ice, but the heat from the bright world came up through it in vapor, and rising, 
formed into drops, which became wicked giants. A cow created also out of the drops 
of vapor, furnished milk to feed these giants. After a time a great god named Bors 
came on the scene, and he and his three sons killed the father of the wicked giants, 
and made the earth out of the flesh, the rock from the bones, and from the body 
also created the heavens. 

One of these sons of Bors, Odin, became the creator of men with earth for his 
wife, antl Thor for his son. Night, the daughter of a wicked giant married a son of 
Odin, and to the pair was born a son named Day. The sun was a fair girl, and the 
moon a boy driving round the heavens in a glittering ciiariot, striving to escape from 
a monster in the form of a wolf, who sought to devour them. Every morning the 
Northmen thought that the gods rode up to heaven from under the earth on a 
rai.ibow bridge, in which the red was a fire burning to frighten the ice-fiends. The 
past, present and future were three fates who dwelt in the under world near a ho'y 
fountain, sitting always under an ash tree. 

Valhalla was as different from the heaven of the Christian as can be imagined, 
though for many centuries the eternity of many Christian sects was in its way nearly as 
material. You will notice, perhaps, that most heathens had the idea that though 
they left their body here on earth, in some mysterious way, they ate, drank and 
enjoyed in heaven, just as they had done upon earth, or suffered pain through their 
nerves of sensation as they did while alive. The Northmen believed heaven to be a 
world within which there was a vast hall where the gods feasted on the flesh of boars, 
and drank great beakers of foaming mead with the heroes who died in battle. 

There was one god, they said, called Baldur the Good, who wa^ beloved by all 
beings, but he dreamed that he was to die, so he called all the gods together to ask 
what he should do. These gods made everyth".:g on the earth with or without life 
swear never to harm Baldur, but alas they thought the mistletoe too weak and small 
to do him injury. When everything had made the vow, the gods, always ready for 
sport, set Baldur up as a target, slung stones, shot arrows, struck him with axes and 
swords, but nothing hurt him in the least. There was one mischievous god, the father 



FRANCE. 



287 



of three wicked monsters, who hated Baldur, and when he learned that the mistletoe 
had not taken the vow, he secured a piece of that shrub, flung it at Baldur, and the god 
fell down dead, which shows that even the gods may come to grief through trifles. 

There was a mourning throughout the earth at Baldur's death, and a messenger 
was sent to Hela, the luider workl, to find out how Baldiu' could be brought to life. 
The queen of Hela said if he was really so much loved she woukl restore him, but 
everything in the world would have to weep before she was convinced. Everything 
in earth, and air, and waters wept for Baldur but one old woman, and she would not. 
This old woman was Loki, the enemy who had slain Baldur, and taken upon himself 
that form, so Baldur was not restored. The gods afterward caught Loki and chained 
him down under the earth as a punishment for his treachery. 

I can't begin to tell you all the wonderful stories of the adventures of the 
different gods that are related in the Eddas, two Norse poems which were to the 
Northmen what Homer's poems were to the Greeks. 
Thor the Thunderer, had the most interesting of 
these adventures, and I will tell you enough to show 
you the nature of the deity, which next to Odin, the 
Northmen universally worshipped and admired. 
You must know that Thor was supposed to go about 
armed with a huge hammer, just as Neptune is always 
represented with his three-pronged fork. Once 
Thor, so the tale runs, made a visit to the home of 
the ice giants, with some of his companions. On 
their way the travelers came to a great forest, and 
as they were passing through it, night fell. They 
went on and after a time arrived at a large hall 
with wide open tloors. They entered and fell fast 
asleep, but in the middle of the night were roused 
by an earthquake, and groping their way into a small 
chamber leading out of the hall lay down and slept 
till morning. Great was their surprise when daylight 
came and they arose and went out, to find that near 
them lay a huge giant, whose glove was the hall, the 
thumb of which was the small chamber in which 
they had slept. I suppose the snoring of the monster was what they had mistaken 
for an earthquake. 

They traveled with the giant all that day, and when they stopped for the night 
and ihe giant was asleep, Thor determined to kill him. He struck three terrific blows 
upon the giant's forehead with his hammer, but the giant only rubbed his eyes 
sleepily and asked if a leaf or an acorn had fallen upon his face, and Thor tlecided 
to let him alone. 

Thor and his companions separated from the giant the ne.xt day, and reached 
the land of the ice fiends. The king of that region asked one of Thor's friends what 
he could do. He replied that he was a great eater. Thereupon the king placed a 
huge trough filled with food before him, and the visitor ate prodigiously. The king 
waited tiH he was through, then called one of his servants who ate meat bone 
trough and all, and fairly outdid his guest. Then another of Thor's friends was 
asked what he couM do. He replied that he was a great runner. Then the king, 




The Gi«l Thor. 



288 FRANCE. 

who could not have been considered polite even by barbarous Northmen, called out 
one of hisservants to run with the visitor. The servant reached the goal before his guest 
was half to it. Next the king asked Thor what he could do, and Thor told him that 
he considered himself an unequalled drinker. Then the king had a giant beaker 
filled with liquor brought to Thor. The god raised it to his lips expecting to be 
able to drain it at a draught but when he had quaffed long and deep there seemed as 
much in the horn as before. Again he tried and this time lowered the liquor a very 
little in the cup but try as he might he could not reduce rt. 

Then the king asked Thor to lift his cat from the ground but h could not make 
it stir, whereupon the ice-king scornfully said that none of his warriors would deign 
to wrestle with such puny creatures as Thor ami his friends, but called a toothless 
old woman to engage him, and the hag easily flung the god to the earth. 

Thor went home deeply humiliated, but he learned after a time that the eater 
who had vanquished his companion was, fire disguised as a man. The runner was 
thought, the horn was the ocean and that the hag was old age, and the cat was the 
great serpent which encircles the ear'h, or was supposed by the Northmen to do so. 
He found, too, that the three blows of his hammer had fallen upon a mountain which 
giant had held up to shield himself, and in it the strokes had made three great and 
deep ravines. 

It was stories like these and many others equally wonderful that the old Norse 
Bards used to tell, for their gods were all of craft and physical strength, rejoicing 
in courage and combat. Those were the attributes, too, of the people, for even 
the Jews had the tendency to bestow upon their deity certain human qualities 
which they themselves possessed. 

You know, perhaps, that the names of the days of the week are derived from 
the gods of the Northmen, and many marvelous tales of giant demons and fairies are 
taken from the old stories of the Eddas. The Northmen offered solemn sacrifices 
and sometimes human victims to their gods, and were quite as superstitious as the 
Greeks and even more credulous. 

The Northmen were a tall, fair-haired race, so passionately fond of individual 
freedom that they yielded no slavish obedience even to their chiefs and kings, and 
cared little for living in cities and practicing the arts of peace. They held their 
women in the highest respect, and treated them as equals, but were fierce and cruel 
in war, sparing neither age nor sex. 

Living near the sea the Norsemen became almost as good sailors as the Phoeni- 
cians. Though their light frail vessels were not well fitted to breast the waves of 
the stormy Atlantic, they handled them so skillfully that they carried them hundreds 
of miles. They had no mariner^S compass to guide them in stormy weather, but 
when they were far from land, and bewildered as to the direction in which it lay, they 
simply loosed one of the hawks or ravens which they carrietl with them for the 
purpose, and followed its flight, certain that it would make straight for the nearest 
land. 

They cared little whither they went, so they took much plunder, and these bold 
Vikings or Sea Kings, as they called themselves, made many long voyages. They 
were not, however, kings on land, but were supreme only on the deck of their vessels, 
where their crew, gathered from the boldest and most adventurous of their country- 
men, obeyed thern willingly. Like the early Greeks, they did not consider this pirate 
life dishonorable, but on the contrary prided themselves upon their exploits. 



FRANCE. 



289 




They early made excursions to England, and by degrees ravaged 
nearly all the northern coast of Germany, before and during tht 
days of Charlemagne, burning cities and churches and devastating 
the country. Wittikind, the Saxon chief, told them much of the 
riches of the Prankish cities, and tempted by hope of plunder they 
had become more daring. When Louis came to the throne, 
they had often approached French territory, making piratical 
expeditions against the tribes dwelling near the seas. Louis, the 
Debonaire, was very unlike his great father. He was neither con- 
stant nor clever. Nearly the first thing he did when he came to the 
throne, was to declare that he woukl never divide the empire 
between his three sons, but that the eldest, Lothaire, should be 
the emperor, while the Louis, the next in age, should be king of 
Bavaria, ami Pepin shoukl have Aquitania, Burgundy and southern 
Gaul. This he did after he was crowned emperor by Pope .Stephen, 
upon which occasion he excited the anger of many of his chief 
nobles, because he went out to meet the Pope and prostrated "^^^^^S^I_ 
himself at his feet, more like a monk who feared some sort of 

■1 ,. 4.1 ^ ^ A -^ • •!! Knight of Chariemague'ti Court. 

punishment than an emperor. In Aquitania as soon as it had 
become known that Louis had made his own son king of that country, Bernard, the 
grandson of Charlemagne and son of Pepin, roused a revolt but was defeated. In 
Armorica, which we now call Brittainy, the brave independent Celtic people who 
had once been masters of nearly all Gaul, but had been driven into the remote corner 
of Western Europe, refused to pay tribute any longer to the Franks, and made war 
upon the Prankish frontier. A wise Monk was sent to Morvan, the Celtic king, to 
warn him how useless it would be to struggle against the empire. 

Morvan was about to yield and promise peace, when his wife privately persuaded 
him not to do so, and he returned a saucy answer to Louis, which so enraged the 
good-natured monarch, that he marched into Amorica with an army. The Celts 
made no organized fight but from ambush behind bushes and trees harrassed the 
foe, who nevertheless approached very near to Morvan's dwelling in the thick wood. 
Then Morvan went out with some picked warriors, and mounting his horse boasted 
of the deeds he meant to perform. Shaking aloft a bunch of javelins he declared he 
would dye them with Prankish blood and drive his enemies off in terror and con- 
fusion. Then charging his wife to defend his dwelling, he went forth to the fray. 
When he and his horde rode down upon the enemy, his warriors were frightened at 
the great number of the Franks, but Morvan laid about him right lustily and struck 
down many of the foe. At length he singled out a tall Prank and riding at him 
called out "Frank I am about to bestow upon thee a present which long I have been 
keeping for thee, and which thou wilt bear in mind," and launched a javelin at him. ^ 
The Prank dexterously caught the missile on his shield and turned its point aside. 
"Proud Briton," he cried, "I have received thy present, now take mine," and thrust- 
ing his spear through Morvan's coat of mail, unhorsed and killed him, thus ending 
the battle, for the Britons fled as soon as their king fell, and hid themselves in the 
woods and swamps. 

When Louis, after this battle, journeyed back to the place where he had left his 
wife, Hermengarde, he found her dying, and would have left the world to become a 
monk, had not his friends interfered, and his own love of power triumph over his 



2QO FRANCE. 

grief and piety. He soon so far forgot his woe as to marry Judith, the beautiful 
daughter of a count, Guelph of Bavaria, who was as clever as she was handsome. 
When Judith's son was born, the three sons of the emperor's first marriage were 
jealous of the babe, for they hated its mother because she so completely ruled the 
emperor and had shown herself so unscrupulous and cruel. 

Louis had put out the eyes of his nephew, Bernard, because ne insisted on his 
rights, and the three elder sons of the king feared the queen's power and malice. 
When Charles, Judith's son, was seven years old, Louis called a great counsel of all 
the priests and knights of the empire, and declared that the solemn act of twelve 
years before, whereby he divided the kingdom among his three other sons should be 
done away, and that Charles, the young son of himself and Judith, should have some 
of the realm, and gave him by far the best part of it. The other three sons at once 
rebelled, raised an army, shut Judith and Charles up in prison, and made the 
emperor give up the crown to Lothaire, the eldest, while the other two recovered the 
provinces given to them a dozen years before. 

It was not long before the people began to pity their poor, weak-minded, but 
good-natured emperor, and some powerful lords took him out of his prison and 
seated him again on the throne. Again Lothaire gained possession of the king by 
force, and after compelling him to sign a long confession of his sins, some of which 
he had committed and others that he had not, dethronetl him. This time the ungrate- 
ful son made his gray-haired father publicly strip off his royal robe and put on the 
gray gown of a penitent. 

.Again Louis' friends came to his rescue and replaced him on the throne, and as 
he had twice before done, the king pardoned his rebellious sons, for in spite of his 
faults as a monarch, he loved his children dearly, although they were so undutiful. 
In 839. A. D., Louis divided the empire anew into three parts, for Pep'n had died the 
year before. Lothaire promised that Charles should have his rightful share, but 
Louis of Bavaria was dissatisfied with his portion, and took up arms against his 
father. The old emperor was marching toward the Rhine to put down Louis' revolt, 
when he died, his last words breathing love and pardon to the rebel. 

Lothaire had not in the least meant to grant young Charles his inheritance, and 
was soon conspiring with Pepin II., of Aquitania, his dead brother's son, to get 
him out of the way. Charles was now seventeen, and was a shrewd lad. Without 
allowing Lothaire to know that he suspected him, he sent his mother, Judith, who 
was still beautiful and more clever than ever, to the court of Louis of Bavaria. 
Through her power of pleasing, and skill in state-craft Charles formed an alliance 
with his uncle. 

In 341 .\. D.. Charles whom we will from this time call Charles the Bald, as he is 
thus known in history, and Louis of Bavaria fought and won a battle against Lothaire, 
which resulted in his agreeing to divide the Prankish empire. Lothaire was com- 
pelled to accept of the empire a strip along the eastern border of Gaul. Louis of 
Bavaria took all east of the Rhine, and Charles the Bald took southern Gaul. 

Thus was divided Charlemagne's empire, according to the nationalities of the 
three great peoples inhabiting its different portions. Germans, speaking the Gothic 
or Teutonic language in Louis' kingdom, Italians in apart of Lothaire's, and French 
a sort of " clipped Latin," often called romance or Roman language, in that of 
Charles the Bald. A portion of Lothaire's dominions received the name Lothairingia, 
or Lorraine and such is its name to this day. It is the fortunes of th(. Icingdom of 



FRANCE. 2QI 

France that we will follow, leaving those of Germany and Lothaire's kingom for 
another story. 

I have told you something about the Northmen and how they ravaged from time 
to time the shores of western Europe. When Pepin II. determined to make war 
upon his uncle, Louis, the Debonnaire, because he had given his kingdom of Aquitaine 
to Lothaire, he thought it a clever stroke to invite the Northmen to come down and 
devastate his grandfather's dominions. They came first up the Scheldt river, then 
the .Seine and the Loire. They learned of the riches of the Frankish kingdom, and 
carried the information back to their country, thereafter coming often and in great 
numbers to devastate the French coast. One of these Sea-Kings took Bordeaux, 
which was delivered into his hands, so it is said by the Jews, who had been so inhu- 
manly treated by the Christians, that they thirsted for revenge. After this the North- 
men became such a scourge to France that Charles the Bald, who would never fight 
if he could avoid it, paid them a large sum in gold to leave the country. This gold 
they took back to their own land, and displayed to their countrymen, who were now 
more eager than ever before to penetrate into France, for they esteemed the Franks 
cowardly to buy peace instead of fighting for it, and believed the riches of the Chris- 
tians were their natural prey. 

After a time a company of Northmen established themselves near the mouth of 
the Somme river, and from their stronghold, in bands of forty or fifty, made sudden 
raids upon the country of the Franks. Another company of pirates was settled near 
the mouth of the Seine. Charles the Bald offered Weeland, the Chief of the North- 
men of the Somme, three thousand pounds of silver if he would drive away from 
France the Northmen of the Seine. Weeland promised but demanded his pay in 
advance. Charles gave it, and operations were begun, when suddenly the two bands 
of Northmen united, and began to carry terror along the whole coast. The people 
were so exasperated by Weeland's treachery that they rose up and drove the North- 
men away for that time. One defeat could not daunt the Northmen, and soon 
another pirate king, named Hastings, became a terror to France for several years. 
He and a young Danish prince named Biorn or Ironsides made many a daring raid on 
the coasts of France and Italy, carrying off rich plunder. Hastings was the hero of 
many remarkable stories. Once, so runs the chronicle, Hastings landed on the coast 
of Italy in sight of a great city. He had only a few followers, yet he was extremely 
anxious to take the treasures which he knew were housed in a certain church. The 
place had strong walls, well defended, and he was at his wit's end to devise some 
plan whereby he might secure the longed-for plunder. At last a bright idea occurred 
to him. Pretending to be very sick, he sent to the Bishop and begged to be baptized 
a Christian. The good Bishop came out and the Viking so cleverly pretended 
extreme illness as to completely deceive the holy father who baptized him. A few 
days afterward his comrades spread a report that their chief was dead, and claiming^ 
Christian burial for him, with many lamentations and signs of woe, they carried a 
coffin into the church. When the Bishop was in the midst of the ceremony, the 
supposed corpse leaped up sword in hanil from his coffin. His comrades shut the 
doors of the church, killed the priests and before the people knew what had been 
done, pillaged the holy place, embarked and sailed away. 

The Northmen made so many raids that the people were glad to obey a law made 
by Charles the Bald, requiring them to place themselves under the protection of the 
king or some powerful chief. These chiefs were obliged to depend solely upon the 



FRANCE. 




French Head>Drc8fl. 

of the times 



walls of their fortresses and the arms of their followers for protection, 
for the country was so distracted that the king could not help them. 
They selected strong places ujjon crags and easily-defended sites, and 
built castles which the king allowed them to fortify, and there they 
gathered about them their armed retainers. In time so many of 
these fortified places grew up that the king became alarmed and 
ordered them to be pulled down, for he feared the power of the 
chiefs; but they were not pulled down, for the great lords would 
^ not obey the king, and in the years of war and confusion that marked 
the reigns of the later Carlovingian kings, as the line descended from 
Charles Martel was called, the system called feudalism grew up out of 
this mutual bond between chiefs and freemen. It was a great danger 
to the people's liberties, although it was an outgrowth of the necessities 
In the midst ot these turbulent years the clergy fell to quarreling and 
torturing certain priests and people who declared that some sinners were doomed to 
eternal punishment in spite of everything, and altogether there was confusion of 
every kind in the land of which the Northmen' took advantage to ravage and 
plunder unhappy France. 

After Charles the Bald, died in 877 A. D., his son called "Louis the Stammerer," 
reigned two years at the end of which time he also died and his two sons succeeded 
him but only reigned a short time, then Charles the Fat became Emperor of France, 
Germany and the West. 

It was during the reign of this monarch that Rollo or Rolf the Great King of 
the Northmen became the terror of France, and ravaged its coast, as for forty years 
or more Hastings and other Vikings had done. In 885 A. D., the Northmen who had 
often menaced Paris, joined forces, and appeared before the city in three hundred 
ships, besieging it for thirteen months. They had already taken Rouen and had 
declared that they meant to conquer the whole country, drive out the people and 
live in France themselves. The Parisians sent to Charles the Fat, who was in 
Germany at the time, to beg for help and he came when the city had been besieged a 
year and bought the Northmen off. 

When Charles the Simple, a son born to Charles the Bald, after his father'sdeath 
became king, which he did in 898, at the age of nineteen, the Northmen under gallant 
Rollo had taken so many towns of Western France, that it was thought advisable to 
make friends with the successful foe. The king invited Rollo to come to his court 
and treat with him. The Northman came, and after a long argument the Viking 
consented to take a portion of Western P" ranee and Brittainy, which was still hostile 
to the Pranks, as his price for preserving P'rance from his people, and this country 
was to be known as Normandy. He received in addition a fair young princess for a 
bride. When the bargain was concluded one of the bishops told Rollo that he ought 
to show some sign of gratitutie, that those who received such royal gifts should kiss 
the foot of the king. Rollo stoutly vowed that he was as kingly as any man alive and 
would not bow the knee to anj- man nor kiss the foot of the greatest king of the 
earth. Seeing that he was determined, some clever genius among the Franks decided 
that Rollo might perform the act by proxy — that is, allow some one else to do it for 
him. Rollo then commanded one of his Norman warriors to kiss the king's foot. 
The valiant Norman was as proud as his master, but he dared not disobey, so without 
bending the knee he stooped, picked up the king's foot and standing up straight put 



FRANCE. 293 

it to his lips, the king of course having fallen backward and lying prostrate at the 
feet of the Norman, who laughed loudly at the spectacle he presented. The Franks 
were indignant but dared not express the rage with which they witnessed the insolence 
of the Normans, and the assembly dispersed after Rollo had wedded his princess and 
been baptized as Robert, Duke of Normandy. 

After this the Normans lived peaceably in Normandy and became French, having 
a great and quickening influence on the nation, and upon other nations about them. 
Several great dukes ruled the Normans. One of these, William Longsword was 
murdered leaving as heir to his throne his little son, Richard, a boy of ten. This was 
in the year 943, and France was under the rule of the king, Louis, called the Ultra- 
marine or Foreigner, because he was brought up in England. This Louis pretended 
much interest in the little orphan and took him home to his court at Laon to educate 
him. The fact was that the French king, who was in the thick of a quarrel with a 
certain Hugh, duke of France, wanted to make himself master of Normandy, in 
order to strengthen himself against his foe. 

It was not long before the little duke of Normandy realized that he was a 
prisoner. His Norman friends who had followed him to Laon, were sent away one 
by one, upon various pretexts, until none remained. The lad was not allowed to send 
any messages to his home, and the king thought his designs were succeeding hnely. 
Little Richard had a faithful friend in the person of Osmond, the Governor, his 
father had left in charge of Normandy. Osmond understood that Louis intended to 
strip his young lord of his inheritance, and he made a bold plan to outwit the king. 

Disguising himself as a groom, Osmond secured entrance to the castle and hung 
about the stables until he found a chance to speak to little Richard. He told him that 
he must escape from the castle for he feared Louis would kill him, and that he would 
aid him to return to Normandy. He arranged with the lad to come to the stables on 
a certain day, and in the meantime secured some horses which he hid safely in the 
suburbs of the town. 

On the day appointed, the supposed groom wrapped the child in a bundle of hay 
and carried him outside the castle to the place where the horses were concealed, and 
the two were safe in Normandy at dawn the next day. 

Louis the Foreigner was angry, you may be sure, when he heard of Richard's 
escape. He sent to his old enemy, Hugh, duke of Prance, and proposed that they 
should take Normandy together, and divide it between them. Willingly enough 
Hugh consented, and two armies, one under Louis and the other under Hugh, 
marched into Normandy. The crafty Normans made no resistance and pretended 
to yield willingly to Louis' claims. The king then began to regret that he had asked 
Hugh's help, and promised him half the spoils, so he picked a quarrel with him to 
get rid of him, and finally sent him and his men-at-arms back to Paris. After Hugh's 
departure, the Normans made fair promises, but delayed doing anything decisive, for 
they had secretly sent an invitation to Harold, a Danish prince, to come to ;heir help 
and were waiting for him. 

Their countrymen came at last and fought a great battle with the French near 
the city of Rouen, totally defeating Louis, and taking him prisoner. Hugh then paid 
the Normans a large sum of money to give the king up to him, and when the 
treacherous Louis was in his power, made him resign Laon and go forth among his 
subjects a king without a castle, utterly landless and powerless. After a while by the 
interference of the Pope and the emperor of Germany, Hugh restored Laon to 



294 



FRANCE. 




Nonimn LaUlcs. 



Louis, but the king died in 954. A. D., and his son, 
Lothaire, a bo)' of thirteen, became his heir. Hugh 
too, died about this time, leaving liis dulcedom to 
his son, Hugh Capet, and as the mother of Hugh, 
Capet was the sister of the queen, the two women 
brought their sons up together, .so that when they 
became men they might love and not hate each 
other as their fathers had done. 

Lothaire was poisoned in the thirtieth year of 
his reign, and his son, Louis \ ., came to the throne 
at the age of nineteen. He was married to a beautiful 
but wicked woman named Blanche, who was deeply 
in love with Hugh Capet, then in the prime of life, 
and one of the most famous soldiers in Europe. 
There may have been a bargain between the Duke 
and Queen Blanche, at all events she murdered 
her husband, who was the last of the Carlovingian 
kings, and married Hugh Capet who was then made 
king of France. Hugh Capet is called by the old 
chroniclers a pious and good king, but piety and goodness in his day consisted mainly 
in giving large sums of money to the church, winking at the crimes of a lazy and 
worthless priesthood, and torturing or slaying unoffending Jews. The unusuall}' 
pious even made journeys to Jerusalem, where they not only prayed at the tomb of 
the Saviour, but drove sharp bargains with the Saracenes in the various commodities 
which formed the staples of commerce of France, and these pilgrims, as they were 
called, increased every year. 

Robert, Hugh Capet's eldest son, who followed him on the French throne, was 
the most pious king of his time. True he did not go on a pilgrimage to the Holy 
Land, but he visited all the shrines of the warrior saints in France, and there were a 
great many of them, sent away his dearly beloved j'oung wife. Bertha of Burgundy, 
at the command of the Pope and married haughty Constance of Aries, of whom he 
was very much afraid ever after. During the reign of Robert there was a dreadful 
famine in Europe, and the kind-hearted king was wont to share his meals with his 
starving subjects, always taking the precaution to tell those whom he benefitted: 
"Take care that Constance knows naught about it." Constance in the meantime 
feasted with her gay courtiers, and cared nothing for the miseries of the poor, 
though she has been called pious too. Her piety consisted in relentlessly persecuting 
everyone who did not l^elieve as she did. Upon one occasion she heard that there 
had arisen in France a new sect that denied some of the doctrines of the Roman 
church. She insisted that Robert should in person hear the trial of some who were 
accused of so believing and she went with him. Thirteen of the poor creatures were 
doomed by the king to be burned at the stake and Constance was so indignant that 
the sentence had not been more severe, that she struck one of the culprits with her 
staff and knocked out his eye as he was on the way to execution. 

Robert was always smging Psalms, telling his beads, and performing monkish 
duties, and Constance was of such a violent temper that no one could live peaceably 
with her, thus it is no wonder that the two sons of the King and Queen should at 
last rebel against the weakness of their father and tyranny of their mother, which 



FRANCE. 295 

they did in 1030. A war resulted which was soon settled. When King Robert died 
the next year, and his son Henry became king, Constance induced her other son to 
make war upon his brother, but Henry easily conquered him and gave him Burgundy 
as his share of the kingdom. Constance died soon after to the great relief of the 
whole kingdom. 

In Normandy the young Richard who had been rescued from the Castle of Louis, 
the Foreigner, grew up into a brave and noble man called "Richard the Fearless," by 
his Norman subjects. After a long and useful life he died leaving his duchy to his 
son Richard the Good. Ethelred the Unready of England fled to Richard the Good 
for protection against the Danes, who had invaded his kingdom, and afterwards 
when the fierce Danes made inroads upon the Saxons of Brittainy and committed 
dreadful outrages, the Norman duke got together an army to invade England where 
Canute son of the Danish Monarch Sweyn had made himself king, to revenge the 
Saxons in Brittainy and restore his sister Queen Emma, the widow of King Ethelred, 
to her English kingdom. Instead of fighting, however, he made a treaty with Canute, 
gave him Emma for his wife, but kept her sons with him in Normandy. One of these 
sons, Edward the Confessor, several years afterward became king of England. 

The next duke of Normandy, Richard III., was poisoned by his brother Robert, 
who was called for his many wicked deeds, Robert the Devil. This bad man, after 
running the whole range of pleasure, dissipation and adventure his own country 
afforded, and committing almost every sin that could be mentioned, determined to 
go upon a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His lords were afraid that the king of France 
would seize on Normandy while he was away, or that the distracted country would 
grow even more so without the hand of its master, and begged him to stay at home. 
Robert had a little eight year old son named William, whose mother, the beautiful 
daughter of a tanner, he had never married. This lad had often been jeered at on 
his mother's account, but now his father declared him his heir, took him to the court 
of the king of France, who acknowledged him duke of Normandy, and made all the 
Normans promise to serve him as their chief, although they were bitterly humiliated 
that they, in whose veins ran the purest blood of the valiant Danes, should be ruled 
by the grandson of a tanner. 

As soon as the old duke's death was known, for Robert the Devil died in Asia, 
these barons banded together against William, who was then eleven years old, but 
king Henry of France became his protector, and put down the unruly barons. 

When William was fifteen years old, he was tall, handsome and brave, and as 
affairs in his dukedom had been going very badly, and murder, pillages, arson and 
all manner of crimes became common, and went unpunished, the young duke took 
the government of his duchy in his own hands and began to punish crime so severely 
that his wicked barons hated him more than ever. His cousin, Guy of Burgundy, 
had fallen into trouble in his own country, and had fled to William for shelter, which 
was given him, and William grew very fond of him. and made him count of two rich 
fiefs. The ungrateful fellow after enjoying the bounty of William for several years, 
put himself at the head of William's dissatisfied barons and conspired with them to 
take his cousin's life. 

In those days every great lord and prince kept in his castle a jester, whose duty 
it was to amuse him and his guests with witty sayings and merry songs. William's 
jester, Golet, in some way learned one night that his master was to be killed that 
very hour. He hastened to William's chamber, and knocked upon the door, crying 



2g6 FRANCE. 

"Open, open, my lord duke: fly, fly, or you are lost! To tarry is death!" William 
thus roused from sleep sprang from his couch, hastily threw on a few garments and 
ran to the stables. His charger whinnied, in the darkness he succeeded in 
untying him, and was soon upon the noble steed's back, flying for his life to the city 
of Falaise. 

There he tarried a few days, but when he heard that his enemies were organizing 
a revolution, he started off alone and unattended to Henry's court, at Paissey, and 
begged the king of France as his leige lord, to aid him against the traitors. Henry 
was a brave man and loved bravery in others. The gallant bearing of the young 
duke at once won him to his cause, and he promised him his help. William then 
returned to Normandy, and called upon the lords who were faithful to him, to rally to 
his defence. They did so, were joined by Henry's troops and one hot .August day in 
the year 1047, the allied armies of Normandy and France came to blows with the 
rebel barons. 

King Henry himself, was in the field, and was once unhorsed by a lance-thrust, 
but returned again to the fray.- William's bright armor and snowy crest were seen 
everywhere in the thick of the fight, but while he fought with great daring, he showed 
rc:markable coolness and dexterity in commanding his troops, who began to realize 
that William, though so young, deserved to rank with the ablest generals of his day. 

It is said that one Norman lord, Raoul de Tessen, was undecided whether to join 
in the fight or not. He had vowed to the barons that he would himself strike William 
that day in the conflict, but when he saw how bravely the duke was striving, and that 
he was likely to be victorious, he would not allow his one hundred and forty men-at- 
arms to mix in the fray, and they were grouped about him uinm a little hillock, 
watching the battle. 

Suddenly Raoul rode towanl William and drawing off his glove struck the duke 
lio-htly with it. " I swore to strike you, and now I am quit" he said, " fear nothing 
more from me, I am with you." Then beckoning to his retainers, he plunged into 
the combat and helped William win the victory. 

After this battle William pulled down many of the castles of his enemies, and 
kept the barons sternly in check. He paid Henry for his services by helping him 
against Geoffery of Anjou, a duke who made war upon the king, and the wandering 
minstrels began to sing in the castle halls of France, the great deed at arms of the 
young Norman duke, and prophesy for him a brilliant future, though none of them 
prophesied what the duke even then had in his mind, and one day meant to 
accomplish. 

William was somewhere near five and twenty when he determined to marry, and 
sent to count Baldwin of Flanders to ask him for his daughter Matilda, a fair, 
modest and pious maiden. Matilda was withal somewhat proud and replied to 
William's proposal a rejection, reflecting upon his humble origin, and telling him that 
she would "rather become a nun than to marry him." 

William bided his time, and when his fame had gone throughout Europe, he is 
said to have gone to the castle of the Count Baldwin, in Flanders, entered the hall, 
passed into the chamber where the fair Matilda sat with her mother at work, seized 
the maiden by her long hair, and given her a sound drubbing. He then mounted 
liis horse and rode away again. 

Count Baldwin was furious, when he heard of this proceeding, and even more so 
when messengers came from William again asking his daughter's hand. Not so. 



FRANCE. 



297 




The Accolade 



the maiden. She answered that the proposal pleased her well and she would 
be William's bride or remain unwed, and by way of e.xplanation to her father 
declared that the man who was bold enough to enter her father's castle and 
beat her, was the sort of man that she admired and who was worthy of her. 
So they were married with great rejoicings and no doubt lived 
happily ever after. There are many romantic stories told of 
William of Normandy, but in spite of his love of adventure the 
Duke covered his own country well, and was not more 
cruel than the warriors of his time, though he is said 
to have cut off the hands and feet of some prisoners 
and caused them to be shot from the siege guns over 
the walls into their city, which was defying him and 
insulting him by hanging hides from the walls crying, 
"Have at these Tanner." Nor was he unusually tyran- 
nical. To be sure his subjects murmured a little when 
he made a decree that prohibited people from assem- 
bling after the evening bell for prayers had been rung, 
and there were those who declared that he poisoned 
the Duke of Main in order to seize his territory, and 
there were many and various complaints against him, yet upon the whole he ruled 
with wisdom. In the story of England we will follow from this point forwartl the 
fortunes of Normandy for it is really bound up with that country from the time when 
Ethelred the Unready, fled from the Danes until France claimed it as a part of her 
territory. 

From wnat I have told you of the wickedness of the priests and people of France, 
the violence of the times, and the woes of the poor, you may think that goodness had 
entirely died out, but it had not. Deep down in the soil of ignorance and error were 
planted the seeds of truth and t)eauty, that had a wonderful flowering side by side 
with crime and violence. Although the priests were degenerate the church grew in 
power, and in isolated abbeys learned and earnest Monks preserved for happier 
times the learning and arts inherited from the past. The church inspired the souls 
of those rude warriors with noble ideas of honor and triumphed over ignorance and 
brutality in the establishment of knighthood. 

You have no doubt often read about the knights of the old days of chivalry, and 
thought them perhaps very rude fellows, as indeed they were in many things, if we 
measure them by their acts, but their ideas were lofty and the vows they took so 
solemnly were not lightly broken. 

The young man who aspiretl to be a knight, and had tlemonstrated his fitness by 
brave deeds as esquire to some worthy lord, was stripped of his clothing placed in a 
bath, an unusual ceremony in those days, for Western Europe was long the country 
of the unwashed, then he was clothed in a white tunic as a symbol of purity, a red 
robe as a sign of the blood he might be called upon to shed for his faith, and a black 
coat as a reminder of the death which is the doom of all men. 

When he had been thus purified and clothed, the esquire fasted a day and a 
night in a church, either alone or attended by priest, who prayed with him at intervals, 
the ne.xt day received the sacrament, after making the confession, and he listened to 
a sermon upon the duties of knighthood. When the sermon was finished the candi- 
date advanced to the altar with the knight's sword hung about his neck. He was 



298 FRANCE. 

obliged to answer various questions put to him to test his understanding of the Hfe 
upon which he was about to enter. Then fair ladies clothed him with spurs, coat of 
mail, cuirass, armlets, gauntlets, and the sword was hung at his side. 

Thus equipped he was approached by the king or his sovereign lord, who drew 
his sword and struck him lightly thrice on the shoulder or nape of the neck as the 
candidate knelt before him, saying: "In the name of God, Saint Michael and .Saint 
George, I make thee knight. Be valiant, bold and loyal." 

A horse was brought for the newly-made knight, who mounted and rode about 
before the people. These ceremonies were not all that constituted a knight. He 
was obliged to swear to fear God, fight for the faith, serve well his prince and country, 
to uphold the rights of the weak, protect widows, wards, and orphans, and to make 
many other vows of humanity, mercy, and justice, embodying the principles of 
Christianity. 

Once sworn to perform these vows, a knight was pledged to be courteous, humble 
and noble in word and deed, and though many failed to realize the high ideal, knight- 
hood was the most glorious fact of the Miildle Ages. It was poetry, romance and 
religion combined, and it made light shine in many a dark corner of the earth, and 
led Europe to civilization through the influence of the crusades which grew out of 
knighthood. Under Hugh Capet, and even the weak Robert, the power of the king 
through the influence of knighthood and t^ie church, became more respected by the 
great lords than it had been before, and when Philip I., son of Robert, who was as 
graceless a king as ever ruled a nation, ended his reign to be succeeded by his son, 
called Louis the Battler, the power of the king hati much increased. 

It was while Philip I. was king, that the first crusade was preached. I have told 
you that the Arabs had long been in possession of Jerusalem, and that it had become 
the fashion for knights in search of adventure to make a journey to the holy city. 
The Arabs were conquered near the end of the eleventh century by the savage 
Turks, who issuing from the Caucasus mountains, blighted all .Asia by their conquests, 
and to this very day their destroying influence rests upon the fairest portions of those 
old empires whose fortunes we have traced. 

They took Jerusalem, and at once began to subject the Christians to all sorts of 
indignities. They would enter the churches, overturn the altars, insult and some- 
times even kill the priests. They made every pilgrim pay a sum of money before he 
was allowed to enter the city at all, and finally became so insolent that the whole 
Christian world was aroused to indignation at the stories of outrage perpetrated by 
the savage infidels. 

A certain little, weazened monk of Picardy, Peter the Hermit, went to Jerusalem 
with others, and when he came back to Europe, declared he had received a message 
from heaven, commanding him to rescue the holy sepulchre from the Turks. He 
was an able and eloquent man, and wherever he preached, thousands flocked to hear 
him. Penally, after the Pope and Alexius, emperor of the East, had sent messages 
to every court of Europe favoring the undertaking, they called a great council at 
Cler'emont, in the year 1095, that was attended by priests, barons and serfs from all 
parts of Europe. The Pope urged the multitudes to march to the holy city, and 
l)romiscd them that Christ would march with them, so that nothing could withstand 
them. When he had finished, the multitude cried "God wills it! God wills it!" and 
thousands then and there enrolled themselves, receiving as a badge of their holy 
mission, a cross cut out of red cloth, which they wore pinned upon the shoulder. So 



FRANCE. 



299 




many of the crosses were required that the princes 
present cut up their cloaks to supply them, and it was 
from these crosses that the expedition received the 
name of the " crusades." Nothing had ever so deeply 
stirred Europe as this idea of taking Palestine from 
the Turks. Monks, knights, idlers, beggars, a great 
army of half a million men of every class and condition, 
and with every motive, left their homes to join the 
rabble. They would not wait to properly equip them- 
selves for the long journey before them, but seemed to 
believe that Christ would provide against every need. 
Their leaders were Walter the Penniless, Peter the 
Hermit, a German count and a German priest, and they 
marched on foot in four separate bodies, vieing with< 
each other in turbulence, drunkenness and every sort 
of vice. They plundered Austria, Hungary and Bul- 
garia to that extent that the inhabitants fell upon them 
and tried to exterminate them. Many died of starva- 

11 11* 1 1 il 4.1 „ 1 „r ^U *-U „ KnlRht aud Esquire During the First Crusade. 

tion and hardship and only three thousand of the three 

hundred thousand crossed over into Asia. Soon after a better equipped expedition 
under several brave knights, some of whom had leased their estates for five years 
to gain money for the enterprise, and others who had wrested from their peasantry 
the wherewithal to prosecute the crusade, set out for the Holy Land. Among these 
were Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine; Robert, the eldest son of Duke 
William of Normandy; Hugh, the brother of Philip I.; Count Robert of Flanders; 
Raymond of Toulouse; Bohemond, Prince of a community of Normans that had 
seized Tarentum and founded a kingdom long before, and Tancred, his nephew. 

Following the leaders were a hundred thousand knights on horseback, and six 
hundred thousand on foot. When the Emperor of the East, Alexius Commena, saw 
this second great host appear before the walls of Constantinople he was alarmed. 
He had been somewhat disquieted when the ragged mob led by Peter the Hermit, 
demanded his aid to cross into Asia, but he had no idea when he joined the pope in 
asking the Christian Princes of Europe to rescue Jerusalem from the Paynims that a 
host sufficient to wrest from him his own kingdom and make themselves absolute 
masters of the East, would respond. 

He refused to_ furnish any ships for the crusaders to cross over into Asia, and 
for sometime delayed them, but at last agreed upon condition of their paying tribute 
and doing homage to him for all their conquests. 

In May, 1097, this second band of adventurers found themselves in Asia and 
after a march of nearly two weeks arrived at the city of Nicai. It was rich in treasure 
and of course, since plunder more than piety had urged most of these leaders to 
venture into Asia, they agreed to besiege the city. For six weeks they infested the 
town but they were disappointed of its pillage, because it delivered its keys to 
Alexius. After that the chiefs of the crusade fell to quarreling among themselves. 
The followers of each prince took up their line of march separated from those of the 
other, and the Turks were able to inflict much disaster upon them on this account. 
Finally they all reached Tarsus and besieged it. Tancred, the Norman Prince, 
having set his banner on the walls was furious when Baldwin, the brother of Godfrey 



300 



FRANCE. 







Godfrey iIr Bouillon. 

rassed them so long. 



of Lorraine, flung it down and placed the pennant of 
Lorraine in its place. Their followers, at the command 
of the two princes fought each other fiercely, and the 
whole e.xpedition would have been ruined had not some 
of the cool-headed among the leaders e.xerted them- 
selves to quell the riot. As it was Baldwin gave up 
the expedition to Jerusalem, took his followers and set 
off alone, crossed the Euphrates to Edessa and settled 
down to found a kingdom.. 

After much suffering the main body of the cru- 
saders reached Antioch, which thej' took after a nine 
months' siege. Peter the Hermit, and another crusader 
called "The Carpenter," because of his cruelty in battle, 
tried to desert the Crusaders during the siege, but were 
brought back by force and at last the city fell. Then 
in the name of the gentle and tender Christ, the Prince 
of Peace, his avowed followers slew men, women, and 
children; Turk, Arab, Jew and Christian alike, and 
entrenched themselves against the army that had har- 
Hunger and disease dwelt with them behind the walls of the 
city, and they were almost in despair, when a priest declared he had been told in a 
vision that the very lance that pierced the .Saviour's side was to be found buried deep 
down in the ground in a certain place. Of course the Crusaders hastened to the spot 
and found, as had been predicted a rusty ancient lance-head. The doubters demanded 
that the priest go through fire and if he came out unharmed they would believe 
him. lie went through a long line of burning piles of wood and came out, so the 
miracle was declared real, though the poor priest was so horribly l)urned that he 
died in awful agony two days after. 

Possessing the relic, the Crusaders felt a new inspiration, and sallying forth drove 
off the Turks. Bohemond was given the city for himself and his followers, and the 
diminished army marched toward Jerusalem. They reached the place June 7, 1099, 
but the Turk3 had gone to .Asia Minor, and the Arabs, always friendly to the pilgrims, 
were in power. In vain, the Caliph of Egypt promised every protection to the 
Crusaders, and to allow them to enter the city, two or three hundred at a time. He 
even offered to make a treaty insuring peace and security to Christians everywhere 
throughout his dominion. 1 he fierce Crusaders, as savage as the Turks, refused to 
come to terms and besieged the city. 

Shameful to relate it to all the Christian ages! Shame that history has to record 
it! For ten days after Jerusalem was taken, its streets ran blood, and not a Moham- 
medan was left alive behind its walls. Alas for the teachings of Christ! Lust, not 
love ruled those soldiers of the cross, who polluted the scenes of the Saviour's 
beneficent life and ministry with the blood of innocent victims. Ten centuries ot 
Christianity had not yet leavened the lump of the world's error so much that the 
Christians could see in Moslem a brother, and in the Heathen a soul struggling in its 
own blind way toward the truth. 

Jerusalem was organized into a sort of kingdom, two orders of monks, Templars 
and Hospitallers, were founded, and Godfrey and Tancred with five hundred knights 
were left to hold the conquered country, while the rest that had been spared bv war 



FRANCE. 



301 




Knlglit and Esquire DuriLg First Crusade. 



and disease, after a time reached their homes in 
safety, bearing back new ideas from their contact 
with Eastern luxury, and planting these mental and 
moral seeds in the social soil of Europe, which was 
already filled with wonderful germs. 

While the Crusaders were busy in the Holy 
Land, fighting, rioting and conquering, Philip I. of 
France was watching his son Louis carry on a war 
with his nobles, which he himself was too lazy to 
conduct. The prince was a valiant fighter, and 
was. so quick in his movements, so untiring and 
resolute, that he was called " Louis the Alert," 
and " Louis the Battler." The robber knights of 
France had been so accustomed to plunder the 
common people, and had grown so insolent, that 
they would not yield to the authority of the king, 
and it at last became necessary to force them to 
obedience. 

Philip 1. died in i loS, and Louis was crowned 
king, as Louis VI. Some of the robber barons of his kingdom had been amusing 
themselves as had been the fashion since the days of Charles the Bald, by plundering 
the peasants on their lands, and murdering them if they objected to being robbed. 
Louis saw that if he would be king indeed as well as in name, he must put a stop to 
this practice. He did not dare to pronounce war against all of the barons who were 
in the habit of oppressing the people, or he would have had no knights to fight for 
him. He selected one of the boldest and most powerful of the robber-chiefs, who 
had plundered a certain abbey most shamelessly, and after beating him soundly, 
called upon the priests and peasants dwelling upon the lands of other of the marau- 
ders, to arm themselves and help him to punish their oppressors. 

The counts, barons and knights of the army of the king, were scornful and angry 
because Louis brought those " vile and base men " into service side by side with 
themselves, and the besieged robber-knights in their strongholds, were wont to heap 
all manner of vile abuse upon the citizen-soldiery that encompassed their walls. They 
found, however, that an arrow well-sped by a peasant archer, would wound as deeply 
as though the hand that held the bow had never handled the " vulgar " hoe and spade, 
and that the brawny priests, and laborers under the banners of the king, usually out- 
fought their own high-born knights and doughty squires, and it was through their 
constancy and courage, that Louis was enabled to subdue his foes and make them 
respect the rights of the weak. 

The people began also to feel that they were a power in the State, and as often 
as the king aided them against the injustice of their feudal lords, they aided him to 
reduce some rebellious noble. Both were interested in subduing the power of the 
castle-men, for different entls. Commerce had always suffered under certain hind- 
rances in France. In the days of Louis \T., the merchants were travelling peddlers. 
If they made their rounds in safety, and returned to their own towns, they were often 
set upon by their lord, or his followers, and stripped of everything. There was no 
safetyanywhere, and the development of the industries of the cities was impossible 
under such a state of things. The citizens complained to the king that they could 



;o2 



FRANCE. 




I'liAYiNi; Koi: THE success of the rP.l'SADERS. 



FRANCE. 



303 




KnlRllt— Duke— Kuil-'lit Templar. 



neither buy what they desired, nor sell what they 
manufactured, on account of their oppression, and 
appealed to him to free them of their obligation 
to their feudal lord. The king agreed to do so upon 
the performance by the cities of certain duties in the 
way of tribute and soldiers, and he promptly took 
the field to punish any of his vassals who imposed 
upon the liberties of the free cities. He also encour- 
aged the citizens to train bodies of troops to protect 
their rights. This was the beginning of the growth 
of the idea of liberty and social rights, but it was 
long and sad centuries before the feudalism that had 
at first been a blessing, but soon proved a curse, 
was finally and for ever done away in France. 

Henry Beauclerc, son of William of Normandy, 
was the king of Fngland, while Louis VI. was king 
of France, and a quarrel was soon in progress 
between them. There was a strong caStle on the 
border between France and Normandy, which both 
claimed, but which was held by a lord who denied the right of either king to rule him. 
It was agreed after much wrangling that Henry should have the castle, on the condi- 
tion that within forty days after it was delivered to him, he should tear down all of 
the walls about and remove the defenses. Henry agreed; it was a way he had to 
promise whatever was required, and perform what he desired, but when the castle 
was in his hands, he filled it with men-at-arms, and refused to carry out the terms of 
the agreement. Louis was justly angry, and made war. The knights and barons did 
not suffer much in the various encounters of the two forces, for they made their 
fighting more like tournament than serious battle. If they were taken prisoner, they 
were entertained hospitably by their captors, and allowed to ransom themselves at 
their pleasure. 

The poor peasants on the frontiers of France and Normandy were the victims. 
Their crops were destroyed, their homes burned, and they were murdered without 
mercy. William Fitz-Robert, son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, who was a prisoner 
in England, had received the friendship of Louis VI. The war was ended after a 
time, by Henry's promise to perform his agreement and Louis' promise to no 
longer support young William Fitz-Robert's claim to the Dukedom of Normandy, of 
which Henry Beauclerc had robbed his father. Henry's son, William, was declared 
the rightful heir of the Duchy? 

It was after the close of this war, that William of England, and a gay company of 
knights, ladies and gentlemen, embarked on "The White Ship," to sail for England. 
The company feasted, drank wine and regaled the sailors, until there was probably 
not a sober soul on board, and then began their voyage. The king's ship had sailed 
some hours before, but the skipper of "The White Ship" had declared that he would 
overtake it, and in his eagerness to do so, and befuddled as he was with wine, 
steered upon some sunken rocks, and in perfectly calm weather and on a smooth sea, 
the ship went down with all on board. 

Fitz-Robert now once more brought forward his claim to Normandy, since there 
was no heir to Henry's possessions. Many of the Norman nobles took his part, and 



304 FRAN'CE. 

Henry came over with his army, defeated and fearfully punished 
them, and renewed the war with France. He persuaded the hus- 
band of his daughter, Matilda, Henry V. of Germany, to join him. 
The French lords looked upon the quarrels of Henry and Louis 
concerning Normandy, as a private affair, but when they saw a 
foreign army cross the Rhine, they rallied around their king. 

From the hills of Britainy, to the far southern province of 
Guyenne, came hosts of armed men to oppose the German 
invaders. The Emperor was so frightened by their number that 
he took himself and his army back to Germany as fast as he could 
go and peace was soon made. I am glad to be able to tell you 
that Louis \T. was a friend to the wronged unfortunate Fitz- 
Robert as long as that brave prince lived. When he found he was 
unable to secure Normandy for him, he married him to his 
Queen's sister, and gave him tliree rich provinces. When after a 
time there was not direct heir to Flanders, the country we now 
call Belgium, Louis made him duke of that country also. 
Flanders had long hated its subjection to the French and at 
various times had endeavored to throw it off. It would not 
accept the King's choice of their ruler, and in the struggle that 
followed, Fitz-Robert was killed. In his old age, Louis 
the Battler, was called Louis the Fat, for he had grown 
^''iSiiB^ioii^p^^ so enormously fleshy that he could not mount a horse. 
i\, " He therefore made his young son Philip joint king, but 
**^ the lad was killed soon after by a fall from his horse in 

Shepherd Of uoncs, ^j^^ narrow streets of Paris, and Pope Innocent was 

called from Rome, to anoint his second son, Louis the Young, as King of France. 
Louis \T. then put on the gown of a monk, and made a pilgrimage to the shrines 
of certain saints, and died just as Louis the Young was returning from Guyenne 
with his rich young bride, Eleanor. 

I told you that Louis \T. was in the habit of freeing cities when he found that 
they were oppressed by their lords. Louis \TI. was but eighteen years old when he 
became king, but even at that age evidently thought himself wiser than his father, as 
is sometimes the case with boys who have not yet learned how little they really 
know. He sought to show his wisdom, by taking directly the opposite course to that 
which Louis \T. had pursued. Orleans applied to him for freedom, and he not 
only refused to grant it, but executed the men who came to him with the 
petition. He was so severe with the burghers, that they hated him. The unruly 
nobles were quick to see this and when they were certain that the king would not 
have the support of the common people against them, became rebellious and haughty, 
as in the days of Philip 1. 

Louis the Young, was a fighter, and he soon conquered his barons. Then he 
turned toward the southern provinces that had always been nearly free, and subdued 
them and made their lords pay him tribute and homage. I le soon became mi.xed in a 
(luarrel witli Pope Innocent, who insolently appointed a bishop for a French city, and 
bishops in those days had nearly the power of princes, and did not consult the king. 
The pope laid his ban upon Louis, when he drove the bishop out. Some of the 
French lords took the side of the pope, and others the side of the king, and war 




FRANCE. 305 

raged most fearfully. The town of Vitry was attacked and burned, thirteen hundred 
peasants who had taken refuge in one of the churches, being roasted to death. 
Louis was so shocked at this horrible occurrence, that he put an end to the war by 
yielding to the pope, and as a penance for his disobedience, vowed to go on a crusade 
to the Holy Land. 

Conrad IIL of Germany, joined in this second crusade, and with his army was a 
troop of women armed like the men who went along, to fight for the Holy Sepulcher 
they claimed, but really for the novelty and excitement afforded by the expedition. 
The disorderly, riotous Crusaders were not fit companions for respectable ladies, and 
I am inclined to think that respectable ladies in those days staid at home and 
attended to their household tasks, and were not to be found in such evil company. 

Queen Eleanor of France, secured large sums of money from her husband, and 
from her rich provinces of Guyenne and Aquitaine, and armed a troop of French 
" women-crusaders," in imitation of those that had joined the German host. The 
queen was a gay, pleasure-loving, unscrupulous woman, and beside the women, like 
herself, that she equipped and enlisted for the expedition, she selected a large num- 
ber of the handsomest, gayest and most frivolous high-born young men for her 
body-guard. 

After much suffering and serious disaster, the crusaders reached Asia. On one 
occasion they were attacked among the hills by a large Turkish force and thrown 
into confusion. Louis and forty of his knights became separated from the main 
body of the army, and surrounded by the enemy. Every one of the knights fell in 
the defense of the king, and Louis took refuge in the top of a large tree, growinu- 
out from the edge of a steep craggy rock. The Turks assaulted him there until his 
armor bristled with arrows, but he defended himself a day and a night. In that fio-ht 
he performed miracles in the way of slaughtering Turks — if we are to believe the 
old chroniclers — such wonders in fact, that he could have hardly done more, had he 
wielded the forty swords of his fallen defenders, instead of a single trusty blade. He 
was released from his perilous position by a body of his men who had gone in search 
of him, and reached Antioch in safety with his army, after many adventures. 

An uncle of Queen Eleanor, a certain Count Raymond, was the ruler of Antioch, 
and he entertained the queen and the gay young courtiers so hospitably, that they 
were loath to leave the place. Eleanor conducted herself in a most diso-raceful 
manner during her sojourn in her uncle's dominions. She fell in love with an Arab 
minstrel, and allowed him to be constantly near her, feasting, sighing and sino-ino- his 
love-sick nonsense. She was so free, too, with the gay young cavaliers of her train, 
and made so little secret of the fact that she had not a spark of womanly truth or 
virtue, that the king fled from Antioch by night, in horror, as from a plague, com- 
pelling the unworthy queen and her attendants to go with him and the army. 

The Crusaders were beaten before Damascus, though it is said that they fouo-ht 
as never men fought before. Indeed we can well believe it, if the stories told of them 
are true. It is said that Conrad, the German emperor, cut a Saracen throuo-fi 
from side to side, through shoulders, ribs, spine and bones, to say nothin>' 
of armor, as cleanly as a boy could slice a turnip with a jack-knife. Louis 
did things almost as wonderful. In spite of these marvels of valor, the army becran 
to be discouraged, and the Germans went. home after the defeat at Damascus. Then 
the French knights deserted the king one by one, and at last Louis, who had not 
gained a single victory, or one foot of land in Palestine, heard that there was turmoil 



3o6 FRANCE. 

in France, and was obliged to abandon the crusade. A bishop named Suger had' 
been in charge of the government in the king's absence, and did as well as 
could have been expected under the circumstances. A cousin of the king 
had plotted against him, and the barons had become so restless, that Suger in 
alarm, summoned Louis back, and none too soon. In 1152, Louis secured a 
divorce from Eleanor, on account of her conduct at Antioch, and therefore lost 
her provinces of Aquitaine and Guyenne. The sprightly ex-queen did not lack 
for suitors, and narrowly escaped, on two occasions from being carried off and 
married whether she would or no, to over-bold suitors. She had, however, chosen her 
new husband before she was rid of the old, and chose him especially to irritate 
the king. It was Henry Plantagenet, the nineteen year-old heir to the English 
throne, to whom she secretly made proposals of marriage while the divorce proceed- 
ings were under way, and married him in six weeks after she was free from Louis. 

When Henry became king of England, a little while after his marriage with 
Eleanor, the English possessions, through inheritance, and this French marriage, 
comprised eight provinces of France, and the kingdom of France was onlv a strip 
along the Meuse and Saone rivers, and Britainy scarcely more than that which 
Clovis found included in his territory, when he became the real head of the Frankish 
nation. 

Louis only wanted a pretext to win back some of this territory, and he found it 
in the quarrel which Henry waged with Thomas Becket. Henry's French 
provinces were roused to revolt by his cruelties to the friends of the persecuted 
archbishop, and they espoused his cause, and took up arms, Louis aiding them in 
the hope of finally driving the English from the continent. When Henry caused the 
mun-lcr of Becket, Louis was secretly glad, for he did not doubt that the pope would 
excommunicate the king, and he would thus have more hope of rousing all of the 
eight provinces which he held as vassal of P'rance, to rebel. The peace which 
Henry made with the pope dashed his hopes, but they did not entirely destroy them. 
The provinces returned to obedience to Henry, and he married his son to Margaret, 
the daughter of the French king, for Louis had made another marriage after his. 
divorce from Eleanor. 

A few years passed on, and there was peace between the Frencli and English, 
then Louis encouraged young Henry to demand Normandy <>f iiis father, and 
supported him and his two brothers in their rebellion against King Henry. He 
would even have received Eleanor, his divorced wife, at his court, had she not been 
arrested and carried back when she attempted to escape to France. When the 
princes received the aid of a large number of the French vassals of the English 
king, and seized some of his castles, Henry came into France with an army, subdued 
them, and compelled Louis to make peace. 

Louis caused his son Philip to be crowned, and died soon after, in t.ie year 1 180. 
The new king, Philip Augustus, believed, like his grandfather, Louis the Battler, 
that in the common people was his greatest strength, and protected them against the 
feudal lords. He compelled the bursjhers to pave their streets, and build walls 
around their cities for their better protection and allowed them to fortify themselves 
against their enemies. 

"If you want to make your friend your enemy, lend him money" is an old 
proverb. Philip Augustus, like most of the kings of his time, was in want of funds. 
He borrowed of the Jews, and thenceforth hated them as their debtors, usually did. 



FRANCE. 307 

and allowed them to be tortured to death. He allowed any person who owed the 
Jews money, to cancel the debt by paying one-fifth of it to him, which he found very 
convenient, but which the money lenders could hardly be expected to enthusiastically 
approve. When he found that there was nothing more to be extorted from the 
Jevvs, he graciously allowed them to leave the kingdom, or rather he banished all 
that torture and death had spared. 

Philip was friendly to the rebel sons of the English king, and for the same 
reasons, as his father had been. When young Henry died, and Geoffery had his 
brains trampled out at a tournament, Philip aided Richard in the rebellion that did 
so much to break his father's heart, and bring about his death. 

In the story of England, you will find the account of the Crusade in which Philip 
Augustus embarked with Richard the Lion-hearted, when that Prince became king 
of England, and how after the fall of Acre Philip returned to France. As soon as 
he was safely back in his own kingdom, he circulated slanders against Richard, 
hoping thereby to weaken the affection in which he was held by his subjects, and to 
dim his fame as a warrior. He charged the English king with having conspired with 
Saladin against the Christians, and having murdered Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat, 
and attempting through hired assassins to accomplish his own death. These and 
other stories, as false as they were malicious, Philip told, and forwarded in every 
possible way, the treasonable plans of Richard's brother John. 

When the death of Richard made John lawful king of England, Philip became 
his bitter foe. Little Prince Arthur, whose sad story I have elsewhere told you, fell 
a victim to the two wicked kings, and John was beaten out of France. Philip's vic- 
tory over the English made him so popular with the French people, that he was hon- 
ored as never had they before honored a king. Several centuries passed before the 
English gave up the attempt to regain the lost province in France, but with the 
defeat of John began the destruction of their power in France, and it was the begin- 
ning of the end of foreign domination on F"rench soil. 

It was during the reign of Philip that the Albigenses were so bitterly persecuted. 
These people lived in the vale of Piedmont, and were the Puritans of the Middle 
Ages. Their religion was the purest and simplest of their time, and their lives were 
harmless, and without reproach. They refused to worship saints or images, denied 
that the pope had power over the souls of men, would not perform mass, and did 
not believe in purgatory. The pope paid no attention to them until they refused to 
pay their church-taxes, and began to convert men of rank and wealth to their doc- 
trines. This affected the pope's cash boxes, ami he proceeded to solemnly curse the 
Albigenses, and everybody who believed with them. When no attention was paid to 
the curses, the pope caused torture-fires to be lighted in the peaceful vales of Pied- 
mont, and called upon kings, princes, and knights to hunt the simple Christians to 
death as though they were infidels, to rob them of their property, antl burn their 
dwellings. 

Raymond, of Toulouse, was the friend of the Albigenses in those days, and there- 
fore the pope cursed him too, and toUl his subjects that they need not obey him. The 
knights and barons of Burgundy banded themselves together to destroy the "here- 
tics," and Raymond, the cowardly count, was alarmed at the approach of this army 
of "crusaders," as they called themselves, and offered to submit to the pope, and 
abandon the Albigenses to their fate. The agent of the pope made the count deliver 
up his castle to the "crusaders," and as a punishment for his defiance to the pope. 



3o8 FRANCE. 

caused him to appear barefoot at the door of the principal church of Toulouse, and 
as he walked toward the altar he was beaten with rods. 

The whole south of France was roused to anger on account of the degradation 
of Raymond. In after years he himself persecuted the very people whom he then 
defended, and he did not deserve the sympathy of the people. Nevertheless, they 
gathered about his gallant nephew, Raymond Roger, who constituted himself the an- 
tagonist of the pope, and all of the cities and towns of Provence armed themselves 
against the motley horde of ruffians, who with the sanction of the pope had invaded 
their peaceful territory. The city of Beziers was besieged by the "crusaders," and 
after a gallant defense fell into their hands. Catholics and Albigenses were alike 
slaughtered by the orders of the bloodthirsty abbott who led the "crusaders." When 
some one remonstrated against the murdering of those against whom the pope had 
no grievance, and who were faithful children of the church, the abbott cried " Kill 
them all! The Lord will distinguish his own." 

Women were slain at the fireside, babes were murdered as they lay in their 
cradles, old men- too feeble to resist were struck down, -and when the "crusadters" left 
Beziers, si.xty thousand corpses lay in the houses and streets of the town, and not one 
of its inhabitants remained alive. A more awful crime was never done in the name 
of religion, even in the days when men went about preaching with the bloody sword 
a doctrine of hate and violence, in the name of Him whose' life was sinless, and who 
was the Prince of Peace. More cruel than the I luns or Saracens were those bloody- 
minded Christians, who profaned the cross thus and made themselves the horror of 
future enlightened ages. 

Fifty-five miles southeast of Toulouse, on the river Aude, is a beautiful town, 
with wide pleasant streets, bordered with giant trees. The country about is wild and 
rocky, and just above the town on a commanding height, is a gray old castle whose 
walls and fortifications are decked with tender green of ivy and creeping plant. This 
is the old town of Carcassonne, and the pleasant little city at its feet is the new town 
of Carcassonne. The streets of old Carcassonne, two long narro\/ thoroughfares, 
have echoed to the tread of Caisar, the Black Prince, and Napoleon, and war in its 
most dreadful form has surged against the grim old castle. 

It was in Carcassonne that Raymond Roger was shut up, when Beziers, his capi- 
tal, was taken. As the "crusaders" approached the town, the citizens set their houses 
on fire, and fled to the fortress. Twice the besiegers were beaten off, but Raymond 
Roger was besieged also by starvation. Deep down under the castle was a dark nar- 
row secret passage-way, tunneled under the hill, and opening miles beyond tiie town. 
Through this tunnel Raymond Roger sent away the women and children, and all the 
men who could be induced to desert him and seek safety. Then Raymond asked the 
besiegers to pledge him as Christians and true men that no harm should befall him, 
should he come forth to treat of the surrender of the fortress. They promised, and 
he came forth. 

As well might a lamb have trusted hungry lions. The pope sown agent arrested 
him for treason, threw him into a dungeon, and afterward poisoned him, or allowed 
it to be done. Fifty of the brave defenders of Carcassonne were hanged, and four 
hundred more burned to death, while the priests stood by and chanted hymns of 
thanksgiving. To vary the entertainment they tortured others of their prisoners 
with the ferocity of fiends.- The abbott who had led the "crusade" thus far, overdid 
himself in cruelty, and so disgusted some of the fierce knights who served under him, 



FRANCE. 



309 




"^-^ 



Freuch Head-Dvcss. 



that they refused to be longer subject to his command. 
Simon De Montfort, ancestor of Sir Simon the Righteous 
of England, accepted the command. He was Earl of Lei- 
cester, and duke of a small French province, and was as 
fierce and cruel a warrior as history knows. With the 
command of the army he received also Beziers, the inherit-' 
ance of the murdered Raymond Roger, and proceeded to 
conquer Aquitaine. Catholics and Albigenses — men, women 
and children — were cruelly slain, and when De Montfort had 
overcome all opposition in that province, he laid claim to the 
territory of Toulouse, which still remained in the posses- 
sion of Count Raymond. The count resisted with all his 
might, but his fortresses fell one by one, and he applied to 
De Montfort for terms of peace. De Montfort made the 
conditions of surrender so hard that Raymond would not 
accept them, and called upon the king of Arragon for aid. The King of 
Arragon wrote to the pope, and informed him that it was for himself and 
not for the pope, that De Montfort was so zealous, and the pope thereupon 
commanded De Montfort to make no more conquests. The warrior refused to obey 
the pope, and the king of Arragon, with the pope's permission, led a hundred 
thousand men against him. His army was defeated by that of De Montfort, who at 
once proceeded to conquer the whole of the south country, and then did homage to 
the king of F"rance for his possessions. Philip acknowledged him his vassal, and the 
"Crusade" against the Albigenses was brought to an end. 

Flames, torture and the sword did not kill the faith of the people of Albi, in 
Piedmont. In silence and secret it lived, and when the Reformation flooded Europe 
with light, in Albi was found that deathless Truth, that "crushed to earth," was full 
of vitality, and ready to "rise again." Aquitaine, you will remember, was peopled by 
a race that was a mixture of the blood of the old races of the south, antl was not 
considered P'rench. From the earliest history, it had resisted the Franks, and though 
often subdued, held its independence dear, and hated foreigners with a deadly hatred. 
In two or three years, Toulouse rebelled against De Montfort, and shut him out of 
the city. In the siege that followed, he was killed by a stone flung by some women 
who were aiding in the defense of the walls, and his son Aumaury took charge of his 
army. 

As De Montfort had done homage for his conquests, it became the duty of 
Philip to aid him against his rebellious people, and he sent Prince Louis with an 
army to assist Aumaury in the siege. Louis was shocked by the ferocity of the new 
duke, and everywhere in the south he heard of the cruelty and crimes of the elder 
De Montfort, and learned how undying was the hatred of the people of Provence, to 
the whole De Montfort race. When the siege had been drawn out until most of the 
French lords who had accompanied Louis naa servea their regular term in such 
cases, they returned home, and Louis himself abandoned the De Montfort cause, 
which was thenceforth lost in the whole south, for Aumary was compelled to give up 
all the provinces that his father had gained. 

Philip Augustus died in 1223, and Louis VilL, came to the throne. This Louis 
was the Prince to whom the English offered the crown, when King John refused to 
keep his covenant with his barons, and whose conduct was so bad that the English 



310 FRANCE. 

repented their offer, defeated the forces he brought with him into their couutr}', and 
paid his passage back to France to get rid of him. His reign was short, for renewing 
the war against Toulouse, he besieged Avignon, whose people refused to let his army 
pass through their peaceful streets. Three months and twent}^ thousand men were 
sacrificed before the king came to terms w^ith the city, and then it \vas too late to ad- 
vance against Toulouse, and he was obliged to turn back. He died of a fever on the 
way to Paris, and his little son, Louis, was crowned as Louis IX., at the age of 
twelve. 

The mother of Louis IX., was a strong-willed Spanish woman, e.xceedinglj' 
beautiful and fascinating. She made herself regent, and supported her authority 
with an army, bringing to naught either by her cleverness or the power of her per- 
sonal charms, all the plots that her enemies made against her. Blanche of Castile 
was the name of this talented woman, and she was the ruling power of France as long 
as she lived; though Louis IX., or Saint Louis, as he is called, took charge of the 
government when he was twenty-one. 

The son of King John was ruler of England at the time, and his mother's second 
husband, Hugh le Brun, Count of La Marche, persuaded him to attempt to regain 
the fief of Poitou, which Philip had taken from King John, and which Louis gave to 
his brother, Alphonso. Louis totally defeated the English in the war that was waged 
on this account, and won over to his side, all the French vassals who at first supported 
the claims of the English king. He lost, however, much treasure, and the health of 
his army suffered from the long marches and exposure at an unhealthy season of the 
year. The king himself was brought to death's door by a fever, and while he lay ill, 
vowed a crusade to the Holy Land. 

When Louis was well again. Queen Blanche tried in vain to persuade him to give 
up the idea of a crusade, but the king would not do so. He found it rather hard to 
raise a force for the purpose for in the former crusades, the Christians had li-arned 
something of the fighting qualities of the Saracens, and experienced the horrors of 
the desert wildernesses of Asia. It was four years before Louis could enlist a hun- 
dred thousand men. Then he sailed away to Egypt with the idea of conquering that 
country. 

Louis had written a letter to the Sultan, proclaiming defiance, and when the Cru- 
saders arrived at Damietta, and anchored their vessels, they found a formidable 
array of Saracens drawn up on the shore, to oppose their landing. The Sultan him- 
self, in golden armor, directed the defense and a lively battle was begun while the 
Crusaders were still knee-deep in the water, wading ashore from the boats of their 
vessels. 

Most of the Crusaders had engaged in the expedition for the sake of plunder. 
Since the days of the first crusade, it had been the custom upon the capture of spoil 
to give one-third of the booty to the commander-in-chief, and to divide the rest 
amono- the army. Damietta was filled with valuable stores of provisions and sup- 
plies, and when at the end of a hotly contested battle, the city fell into the hands of 
the Crusaders, Louis, instead of dividing the iilundcr, kept it all for the future use of 

the army. 

This proceeding caused great dissatisfaction, and the different chiefs murmured 

loudly at the king, and were so mutinously inclined, that there was rioting, confusion 

and every sort of disorder and lack of discipline among the host. So lax was the 

sentinel <luty, that the Saracens came nightly into the Christian camp, and cut off the 



FRANCE. 



3" 




Frenrli Hmrl-Drt'ss. 



heads of sleeping soldiers, which they carried to their Sultan, receiving a 
certain sum of money from him, in return for every such bloody trophy. 

The king waited for reinforcements from France, until the overflow of 
the Nile began, and then was obliged to wait until it subsided before he 
could advance against Cairo. For rtve months the army lay idle at Dami- 
etta, becoming more demoralized every day. At last it moved toward Cairo. 
When the Crusaders reached the Tanis branch of the Nile, they found that 
the water was too deep, and the current too strong for the river either to 
be waded, or allow of the possibility of swimming across, and boats were not 
to be procured. The Saracens guarded the opposite bank, and for three 
months burned with Greek fire every bridge that the Crusaders endeavored 
to build, and baffled their every attempt to cross the stream. Finally a 
Saracen who was a fugitive from his countrymen, guided the army to a 
shallow spot, where the river was fordable. The Crusaders crossed over, 
but found the .Saracens in full force on the opposite bank. For two days 
there was battle, and then the Saracens retreated, leaving the Christian army sadly 
thinned, the king's brother being among tlie slain. The heat of the climate, and the 
bodies of the dead Saracens that were thrown into the Nile, soon engendered a 
pestilence, which further decimated the ranks of the invaders, and finally a retreat 
was ordered. 

The retreat was begun to Damietta, but the Saracens overtook the Crusaders, 
captured the king and the whole army, killed many of the men-at-arms, but finally 
admitted the king and the remainder to ransom. Louis hastened back to Damietta, 
and with his queen, her new-born son, and one hundred souls, all that was left of the 
hundred thousand that had landed with him less than a year before, embarked for 
Acre. 

He visited several places of interest in Palestine, and then nearly broken-hearted 
at the failure of the expedition, returned to France, where he found matters in sad 
confusion. Queen Blanche was dead, and Charles of Anjou, and another of his 
brothers, had assumed the government, and had seriously mismanaged affairs. 

Saint Louis made peace with England, set his kingdom in order, and formulated 
wise laws. He used to hold his court in the simplest manner, under some spreading 
oak tree, or on a shady sward, and the meanest peasant could there have his wrongs 
redressed. The people were accustomed to compare his righteous decisions and his 
simplicity, with those of the old kings of Israel, and since the days of Charlemagne, 
France had been under the rule of no such wise and good king as was Saint Louis. 

In the story of Germany I have related how the cruel Count Charles of Anjou 
defeated and destroyed the last of the Hohenstaufen princes, and became the king of 
Naples and Sicily. He was one of the most cruel men of his time, and cared little 
how many lives were sacrificed, if he but attained his object. In the East the 
situation of the Christians became desperate. Caesarea, Sidon, and Jaffa were lost, 
and Ascalon was taken by the Saracens, who murdered twenty-seven thousand 
Christians within the city. Louis was now an old man, but his heart was fired by 
this awful tragedy. He vowed another crusade, and determined to make another 
effort to end the miseries of the Christians in Palestine. Charles of Anjou had an 
ambition to add the old territory of Carthage to his possessions, and persuaded 
Louis to sail for Tunis with his force of Crusaders, deluding the king with the idea of 
converting the Moslem? there. Charles himself did not sail with the armv but 



312 FRANCE. 

followed it as did also Prince Edward of England. Saint Louis and his adventurers 
landed on a desert spot near the ruins of Carthage, after a most disastrous 
voyage, in which they suffered from lack of food and water, as well as from 
disease and mutiny. The French put to death every Moslem that they found, 
which so outraged the feelings of the king of Tunis, that he declared should 
they advance into his territory, he would put to death every one of his 
Christian subjects, but promised to protect them, if the crusaders would leave 
the country. Saint Louis pitched his camp on the ruins of Carthage, but the heat of 
the climate bred disease among his followers, and they died by hundreds. His son 
John, fell a victim, and the king himself was stricken, and after a few days of suffer- 
ing, died, leaving his kingdom to his son, Philip the Hardy, who had narrowly 
escaped death, by the same disease that carried off so many of the army. 

Charles of Anjou came too late to forward his ambitious plans. The crusade 
was abandoned, and Philip the Hard)' returned home, his brother-in-law, his wife and 
new-born child dying on the way. By the death of these relatives the king was 
greatly enriched, and France became possessed of a stretch of territory, which now 
caused the kingdom to extend from Calais to the Pyrenees, from Brest to the Rhone, 
and from Bayonne to the Alps. 

The crusade which was led by Richard the Lion-hearted and i^hiiip Augustus, 
was, you remember, the third crusade that had set out from Europe to recover from 
the Saracens the tomb of our Saviour. Between that crusade and the disastrous 
attempts of Saint Louis to relieve the Christians in the Holy Land from their miser- 
ies were two others. One of these was led by Dandola, the blind old Duke of Venice. 
The crusaders in the fourth crusade made an expedition against Constantinople, 
took the city which was in revolt against its lawful ruler, and compelled the people to 
reseat him on the throne. The crusaders were as usual men who loved gold and ad- 
venture far more than the cause of Christianity, and as they had gone to Constanti- 
nople on the promise of large reward from the deposed ruler should they succeed in 
regaining his throne for him, they now claimed it. Unfortunately the emperor of 
Constantinople had not the means of satisfying the greedy crusaders, and the people 
revolted again, murdered him and his son, and shut their gates against the host that 
had interfered in favor of their hated emperor. 

The French crusaders thereupon stormed Constantinople, took the city and 
plundered it of its treasure, and after filling it with terror and confusion and putting 
on the throne of the emperors of the East that stern old warrior. Count Baldwin of 
Flanders, most of them returned home laden with booty, leaving, of course, a suffici- 
ently strong force to support the new government they had founded. Indeed this 
government lasted fifty-six years, then it was done away, and the old Greek line of 
emperors reigned again over Constantinople. 

Just after the fourth crusade, there was a very remarkable crusade indeed. I 
have told you of how the mailed knights went forth to battle for the Saviour's tomb, 
and how even women went crusading to the far East. Now it entered the minds of 
the people that a crusade of the children might accomplish what all the others had 
failed to do. Think of it, and wonder at the courage and endurance of the little ones 
who left their homes to march through the weary miles of wilderness, to ford streams 
and cross mountains, that the place wherein was laid the body of Him who loved the 
children so dearly might be free. I do not think there were any very young children 
among the twenty thousand or more boys and girls who left their homes in Europe to 



FRANCE. 



;'3 




niL I llll.DUI.N .^ ' IJ Al I,. 



314 FRANCE. 

march into Asia, just after the fourth crusade. They were probably about half grown 
and full of enthusiasm and faith. Their parents permitted them to enroll themselves 
under the banner of the cross, and bade them farewell. Alas! The valiant band 
of children never returned to their beloved homes. They died of hunger 
and disease by the hundreds, they were drowned in crossing rivers, and 
fell under the heat of the deserts. A few lived to reach Asia, but they 
were captured by the Saracens and sold into slavery. This crusade of the children 
reminds us that human nature has always been the same in all the ages of the world. 
The hearts of the young have always thrilled at the thought of the performance of 
noble deeds, and their hands have ever been ready to aid in any good work. Their 
pure faith triumphed over the natural weakness of childhood, and though they failed 
in the accomplishment of their mission in this crusaide, it was undertaken from the 
purest motives. 

The crusade which ended in the death of Saint Louis, was the last attempt of 
any importance that was made for conquest of the Saracens, and though manj- lives 
were sacrificed, and so much treasure poured out in the vain attemps to wrest Pales- 
tine from the infidels, after ages reaped the harvest of this contact of Europe with 
the civilization of the East. 

Philip the Hardy reigned for fifteen years, and led .a gay life with the minstrels, 
jugglers and troubadors who thronged his court. With the e.\ception of a few war- 
like expeditions undertaken to gain more territory, and which were for the most part 
failures, Ue did little worthy of note during his reign. He w-as personally brave and 
handsome, and was far more pleasing to the majority of the French Lords, than was 
the severe and simple Saint Louis, his father. 

Philip IV., called Philip the Fair, was the ne.xt king. His father had carried on 
a war in the South, and he himself was obliged to face the most war-like king of 
Europe, Edward I., of England, whose contest with him was begun by some sailors, 
and the principal events of which I have related in another place. Philip lost 
Flanders soon after the close of the war with England, and then plunged into a bitter 
quarrel with Pope Boniface. At first the war between them was merely of words. 
The Pope called Philip a rebel, excommunicated him, because he turned out a 
bishop that his Holiness had appointed without first consulting the king upon the 
subject. He told Philip that he had the power to govern kings with a rod of iron, 
and to dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Philip replied that the Pope was 
"the father of lies and an evil doer." He assemljled his bishops, and caused Nogaret, 
a man who was a favorite with him, to declare the Pope guilty of certain absurd 
crimes. In 1303 Philip secretly sent Nogaret and three hundred armed knights to 
Ama"^ni, where the Pope was then staying, to sieze him. All of the attendants 
of the aged Boniface fled when his residence was attacked, and left him at 
the mercy of his enemies. The Pope clothed himself in his most splendid 
robes and with the crown of Constantine upon his head, the keys of St. Peter in his 
hand, seated himself on his throne, holding the cross, and prepared himself to die as 
befitted the head of Christendom. He was eighty-six years old, a venerable and 
majestic figure, but the knights siezed him at the orders of Nogaret, placed him on a 
bony old horse, with his face toward the animal's tail, and led him through the 
streets of the town, mocking at him and finally thrust him into a dungeon under his 
own palace. For three days the Pope was in prison, then the people of Amagni 
armed themselves, drove the knights out of town, killing many of them in the fray 



FRANCE. 



315 




Knight Templars. 



and freed t.be Pope. The venerable prelate hurried to 
Rome, but was so overcome with rage and grief at the 
treatment to which he had been subjected that he died 
within two days of his return. A new Pope was 
appointed, and he took up the quarrel with Philip 
the Fair, who was as unfair minded a king as ever 
vexed the earth with tyranny. The new Pope was 
poisoned, it is said by Philip's direct order, and another 
was put in his place, who was the tool of the French 
king, and not only did whatever he directed, but threw 
every possible slur upon the memory of Boniface. 

In 11S9, nine French crusaders in Palestine, formed 
a brotherhood for the protection of poor pilgrims on 
their way to the Holy Sepulcher. They made their 
headquarters in a house near the Temple in Jerusalem, 
and on this account were called Templars. There 
they grew in numbers, and thence spread all over 
Europe, numbering under their banners, some of the 
bravest and best men of the times. For three centuries they had been respected 
in every Christian country, and in the monasteries of their order that grew up in 
that time in France and England, there was amassed great treasure, and in politics, 
war, and the church, the Templars had great influence. Philip the Fair hated this 
order of knights, because as devout Catholics, they had taken part against him in 
his quarrel with Bonifiace. Moreover he was in want of gold, and their strong boxes 
were filled with treasure. 

Two of the Templars had been convicted of crime by their brethren, and con- 
demned to life imprisonment. To save themselves from merited punishment, these 
wretches, probably at the suggestion of the French king, offered to disclose the 
"secrets" of the order, if Philip would release them. The bargain was made, antl in 
order that Philip should profit fully by it, they charged the Templars with the vilest, 
foulest, most impossible crimes and idolatries, and the king with the help of his ac- 
comodating tool of a Pope, at once proceeded to seize the houses of the Templars 
all over the kingdom, and to imprison and torture the brethren to make them confess 
crimes, the commission of which they had never even imagined. 

For four years every horrible form of death was meted out to the Knight 
Templars. In 1314, James Molay, the head of the order, and Guy of Normandy, its 
highest French dignitary, the bravest and best of the Templars, were burned to death 
at the stake, in Paris. As the blaze kindled about the feet of Molay, he is said to 
have summoned the Pope to the bar of eternal justice in forty days, and given Philip 
a year and a day to repent of the many crimes of his evil life. Both Pope Clement 
and Philip died at the specified time, though the prophecy, like many others may have 
been made after their deaths instead of before. 

Louis the Quarrelsome, reigned eighteen months as the successor of Philip 
The Unfair, then luckily for France, he died. He was a worthy scion of his father, 
and in the brief months of his reign received his unenviable title of " The Quarrel- 
some." Philip the Tall was the next occupant of the throne, and seems to have had 
no towering ambitions. He loved ease, luxury and money, and to gain these for 
himself and his family, married his daughters and sons to wealthy consorts. One of 



3i6 FRANCE. 

his daughters became the wife of Edward II. of England, and mother of Edward of 
Wmdsor. From the accession of Philip the Tall, in 131610 1320, there was peace in 
France, then two mischievous loud-mouthed priests began to preach a new crusade. 
They declared that the other crusades had failed of their object, because they were 
undertaken by the rich and high-born, but that only the poor and lowly could succeed 
in permanently freeing the Holy Sepulcher from the infidels. They urged the 
peasants to leave their homes and travel to Asia, and at their instigation thousands of 
ignorant peasants, thirsting for adventure and plunder gathered, and pillaging the 
country, hanging Jews, and terrorizing the whole land, they marched southward, on 
their way to the coast. Five hundred Jews fled before them to the town of V^erdun, 
and being there closely besieged in the castle of the place, threw their children from 
the top of the tower, killed their wives, and turned their swords against each other, 
until there was not one of them left alive. From grim old Carcassonne an army of 
mailed knights went out against the army of peasant "crusaders" whom the Pope 
had cursed, and drove the ragged half-starved horde into forests and swamps where 
they perished from hunger or were hunted to death. 

This insanity suppressed, another soon broke out. In spite of the most cruel 
persecutions and extortions, there were still rich Jews in France. Some unusually 
ingenious liar d(>clared that the Jews and Saracens had combined to poison all the 
rivers and wells in France, by unholy magic, and thus kill all the Christians. They 
produced ridiculous testimony, such as "confessions," from people in the plot, and 
letters in Arabic which nobody could read, but which were affirmed to contain most 
dreadful secrets, and the most horrible of all the massacres of the Jews of France 
was the result. In the midst of the disorders incident upon this persecution, Philip 
the Tall died, and Charles IV. also called the P'air, was made king. He found his 
strong bo.xes full, from the plunder of the Jews, and was therefore gracious enough 
to declare that ail of the Jews then in prison might be released in the daytime in 
order that they might scrape together the heavy ransom to which he admitted them 
that they might be enabled to leave the countrj'. Charles IV. reigned but six years, 
in which time his sister Isabella, wife of Edward II., rebelled against her husband, 
and with the help of her lover Mortimer seized the kingdom, and murdered the 
king. He left no son to succeed him, and Philip of Valois, his nephew, inherited the 
crown. 

Philip of X'alois determined to subject the Flemings, whose bitter hatred of 
France had caused much trouble and bloodshed in the last two centuries. Edward 
III. of England was friendly to the Flemings, and because France was in alliance 
with the people of Scotland, Edward III. tietermined upon war. The Flemings had 
been forced to receive a ruler from the French king, but they were far more inclined 
toward the English. Count Louis, their new ruler, ordered the arrest of all English 
merchants in the country, and to retaliate Edward prohibited the export of wool 
from England, and the import of clothing from Manders. 

The Flemings were exceedingly wroth because their commerce was thus practi- 
:aily destroyed, England being the chief market for their cloth, and the source of 
their wool supply. They therefore willingly proclaimed Edward the rightful king of 
France. In Paris the news of this action roused the greatest anger, and the pope 
oUrsed the Flemings with such a horrible anathema that the sturdy burghers trembled 
in their boots. A great sea-battle was fought off Sluys in 1340, which resulted in 
victory for Edward, and a loss to the French of thirty thousand men. Afterward the 



FRANCE. 317 

two armies confronted each other for six weeks at Tournay, but did not succeed 
in making a truce for a year. 

Brittany had always remained Celtic, and independent of France. In 1341 the 
Duke of Brittany died, leaving his province to his niece, who was the wife of Charles 
of Blois, the brother of the French king. This was contrary to the Salic law, which 
had been followed also in Brittany for a long time. The dead duke had a brother, 
John De Montfort, who was beloved by the people of Brittany, who, on the con- 
trary, looked with much suspicion on Charles of Blois, and feared that through him 
their country would in time become a province of France. De Montfort was 
acknowledged the rightful duke by most of the cities and towns of Brittany. The 
French Prince Charles complained to the king, who referred the matter to a court of 
his nobles. De Montfort knew that the court would decide against him, so he hur- 
ried into Brittany to prepare for war. The men of Brittany were the best soldiers 
of Europe, and they all favored him. De Montfort was taken prisoner, but his brave 
and beautiful wife, Jeanne, went to Rouen with her baby son, and, dressed in the 
national dress of Brittany, appeared among her friends and soldiers, and passion- 
ately pleaded with them to see that her child should have its rights. 

Jeanne donned armor and led her soldiers against the French, fighting upon the 
walls, and in the field, with the courage of a veteran. When the defenses of Rennes 
were almost battered down, and the garrison was about to surrender against the 
most earnest appeals of the brave Duchess Jeanne, help from England arrived, and 
the city was saved. A truce was concluded, but the struggle was prolonged for more 
than twenty years. In the end the De Montforts triumphed, and Brittany was for 
the time saved from the domination of France. 

In 1346, the English king, Edward, landed on the continent with an army, this 
time in Normandy, and ravaging the whole country, advanced almost to the walls of 
Paris. Philip was absent at the time with his troops, but he came back, was joined 
by hosts of the people, and gathered such an immeiise force that Edward retreated 
in haste. The French followed, eager to punish the audacious English. In the 
woods of Crecy, Edward made a stand, and formed his army in three lines, on a 
hill, his son Edward, called the Black Prince, from the color of his armor, being in 
front with the Archers, The rain fell heavily, but the English bow-men covered 
their bow-strings to protect them from the damp, and waited. The French had so 
much the advantage of numbers, that they did not doubt that they should annihilate 
the English. They were so full of joy at the prospect of victory and revenge, that 
they rushed on the English in the greatest disorder. Their bow-strings were wet, 
and their arrows would only speed a short distance, while those of the English, in 
perfect condition, dealt death as they flew, their archers standing in perfect arniv, 
and keeping well their position. The French were thrown into confusion, of which 
the English took advantage to slaughter them without mercy. At one time it 
seemed that the Black Prince, who was but fifteen years old, would be taken by the 
French, and a messenger galloped to the king who was watching the battle from the 
shadow of a windmill up the hill. "Succor, Sire, succor, for the Prince!" he called. 
"Is my son killed or wounded?" asked King Edward. "Neither, Sire," replied the 
messenger. "Then go back to the Prince," said Edward, "and tell the boy, that it is 
now that he is to win his spurs in battle, for the honor of this great day, God willing, 
I reserve for him." This answer was carried to the valiant Black Prince, and 
he and his comrades fought with renewed courage, and drove back the French. 



;i8 



FRANCE. 



At niijht-fall King Philip, with only sixty men-at-arms at his back, fled half heart- 
broken, from the field of Crecy. He left dead on the battle ground, thirty thousand 
soldiers, eighty of his great nobles, and his two allies. King John of Bohemia, and 
the Duke of Lorraine. Calais was lost to the French, and then Philip made a truce 
with the victorious English. Philip died before the war was renewed. In 1349 



r 



i j.uuiam^ 







a--^ riViclSl^:-— -C' 



'ttJ.-^^ 




Bird s-fcye-Vicw of the City and l>lauii ot Utiodcs l>urlag the t-'rusHdee. 

Philip bought the province of Dauphiny from its duke for a large sum of money. 
One of the conditions of the purchase was that from that time forth the eldest son 
of the king of France was to bear the title of "the Dauphin" just as the 
eldest son of the kings of England bore the title of The Prince of Wales, 
lohn, called the Good, but who was a treacherous, exacting and cruel man, was. 



FRANCE. 319 

the son and successor of Philip. He beheaded people without form 01 trial, sent to 
the scaffold those who opposed him, was greedy, pompous and covetous. Civil war 
between him and his' nobles was followed by a renewal of the English war. Several 
years of family trouble, struggle with the nobles, and war with the English resulted 
at last in the capture of King John and two of his sons at the battle of Poictiers, but 
his eldest son the Dauphin Charles, who had forsaken his father once in his troubles 
and gone over to the enemy, but who was at the time reconciled to him, remained to 
carry on the struggle with the English. 

Following the bloody battle of Poictiers, and the capture of King John by the 
Black Prince, was that feast that historians love to dwell upon because it shows the 
real greatness of soul of the brave English prince. The echoes of the battle had 
died away and John sat a captive in the English royal tent. Instead of showing 
signs of exultation over the victory, the Prince praised the valor with which the 
French that day had fought, and reminded the sorrowing John how uncertain were 
the fortunes of war, soothing him with every gentle courtesy, that could in any way 
lessen the pain of the defeat. When supper was served, Prince Edward refused to 
seat himself at the table, saying that it was not seemly that he should be 
seated in the presence of His Majesty of F"rance. He served the king as if he had 
been his attendant, and with his own hands passed to him the viands. So kind 
and courteous was the Black Prince, that John and those'of his lords who shared his 
captivity, were moved to tears, and were thus twice conquered by their noble foe. 
The Dauphin Charles held his father's bitter enemy, the king of Navarre, as a 
prisoner. This king was a bold fellow, who had some idea that how he might 
become king of France. He had friends among the nobles, for he was a very smooth 
talker, who could almost make black appear white, so great was his eloquence. 
Charles assumed the crown in his father's absence, for John had been carried to 
London by Prince Edward. The Assembly of the French nobles made Charles 
release the king of Navarre, and almost immediately the people of Paris, headed by 
the king of Navarre, and a man named Marcel, rebelled and drove the Dauphin out 
of the city. The rebels finally decided to murder the men who were the counsel of 
the Dauphin, who was now the regent of the kingdom, and did so, in the presence 
of the unhappy Charles, who had no means at hand to prevent them and 
was lucky to escape with his own life. Marcel became the master of Paris, and 
the king of Navarre with his aid made himself the captain-general of France. 

Several other cities followed the bad example of Paris, and the peasants, not to be 
out-done by the cities, crrried on a rebellion of their own, directed both against the 
cities and the nobles. They had suffered much, it is true, for the feudal system 
pressed heavily on them and they had been cruelly wronged and plundered. Under 
a leader whom they called Jacques Bonhomme, the name by which the French 
peasant was often called on account of his patience, and which means Jacques Good- 
nature, the ragged army of peasants spread terror and death over the plains of 
Picardy. They killed ladies, children and knights, burned castles, and rioted 
and plundered savagely indeed. Their weapons were scythes fastened to poles, 
hoes, and other rustic implements, but they fought like fiends, and carried all before 
them. French, Normans, and English, and even the king of Navarre, united with 
the nobility against those murderous peasants. Marcel sent Jacques Bonhomme aid 
in the form of money and men, and many of the cities, to save themselves from the 
wrath of the peasant army, became their friends. Three hundred ladies and about 



320 FRANCE. 

four hundred noblemen were shut up with a few men-at-arms in the market- 
place of the city of Meaux. This market-place was on an island formed by 
the river Marne, and a canal, and was surrounded by a strong wall. The 
citizens of the town would give no aid to the imprisoned gentry, and when the 
peasant army appeared before their walls, not only opened their gates to them, but 
spread a banquet in the streets for them. Thinking that the people shut up in the 
market-place were at their mercy, Jacques Bonhomme's army took its time to enjoy 
the feast. While the peasant soldiery were rioting at the banquet, two gallant knights, 
followed by -about sixty lances, forced the gates of the town and rushed down upon the 
rabble just as it was preparing to assault the market-place. The little band slew the 
peasants until the men-at-arms were too tired to slay any more, and then they drove the 
rest into the river, and drowned about seven thousand of them. Thus they delivered 
the noblemen and ladies imprisoned in the market-place of the city of Meaux. The 
peasant army was totally destroyed, and its leader, Jacques.:Honhomme sought the 
protection of the king of Navarre, who crowned him with a red-hot tripod, and then 
took his life. The knights and nobles rallied, pursued the peasants with their revenge, 
and when they had fully satisfied it, turned their attention to Paris, and the other 
revolted cities. Marcel was murdered and the regent returned, executed the chiei 
leaders of the revolt, and took their property. 

While these horrors were being done in France, King John was enjoying him- 
self in England. Edward caused him to sign a treaty making over to the English all 
their lost provinces. The Uauphin and his counsel rejected the treaty, and the war 
was re-commenced. A large ransom was one of the provisions of the treaty, and the 
Dauphin finally agreed to its payment, and the king was released. He returned to 
France, leaving his two young sons as hostages with the English. John tried every 
means, foul and fair to raise the money, but was glad enough, when one of his sons 
escaped from England and returned to I'rance, to seize that as an excuse for aban- 
dcxiing the effort to- raise the ransom, and we«t back to cajnivity. His imprisonment 
was a mere form, for he lived in a splendid house in London, and his life there was 
one round of feasting and magnificent entertainment. He died four months after 
his departure for this agreeable captivity, and Charles V. became king of France. 

Europe was at this time filled with professional soldiers, who served for hire, any 
master who would employ tiiem. They were turbulent, restless, quarrelsome fellows, 
and a constant menace to the peace of the different States. To get rid of them, the 
pope and the king of Bohemia offered them the most extraordinary inducements to 
go over into Palestine and get themselves killed by the Saracens, or to die of plague 
in Asia. In other words, the pope, the emperor of Germany and the king of Bohemia 
tried to persuade these "free companions" to go on a crusade. They might have 
done so, had not another employment offered, that promised better for booty. 

Peter the Cruel, king of Castile, had a brother, Henry, whom he forced, by his 
ferocity, to flee into France. The king of France, Charles V., hated Peter because 
he had murdered his wife, a PVench royal princess. He therefore determined to 
place Henry on the throne of Castile. Duguesculin, the bravest and best soldier of 
Europe, next to the Black Prince, won the consent of the pope to the dethronement 
of Peter, and with the "free companies" at his back, crossed over into Castile, seated 
Henr}', and drove Peter from the kingdom. The deposed king applied to the Black 
Prince for aid. The Black Prince in his turn hired the "free companions" to go anci 
unseat the king they had just seated, and restore the cruel Peter. They accomplished 



FRANCE. 321 

the work without much difficulty. The Black F'rince was compelled oy the ungrate- 
ful Peter to bear all of the expense of this war, by which he gained nothing at all, 
and to meet them, he was compelled to tax his provinces so heavily that they re- 
belled, aided by Charles V. 

Charles determined to make Brittany a province of the kingdom, and to reduce 
it sent against it the brave Duguesculin, who was himself a Breton. It almost broke 
the heart of the old warrior to proceed against his beloved country, but he did so. 
and died while the war was in progress. Charles V. (the sage as he is called in his- 
tory,) died in 13S0, and his young son, Charles VI., was at once beset by jealous rivals 
for power and wealth, in the person of his uncles. One of them took charge of the 
person of the young king, by consent of the counsel, and two others took into their 
hands the money of the kingdom, while a fourth got together all the money and 
treasure belonging t the late king, and carried it home to Anjou with him. The 
taxes which Charles the Sage had made no attempt to collect were positively neces- 
sary to the regent of the king, but when he tried to make tne people pay them, Paris 
revolted. Revolts in Rouen and other cities, and a rebellion in Flanders were severely 
punished by the regent. In the midst of all sorts of disorder and violence, Charles 
VI. came of age, and appointed as the high constable of I*" ranee, Oliver de Clisson, 
the friend and comrade of Duguesculin. John De Montfort attempted to have De 
Clisson murdered in 1392, and Charles VI. renewed the war with Brittany, but went 
insane before much had been done. In spite of all the prayers and processions of 
the priests, the skill of doctors, and the charms of witchcraft employed to cure him, 
he remained insane to the close of his life, with only brief intervals of reason. 

A quarrel soon arose between the uncles of the king and Louis of Orleans, his 
brother. The brother was killed in 1408 by John the F"earless, duke of Burgundy, 
whose daughter was the wife of the Dauphin. The son of the murdered Louis of 
Orleans married the daughter of Bernard, count of Armagnac, and the quarrel, 
given new fury by the death of Louis, caused a dreadful civil war between the fol- 
lov/ers of John the Fearless, and those of the Count Armagnac. The Burgundians 
enlisted the brutal butchers of Paris — men who passed their lives in the shambles, to 
do the work of murder and plunder, while the Armagnacs carried desolation into the 
country districts of Burgundy. In the beginning of the year 141 2 the king regained a 
little sense, and being surrounded by Burgundians at the time, he denounced the 
Armagnacs and began to make war upon them. He relapsed in a little while. The 
count of Armagnac made fie.cer war than ever upon the Burgundians, and the 
Dauphin revolted from the side of his father-in-law, John the Fearless, and a horrible 
sedition occurred in Paris. The Armagnacs secured possession of the city, and the 
king in another lucid interval espoused their cause. Many of the Burgundians for- 
sook John, and went over to the Armagnacs. 

In the midst of these miserable quarrels between the wicked and corrupt nobil- 
ity, King Henry V. of England, newly come to the throne, threatened that if the 
French did not instantly pay the ransom, so long ago agreed for the release of King 
John, and give him that monarch'^, daughter, Catherine, for his wife, he would cross 
the channel with an army, and take such satisfaction as he could find in chastising 
them, and pillaging their lands. The Dauphin was now dead, and his brother John 
was a friend to the duke of Burgundy. Bernard de Armagnac had become constable 
of France, and after Henry V. had defeated the French at Agincourt, which disaster 
was charged upon the Armagnacs, the new Dauphin went with an army to join the 



322 



FRANCE. 




F.'cnch Lady and GemU-mai. Middle of 14th Century. 



Burgundians. He died suddenly of an abscess iu the 
throat, and Charles, the third son of the kinjr, and 
an Armagnac supporter, became the Dauphin. This 
dutiful youth proceeded to rob his father's wife of 
her mone}- and jewels, and would have shut her up 
in prison, had she not escaped and joined the Bur- 
gundians, whom before this time she had most bitterly 
hated. With the aid of the queen, John the Fearless 
called a new Chancellor, and aj^pointed a new Par- 
liament. 

A revolution in Paris tlisplaced the .\rmagnacs. 
and gave the Burgundians again the power, and the 
Dauphin himself, narrowly escaped being murdered. 
There were dreadful scenes enacted, and to crown 
the misfortunes of unhappy I-"rance, Henry \'. of 
England entered the countrj', and in 1419 pro- 
claimed himself its king. It became necessary for the 
Burgundians and the Armagniics to be reconciled. 
and as each party distrusted the other with good 
reason, but were compelled in some manner to 
arrange their differences, in order that they might combine against the English 
king, they agreed to meet on a bridge over the river Yonne, to settle their quarrel. 
The Duke of Burgundy was to be accompanied by ten men, and the Dauphin by the 
.same number. .Strong gates were placed at each end of the bridge, and a sort of a 
pavilion erected in the middle. The duke and the Dauphin entered from opposite 
sides of the bridge, the duke coming last, and the gates were closed and locked. 
When John the Fearless bent his knee before the Dauphin, his sword became 
entangled between his feet, and he laid his hand upon the hilt to straighten it. Pre- 
tending that he thought this an insult to his master, one of the Dauphin's attendants 
made a signal to the others, and they fell upon the Duke of Burgundy before he 
could rise or draw his weapon, and killed him. One of the Burgundian attendants 
was killed in the attempt to save his master, and another jumped over the gate and 
escaped, and with this e.xception the rest were made prisoners. 

This horrid murder filled France with indignation, and with the sanction of the 
queen, the son of John The Fearless made a treaty with 1 lenry V. of England, by which 
the insane king Charles \T. was to have the title of king as long as he lived, and 
Henry was to marry Catherine, and be king of France thereafter. The Dauphin was 
to inherit only a little strip of country along the Loire. Henry married Catherine, 
and treated France as a conquered country. The Dauphin went into southern !•' ranee, 
and for the next five years there were but few battles on PVench soil. When the 
English king died, the Dauphin had himself proclaimed King Charles VII., but to 
secure his crown was a difficult matter. With the Armagnacs on his side, and the 
fierce Burgundians and English against him, war raged in France in which the forces 
of the Dauphin were so often defeated, that they were in despair. In the year 1428 
the English arrived before Orleans, a city which was faithful to the Dauphin, and sur- 
rounded it for a siege. It was very strongly fortified, and the English built towers to 
assail the works, but the city defied every attempt to take it. The Dauphin was at 



FRANCE. 323 

Chinon, where he was anxiously watching- the progress of the siege, and enjoying 
himself with beautiful Agnes Sorel, with whom he was deeply in love. Me grew 
much distressed concerning Orleans, and the fair Agnes did all that she could to 
cheer him up. Thus despondent. Charles heard that a young girl from Picardy. 
Joan of Arc, had come from her native village, where all her life she had tended her 
father's sheep, and had declared that voices from heaven had told her that she was 
to be the means of restoring the Dauphin his kingdom, and saving France from the 
English. At first Charles thought, as her neighbors did at home, that Joan was either 
mad, or was a witch, but when she remained at Chinon, praying In the churches, and 
asserting with modest earnestness her divine mission, he began to believe in her. 

The "voices" directed her to wear armor and men's clothing, and the king there- 
fore gave her a war-horse, and dressed her splendidly as a soldier. Learnetl bishi ps 
questioned her, and after sprinkling her with holy water, declared that she was no 
witch. Inquiries were made about her past life, and when the counsellors of the 
king had satisfied themselves that she was indeed a pious and holy maid, she was 
given a snow-white banner, and conducted to Orleans. Here she at once took charge 
of the siege. When the besieged people of Orleans saw her coming they were filled 
with joy, for they believed her a messenger from heaven, and there was an old 
prophecy that declared that a maid shouki deliver the cit\' from the enemy in the 
hour of its peril. 

Joan headed the French forces like a veteran general, and everywhere that she 
appeared with her white standard the English were seized with panic. The besieg- 
ers were attacked and their towers taken and burned. Joan with her own hands 
placed a scaling-ladder against one of these towers, and was climbing up to the at- 
tack when an arrow struck her in the neck. .She snatched the dart from the wound, 
retired into a vineyard near by and applied some oil to the wound, and again 
led her men to the assault. So severe were the English losses that they withdrew 
from Orleans. Fortress after fortress that had fallen into the hands of the enemy 
were recovered by the maiden warrior, and at last she planted her snow-white banner 
on a field where 12,000 English lay dead, and knew that her triumph was complete, 
and that there were now no foes to oppose the coronation of the king. Charles VII. 
was crowned, while Joan stood near him with her snow-white banner in her hand, 
clad in the armor of a soldier, and then she begged the king to allow her to return 
to her home, for she felt that her mission had been accomplished. 

The "voices" no longer spoke to Joan, and in 1430 when she was at Compeigne, 
besieged by the English and Burgundians, she ventured out to attack the enemy, and 
was surrounded and taken prisoner, after she had been wounded. The English duke 
of Bedford whom she had defeated before Orleans, ransomed her from the Burguntli- 
ans. The bishop in whose diocese she had been captured, was a friend of the English 
duke, and he assembled some of his priests, who tried Joan, accusing her of witch- 
craft, magic, and idolatry. She answered every one of their charges with modesty 
and firmness, and they could not force her to admit that her inspiration was false. 
They then threw her into prison, and she was kept there a long time. Threatened 
with death at the stake if she did not confess her inspiration false, and deny that she 
had ever heard any voices whatever, Joan, at last, worn down by suffering, began to 
doubt, that she had really been inspired from on high to free France, and confessed 
as much to her tormentors. She was then condemned to life imprisonment, but the 
duke of Bedford declared the sentence too light. Her armor that she had so often 



324 



FRANCE. 



worn to victory, was placed in her cell to mock her with the past and the ingratitude 
of the Dauphin, who did not lift hi. hand to save her from her fate. One day, she 




The Blind Doge DoDilola Leading Uio V. n.lian Crusade. 



put it on, and this was made the excuse for condemning her to death at the stake as 
a relapsed witch and heretic. She was publicly burned in the market-place of Rouen, 
dying with sublime courage and dignity. The war dragged on for several years. 



FRANCE. 325 

until the French and English both grew tired of it, and at last in 1444 a truce was 
made for a year, but it lasted for five years. Then for four yecrs longer the 
war was continued and though the little son of the English king was acknowledged 
the king of France, Charles VII. regained much that the French had lost. 
Charles VII. and his eldest son, the Dauphin Louis, were at enmity, from the 
time that Louis was eighteen years of age. The monarch treated the queen, 
the mother of the Dauphin, with studied neglect, and bestowed all of his 
affection upon Agnes Sorel, and other favorites. He gave Agn^^, the Chateau de 
Beaute, and thus so enraged Louis, that he bo.xed the ears of the fair lady, and told 
her in no gentle t<=rms, his opinion of her. Then he attempted to win the Scotch 
guards to take part in a conspiracy, the plot was discovered, and those who joined in 
it, e.xcept the Dauphin himself, were executed. 

Louis then left the court swearing to be avenged on his enemies, and retiring to 
Dauphiny, gathered about him a number of discontented noblemen. His father 
commanded him to return to court, and when Louis persisted in refusing, he sent an 
army into Dauphiny. - Louis fled to Brussels and there Philip the Good, who had 
vainly protested against the king's treatment of the heir to the crown, gave him a 
magnificent residence, and furnished him' money which he spent with a lavish hand. 
When Charles VII. (The Victorious) died, you may be sure that there was fear and 
trembling in the court and among the officers of State. Louis har' been an exile for 
twenty-six years at the time, but they knew that his memory of past offenses was 
vivid, and that he would not forget those who had been his enemies. Some of them 
had the prudence to seek safety abroad, but upon those who remained within his 
power, he wreaked the most merciless vengeance. 

The Duke of Burgundy, who had been the friend of the exiled Dauphin, was 
rewarded when he became king in a manner that shows well the character of Louis 
XI. The duke accompanied the new king to Paris, on the occasion of his coronation, 
and so enthusiastic were the shouts of "Burgundy," "Long live Burgundy," that the 
king became jealous. Indeed it was no secret to him that the majority of the people 
of France favored Philip the Good for their king, and that he might have had the 
crown for the mere taking, but he was a loyal and generous man, and would not 
encourage the idea. Without a word of warning Louis seized upon all of the Bur- 
gundian cities on the Somme river, which Philip the Good had long held ^nder a 
treaty, and disgraced one by one the Burgundian friends who had accompanied him 
to France. 

Charles VII. had been a good-humored king, fond of display and luxury, but 
Louis was simple and almost rude in his manner, and hated splendid entertainments. 
He loved hunting, and would not allow the lords of his kingdom to hunt the stag or 
boar on their own lands, for he reserved all the game for his own sport. W'hen he 
was Dauphin ne encouraged the people to resist taxation, but when he became king, 
he taxed them unsparingly. His half-brother Charles, he made a virtual prisoner, 
and so offended the Duke of Brittany that he formed a league of French lords 
against him, and went to England to get aid to make war. 

The son of the Duke of Burgundy who had been such a loyal friend to Louis, 
joined the king's half-brother and others, and for ten years allied with various 
supporters, the French and Burgundians fought each other with great fury. Louis 
was so unscrupulous, so able in war and state-craft, and so clever in flattery, that he 
at last succeeded in withdrawing all of his allies from Charles the Bold, now Duke 



326 rRAXCE. 

of Burgundy, and finallj' worsted him. The king's half-brother was the center arouiu! 
which all of the plots against the authority of the king revolved. Louis caused him 
to be poisoned, and then murdered the man who pe'formed the deed, to prevent 
him from confessing. He had caused iron cages to be made for the better torture of 
his hapless captives, and into these he thrust his enemies. The Armagnacs, he 
pursued with relentless hatred, putting them to death with awful torture, and even 
pursuing with his hate, thos*^ of the name who had never taken any part in public 
life. 

Charles the Bold, made war upon the Swiss, but he was tlefcated and his army 
broken at Granson in 1476. To avenge this disgrace he had the bells of his cities 
melted down to make cannon, hired all of the soldiers he could, and marched against 
the Swiss, at Morat. He was more dreadfully beaten than before, and from that 
time his power was broken. He was killed in battle the next year, and Louis was 
freed from his most bitter enemy. The daughter of the Duke of Burgundy, fair 
Mary, was robbed of a part of her inheritance by the French king, who tried to force 
her into a hateful marriage. Gallant IMa.ximilian, Emperor of Germany, made her 
his wife, and went to war with Louis. After some bloody battles an agreement was 
reached. Louis then bus-ed himself in subduing the feudal lords of his kingdom, 
who were hostile to him. He was ferocious in his dealing with them, and his anger 
was feared by the nobility to that extent that they became exceedingly docile. By 
the death of his uncle of Anjou, Louis became the heir to that rich province, and by 
the conquest of others he became the most powerful monarch of Europe. 

The last years of the life of Louis XI. were miserable enough, though no more 
so than he deserved. He built himself a house which he surrounded with a ~ iron 
wall, and within the wall was a palisade of iron bars. F"our iron watch-towers, 
with little loop-holes for windov.s, one on each corner of the wall, were filled 
with archers, who were directed to shoot at any strangers appearing too near the 
walls. The windows and doors of the house were barred with iron, and iron spikes 
were scattered about to wound the feet of any unwary stranger that might happen to 
penetrate to this strange retreat. The monarch who had dc le so many deeds of blood, 
was in hourly fear that he might be assassinated, and in addition to the strong walls 
and the archers in the four iron towers, kept a fierce knight with a band of men con- 
stantly riding about the place, to arrest a'.iy strangers who might approach to:) near 
the dwelling of the king. 

At the age of fiftj'-eight Louis XI. felt that all of his efforts to save himself from 
death were likely to prove unavailing. He fell down one day in a fit, and from that time 
steadily failed in health. The outside world was kept in ignorance of his state, and 
never had he been so active through his ministers at foreign courts as then. All that 
medicine could do was done, but without any effect. Then horrible rites were cele- 
brated, for the king believed firmly in witchcraft, but still in vain. Blessed images 
and charms were bought for him, and yet he grew worse every day, but none but the 
immediate attendants knew of the king's mad fight for life, and his abject fear of 
death. 

There lived in a hollow rock in Calabria, a province in southwestern Italy, a her- 
mit who for forty-three years had never left his uncomfortable cell, but passed his 
whole life in fasting and prayer. Through the gifts of the faithful he had built two 
churches, and the fame of his piety had gone throughout Europe. This hermit was 
called St. Francis, and thinking that he might save him, Louis wrote him and begged 



FRANCE. 



327 



him to come to his aid. The hermit refused to quit his cell until so commanded by 
the pope, who gave him permission to found a new order of hermits, those of St. 
Francis, as a reward for his obedience. When St. Francis appeared before Louis, 
the dying king knelt at his feet and begged him to prolong his life. St. Francis could 







O 



only promise to pray for him, and he did, but his prayers, like the efforts of the phys- 
icians, were in vain. Louis shuddered ceaselessly in the fear of death, and it was not 
until five days before he breathed his last that he gave up hope, when his physicians 
solemnly told him that no earthly power could prolong his life beyond a few days. 



328 FRAXCE. 

His last act as a king was to sign the death warrants of two men whom he hated, and 
he himself died August 30, 1483. 

The king who now came to the French throne, Charles \TII., is known in French 
history as "The Good Little King." He was only fourteen years old when his father 
died, and was put in charge of his sister, a strong-willed lady, whom he does not seem 
to have loved over-much. At the age of eighteen he began his real reign. He had 
been betrothed for a long time to the daughter of Maximilian, but instead of marry- 
ing her, had married Anne of Brittany, a rich heiress. The poor girl hated the 
Dauphin, and loved instead the handsome gallant young Duke of Orleans, his 
cousin. Louis of Orleans, fought against France, when the king sent a force into 
Brittany to subjugate the country of his lady love, but was captured and thrown into 
prison in one of those cruel iron cages in which Louis XL took such delight. Poor 
Anne was in sad straits when Louis was captured, and as she had no defender, she 
promised to marry handsome Max of Germany, but she was forced to marry Charles 
VIII., and thus Brittany became after centuries of brave struggle, a "province of the 
kingdom. 

Charles VIII. had great schemes for conquering Constantinople and Italy. He 
marched with an army into Italy, and Venice. Naples, Florence, and Rome fell an 
easy prey to the French. Charles VIII. set up rulers in the various Italian cities, and 
the lords and ladies who attended the warlike junket hat! a merry time on the fair 
plains and rich communities of Lombardy, as well as in the old and refined civilization 
of the land further south. The soldiers pillaged the inhabitants to their heart's con- 
tent, but when the French had turned back the people gathered along the way, and 
fought several great battles with the invaders. "The Good Little King" showed 
himself a valiant soldier, but the French gained nothing by the e.xpedition, for the 
cities of Italy soon revolted and overthrew the rulers the French had left. 

For several years after the return of the king from Italy, he devoted himself to 
the government of his kingdom, imitating the good Saint Louis in the administration 
of affairs. He was exceedingly fond of all sorts of pleasure, and indulged this taste 
without restraint. He had always been small and sickly, and was unfitted to stand 
such a life. The people loved him sincerely, and were much shocked and saddened 
when he died suddenly in 1498, at the age of twenty-eight. He left no children, and 
Louis of Orleans became king of France as Louis XII. 

Louis XII. had been compelled by his uncle, Louis XI. to marry his ugly cousin 
lean. He had never loved her, but she was a true-hearted loyal creature, who loved 
the king most devotedly. Louis nevertheless, divorced her, when he became king, 
and married his old sweetheart, Anne of Bri'-'^any, with whom he lived most happily, 
many years. Louis XII. was soon engaged in war with the Italian cities, who were 
championed by a war-like pope. The contest was prolonged ten years, and involved 
nearly every power in Europe. It ended by the French being driven from Italy. 

After the Italian war, Henry VIII., of England crossed over to Calais with an 
army, where he was joined by Maximilian. The Swiss attacked Burgundy about the 
same time, but trouble broke out between the English and their allies, and before it 
was settled Anne, of Brittany died. Louis then treated with Henry VIII. for peace,, 
and married Princess Mary, of England, who was seventeen, while Louis was fifty- 
three. Mary was the most beautiful woman in Europe, and Louis was well pleased 
with his English bride, but at the end of six weeks of splendid wedding festivities, 
Louis died of gout in the first hour of the year 1515. Louis XII. was a jovial 



FRANCE. 329 

monarch, mild, peaceable and good-natured. No cruelties are written against him. 
and he is given a reputation for self-control and justice. Paris was a very grand 
city in his day, though of course not as splendid as it afterward became, and through 
its streets Louis XII. used to ride about on a little mule, with none of the display 
common to the rich nobles of his time, and attended by not a single person. He 
was succeeded on the throne by Francis I., his cousin, who was as eager to conquer 
Milan as his two predecessors had been. He succeeded, and after having arranged 
a French marriage for Julian de Medicci, ruler of Florence, put the Italian States in 
order, and leaving a French force in Milan, went back to France. As soon as 
Maximilian heard of the proceeding of Francis in Italy, he appeared before Milaiii 
with an army to drive out the I .ench. The Swiss came to the aid of the French, 
and Maximilian was obliged to retreat without performing any of his ferocious 
threats against Milan. 

Isabella of Spain, the generous patron of Columbus, had died several years 
before this time, and in 15 16 Ferdinand of Castile also passed away, and left his 
kingdom of Spain to his grandson Charles, also the heir to the crown of the German 
Empire. When Charles became the emperor of Germany, Francis and hissuccesscr, 
Henry II., waged war with him for seventeen years. This war caused much misery, 
and the conquests and treaties that were made would fill a volume, for their relation. 
The plots, counter-plots, treacheries, murders, victories and defeats of those sad years 
are legion, and we will pass them by. 

Francis I. is called the father of French learning, because in his reign the fruits of 
the printing press first became popular in France. He was a brave and chivalrous gen- 
tleman, and found time amid his ceaseless wars, to encourage the gentler arts. He 
made his authority supreme in his kingdom, and in the realm of mind, as well as 
politics, exercised his will right royally. He paid poets and scholars we'l, built up 
the colleges of F"rance, which became a very famous institution of learning, and 
encouraged the Italian artists that flocked to Paris. By his order some very beau- 
tiful buildingi- and works of art were erected in Paris, that remain to this day. 
Among them is the Palace of the Louvre, which contains the most famous 
picture gallery in the world and the fountain of the Innocents. Francis, like 
Charles Stuart, in later times, believed that the king was above the power of 
laws, but in spite c' the added power of the king, the reformation and the 
printing-press, had given new ideas of liberty to F"rance, that were to stand the 
storms of the dreadful years that followed the reign of Francis, and that may really 
be said to have begun before his death. Pomp and splendor increased at the French 
court, but all the time the peasants, who paid for it all, and for all the cruel wars with 
which the kings satisfied their revenge and hatred, were slowly awakening to the fact 
of their slavery, and beginning to grow restless under it. 

At the close of the reign of Henry II. in 1559 the reformed religion had spread 
all over France. At the instigation of Diana of Poicters, a wicked woman who had 
much influence with him, the king had persecuted the Hugenots, as the Protestants 
were called, with the greatest cruelty. The torture of fire, the inquisition, the axe, 
the hangman's rope, and the dungeon were offered to them if they did not remain 
Catholics. In spite of all these the new doctrine spread. The Princes of the House 
of Guise were especially bitter against the new doctrine, and mercilessly applied all 
the tortures of the inquisition. Francis II. became king in 1559, on the death of his 
father. His mother the wicked Catherine de Medici, was the regent of the kingdom. 



330 FRANCE. 

The wife of Francis II. was Mary Stuart, princess royal of Scotland, and Philip of 
Spain was his brother-in-law. Francis was, therefore, surrounded with Catholic 
influences, and dismissed from his service, those who had joined the rank of the 
Protestants. Valiant Admiral Coligny, was for that reason dismissed from court, all 
that he had done for the <rlory of France in her wars, being counted as nothing, against 
his "heresy." With the aid of Coligny, and some of the Huguenot nobles, the 
persecuted sect rebelled, and took up arms to maintain their right to worship God 
in their own way. They fought with great courage but the 'dds were against 
them, and they were obliged to yield at last to the king, who punished them with 
much cruelty. Thereafter the Huguenots, were persecuted with greater ferocity, 
and in the provinces where they were in power, retaliated upon the Catholics the 
burnings, hangings and tortures to which their sect were elsewhere subjected. 

Francis II. was untiring in his efforts against the "heretics" and while he was 
arranging new tortures for them, he died suddenly at the end of an eighteen months' 
reign, leaving no children. The brother of Francis II. was then proclaimed king, at 
the age of nine and a half. The Huguenots were still quarreling and fighting with 
the Catholics, but as the government was against the Protestants, they met with 
some severe reverses, but still kept up the agitation, for among them were some of 
the bravest, best and most resolute men of France. When the king grew old enough 
to take part in public affairs, he showed the most bitter hatred toward the Protestants. 
His mother and regent, Catherine de Medici, had been indifferent to both parties in 
her heart, and only favored the one or the other as selfish interests dictated. The 
king, however, placed himself at the head of the Catholics, and the war raged with 
great fury. 

In August, 1570, after manv victories and defeats on both sides, a treaty of peace 
was signed. Long before that time the most extreme measures of dealing with 
the Protestants had been debated by the councillors of the king, and the treaty 
was but a device to throw the Protestants off their guard. Catherine had 
formed a plan which her son fully approved, that was designed to set at rest all 
religious quarrels between the two sects, and now the king proceeded to carry out its 
details. Coligny was reconciled to the Catholic leaders, but one day in 1572 as he 
was returning to his own house, an assassin, hired by the Duke of Guise, attempted 
his life. He was sorely wounded, and thus out of the way of the conspirators. The 
Princess of Conde, whose husband had led the Protestan.j in the war, but who had 
been killed, was their next powerful enemy, and Catherine is charged with poisoning 
her, as she died suddenly and mysteriously, about the same time that Coligny was 
attacked. 

The Guises were the moving spirits in all the evil deeds of the evil time that fol- 
lowed. They persuaded the inlluential Catholics to aid them in their plan, for they 
were hand-and-glove with Catherine. The Catholics of Paris were secretly informed 
that to protect their lives and property they must assume on St. Bartholomew's day, 
badges that were distributed to them for the purpose. On the night of that day, 
Auo-ust 23, in the year 1572, the fiendish plan of the queen and her accomplices was 
carried out. Arms had been given out to the Catholics, and they were ordered to 
assume them on the ringing of the alarm bell, together with the white crosses that 
were to distinguish them from the Protestants. The tocsin was sounded in the middle 
of the night, and the Huguenots, intent only on learning the meaning of the signal, 
and aijprehcnding nothing worse than a conflagration in the city, rushed into the 



FRANCE. 



33' 




street half-dressed, and 
without weapons. The 
king's troops, stationed 
in every street, shot 
them down, an^', aided 
by the armed Catho'ics, 
fr/ced the doors of Mi^Hl-; 
hoi.ses tha were barri- vMV: 
caded against them, and 
slaughtered men, wo- 
men and children with- 
out mercy. 

The king had given 
orders that not a single 
heretic wastobe spared, j^-^^^ -"-^**S3^^a^^gS32?&;i^=s^^ -* - - -i^cs^^s^^^^-. ^-mu^.jm^, 

and for f'VO days and scene During the NigW ,jf St. Bartholomevs. 

nights the work of murder went on. The streets were filled with corpses, 
the gutters ran blood, and amid the dreadful scenes the Dukes of Guise, Mont- 
pensier and Angouleme, went about among the murderers exhorting them to be 
more diligent, urging the Catholi'-s to slay without mercy, and revelling in the 
carnage like fien Js. On the first night of the massacre the king stood in his balcony, 
and fired at the fleeing Huguenots that passed the palace seeking safety. He is said 
to have called out, "Kill! kill!" to the soldiers who pursued them. Coligny, wounded 
and defenceless, was the first victim of the slaughter. He was murdered in his 
chamber, and his body thrown from the window to the street below. 

The king sent letters to all of the cities of the provinces, ordering the people 
to exterminate the Protestants as the people of Paris had done. Many of them 
obeyed the order, others refused, and not only defied the king, but denounced the 
horrid deed of .St. Bartholomew's day. A hundred thousand Protestants, neverthe- 
less, fell in a few days, and when the P' pe heard of the bloody victory of the Catho- 
]-cs in France he made a magnificent procession in the streets of Rome, and caused a 
medal to be struck to commemorate the event. He need not have feared that those 
dreadful days would ever be forgotten, for nothing contributed more to the spread 
of Protestantism than the violent means that the Catholics took to suppress it. St. 
Bartholomew's massacre stands a monument to all the Christian ages of the iniqui- 
ties of those who perpetrated it, and the just indignation of all Europe was kindled 
by the atrocities committed in France. 

It was certainly fitting that Charles IX. should never have had another peaceful 
and happy hour, after that dreadful August night. A mysterious disease attacked 
him that b ifled all the skill of his physicians. His blood started from the pores of 
his body in ^readf il sweat, and he believed himself accursed of God for the part he 
had taken ii the massacre. Bathed in his own blood constantly, and aftlicted with 
untold terrors, he died in May, 1574. Catherine's power suffered little check by the 
death of the ki /y. Her son, Henry III., was called to the throne, and in his court 
she plot! -?d and planned, mixing poison for those upon whom she wished to wreak 
her hatred, and becoming more and more odious to the whole nation. 

Henry III. was a weak, silly vicious fellow, who had neither sense of dignity nor 
judgment. There was a strong party in the nation who wanted to see his Protestant 



^^2,2 FRANCE. 

brother, the Duke of Alencon, on the throne, and another party favored King Henry 
of Navarre, a Bourbon prince, and a Protestant. The king held both of these princes 
prisoners, and dragged them about with him, to all the absurd feasts and entertain- 
ments that were his delight. The Duke of Guise, headed a powerful league of the 
malcontents of the kingdom, an-J determined to make himself king. To this end he 
seized the city of Paris, and compelled the king to give him an important office in 
the government, but the kir-r soon caused him to be murdered, and a short time after- 
ward was himself killed, ending the dominion of the house of V'alois on the throne 
of l-"rance. 

The king of Navarre w-as the ne.xt in the succession. Catholic Paris was devoted 
to the memory of the Duke of Guise, and rejoicing openly at the death of Henry III. 
refused to receive his successor, proclaiming Cardinal Bourbon, an old man, as 
Charles X. The Cardinal was, however a prisoner in the hands of Henry I\'. 
and when all his attempts to win over the soldiery to his cause failed, and he himself 
died, Henry subjugated the capital, and after two more years of war, restored peace 
between the two factions in the State, by renouncing the Protestant faith, and becom- 
ing reconciled to the church. Henry was gallant in war, wise in government, and 
generous to his enemies. By the Edict of Nantes he allowed freedom of worship in 
France, and for seventeen years, until 1610, reigned over the country bringing it to a 
high pitch of glory and greatness. He loved his people, and tried to give them 
justice, although he was fettered by tiie power of his great nobles, and by the clergy. 
He labored to promote commerce and industry, sending ships to America to found 
colonies, and maintaining France's dignity at home and abroad. Even Francis I. was 
not so great a king as was this Bourbon Henry IV., and his valor, wisdom and good 
deeds, endeared him to the nation. In spite of his popularity, however, he was mur- 
dered in the open streets of Paris, by a madman named Ravillac, who suffered the 
most horrible form of death by torture, in expiation i)f his crime. 

The little son of Henry IV. and Mary De Medici succeeded to the crown of 
I'rance, under the title of Louis XIII. The Duke of Sully, who had aided Henry 
1\'. in his government and his reforms, was unpopular with the new king and his 
mother, and his place was taken in course of time, by Cardinal Richelieu, the wiliest 
politician, and at once the most able and unscrupulous man of his time. While 
Louis was still too young to reign, his mother had held the reigns of government. 
In after times she and the king's brothers became his enemies, and by their plots and 
ambitions, caused him much trouble, in all of which Cardinal Richelieu supported 
the king, defeated the plotters at every point, and was unmerciful in iiis dealings both 
with the enemies of the king and of the State. Louis was of a cold and cruel tem- 
perament, and was ; s crafty, and bloody-minded in his revenge as was Louis XI. In 
every deed that confounded his enemies and glorified himself and France, 
Cardinal Richelieu abetted the king. Civil wars, treasons, plots and crimes, were 
done in P'rance in the days of Louis XIII. His wife hated him, and when the Duke 
of Buckingham came over to France to take to England the future wife of 
Charles Stuart, Henrietta Maria, he so offended Richelieu, that I'>ance afterward 
joined with Spain in a war against England. 

The Edict of Nantes was made of noeffect by the Cardinal, who waged war against 
1 he Huguenots cities, and after a brave resistance, conquered them every one. The 
l)roud Cardinal was more than once under the suspicions of the cold-hearted king, 
and was more than once in danger of losing his head. Plots were made again and 



FRANCE. 



333 



again to destroy the powerful minister, but he always discovered them, and by the 
powers of his great genius saved himself, and restored the king's trust in him. While 
thus saving himself. Cardinal Richelieu saved France from the horrors of civil strife, 
and serving his own interests, never separated them from those of the State. His 
country's glory was his ruling ambition, and its honor his pride, though for both he 
performed deeds, that to us seem cruel and uncalled for. 

There is no character in French history that stands out so boldly against the 
treasons and selfishness of those days, as does that of Cardinal Richelieu. But for 




CARDINAL KICHELIEU. 

him Louis XIII. would have been destroyed by his enemies, and unhappy France 
wholly given over to the strife of factions. He shut the gates of mercy, it is true, 
with an unsparing hand, but he humbled the proud nobility, sparing not even the 
brothers of the king. He gained the admiration of the world, and made the name 
of his king and country respected everywhere in Europe. It is doubtful whether he 
was beloved, even by his own relatives, for whom he did much, certainly the king had 
little affection for him, in spite of his great services. Like many men whose lives 
have been surrounded by constant danger, Richelieu lived out his days, and died at a 



334 



FR.\.\'CE. 



J^5i^ 




Coftuiiic oX Nublcuu-u lu 1G40, 

out of that. The air 



ripe old age. Louis XIII. did not long survive his 
famous minister, and left his five year old son under 
the regency of his wife, Anne of Austria. 

Richelieu had trained an able Italian priest, 
Mazarin, to fill his place, and had seen him made 
Cardinal. This man at once stepped into the vacant 
place of the great Cardinal, and for several years 
directed the affairs of France. Under him the 
nobles gained much of their former haughtiness, for 
they had not the fear of Anne, that her husband 
Louis XIII. had inspired. The war with Germany 
and Spain that occurred during the minority of the 
young King Louis XI\'.. iliminished the treasury, 
and to till it, the queen ordered the parliament to 
levy certain ta.ves, for in those daj-s whether the kings 
and queens spent money in killing their enemies or 
feasting their favorites, the people paid for all. 
Church and State combined to rob them. They 
were ta.xed for nearly everything, excci>t being 
born and dying, and the church even made a profit 
was about all that was free to them, and when they 
were reduced to living on air, as they sometimes were when their crops only 
sufficed to pay the church and State, the peasants .sometimes died at the public 
e.xpense, and their fellow citizens had the bat! grace to reproach the government. 

The common people had steadily gained power in the parliament, and when the 
queen proposed the new taxes, the parliament wouUl not consent, and even intimated 
to .\nne that the people had some rights that she was bound to respect. About that 
time the French army gained a great victory, and the parliament and the citizens of 
Paris went in procession to the Church of Notre Dame, a splendid cathedral, to give 
solemn thanks. Anne posted soldiers all over the city, and suddenly on the day of 
the procession seized the President of the Parliament and carried him away to the 
bastile. The people of Paris at once (lew to arms. In less than two hours the streets 
were barricaded. Some boys with slings began the assault on the queen's soldiers, 
and drove them to the royal palace. F"rom these boys, who slung stones at the 
soldiery, the struggle that afterward took place was called the \Var of the I'^ronde, 
as "frondcur" is the P>ench word for slinger. The next day after the seizure of the 
president and while all Paris was in arms, and had been fighting for several hours 
with the soldiers, the parliament came in a body to the queen, and their spokesman 
demanded the release of the president. The queen would not listen to him, and left 
the room slamming the door behind her. The spokesman followed the queen, and 
iji very plain terms intimated that Charles Stuart had just lost his throne— this was in 
1648— and that she and her son might suffer a like fate if she persisted in her course. 
.She was therefore obliged to listen to reason, release the president, and banish 
Mazarin, who had advised her action in the matter. 

Although compelled to yield the president up, Anno did not concede everything. 
From a safe distance, Mazarin dictated to her as before, and after four years of civil 
war, the struggle of the Fronde came to an end, and Mazarin returned to Paris. 
Louis XI\'. assumed the royal authority at the age of thirteen, and the parliament 



FRANCE. 



335 




^^miv^a 



Royal Costumes 1635 to 1640. 



gave up ever\' point for which it had contended. 

Mazarin, like Richelieu, was a wonderful plotter, and 

succeeded in crushing all of his enemies. He made a 

treaty with Cromwell, who aided France in the war 

against Spain, and after restoring the country to peace 

and prosperit}-, and arranging a Spanish marriage for 

the young king, Mazarin died. He left the will of the 

monarch the supreme power of the nation and in the 

year 1661 when he died Louis XIV. declared that he 

woukl be his own ]jrime minister. For the first time 

in fifty years, the king of r>ance governed in his own 

person. 

Louis XI\'. hatl a taste for luxury, and during the 

si,\ty-four years of his reign, such royal magnificence 

was witnessed at the court of France, as had never before 

been seen in Europe. Gay Paris became doubly gay, 

and no courtier could hope to succeed, with the king 

or his court, without a plentiful display of jewels, gold 

Lace, ruffles and gaudy clothes. In spite of his elegance of dress and manner, Louis 

XIV. was no co.x-comb, neither were the men who gathered about him mere dandies. 

They were able generals, cultured refined and brilliant scholars, who brought courtly 

politeness to a perfection hitherto unknown, and made the court of the kino-, the 

center of the intellectual life of the nation. The wars that Louis waged with success 

made France the greatest power in Europe, and its king the haughtiest monarch 

that ever wore a crown. He pretended to holtl all Europe in vassalage, and to have 

the right to settle disputes between kings and princes. Spain and England, under 

their weak kings, submitted to his secret direction, and he incited the Turks to make 

war upon the German empire, that he might plunder it. His generals were the best 

in Europe, and the genius and ambition of the king seemed to have no limit. His 
victories by land and sea, inspired his people to offer him almost divine honors, and 
he thought himself worthy of them. 

His wars cost enormously, and to pay their e.xpense, the peasants were ta.xed to 
the utmost. They did not dare to murmur, even though they starved, while the king 
liuilt costly palaces, and lodged his favorites as though they had been eastern queens. 
The bastile yawned for the discontented, and more than one nobleman and citizen 
who spoke slightingly of all the magnificence of Louis XIV. disappeared from the 
sight of men in the dungeons without form of trial. 

The pride of the nation in the great deeds of their monarch was such that they 
bore whatever discomfort his victories imposed upon F"rance, with patience. He 
kept his armies so busy fighting that they had little time for brooding over domestic 
discomfort. When James Stuart was driven from the English throne, and the valiant 
Prince of Orange, who had more than once confronted Louis on hard fought fields was 
called to wear the crown of the exiled monarch, the French attempted to make the 
English take back their king. Louis failed in his attempt to restore the Catholic 
Stuarts to the throne, and was compelled to make peace with England. When 
James II. died, Louis XI\^ proclaimed the exile's son king, with the title of James III., 
and again undertook to compel England to accept his choice, and again failed. He 
ravaged the States along the Rhine at the same time, and then turned his attention 



33^^ 



FRANCE. 




to his own subjects. Instigated by Madame Mainte- 
non, whom he had secretly married, Louis began a 
dreadful persecution of the Huguenots. Protestant 
states of Europe offered them safety, and they left 
France by the thousands. Many of the refugees 
were skilled craftsmen, and knew how to weave cloth, 
make lace, watches and other things and Amsterdam 
and London were greatly benefitted by their presence. 
Berlin was built up by French refugees, and France 
was daily robbed of a source of her strength, while 
to the commerce and industries of Protestant Europe, 
a new i''"i3ulse \\ .s given. At tirst Louis ditl not see 
the effect of the migration, but when he did, he 
forbade the Protestants to sell their goods, and 
sentenced to the gallies any one who was convicted 
of aiding in their escape. In October, 1685, he 
revoked the Edict of Nantes, and made France a 
wholly Catholic State. He then proceeded with a 
French j;obimymconrt Costume sevcrity against the Protestants, tliat made former 

cruelties seem merciful. WhiU; his soldiers killed, tortured and pillaged his Protes- 
tant subjects, he plumed himself as the wisest, saintliest and greatest king that the 
world had ever seen, and the pope and priests agreed with him. 

Strange to say there was no revolution in spite of the provocation, /he? king 
had maintained "I am the State" for so many years, that tlie generation that had 
opposed the doctrine hatl passed away, and the new generation knew nothing of 
liberty. P'rance, therefore, submitted to his crueltj'. The country was the scene of 
horrors that men still shudder to think of, and the hangman was busy everywhere in 
the kingdom. The other European States watched the spectacle until they could no 
longer bear to contemplate the sufferings of the Protestants in France, and finally 
made war upon the old king. The Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of 
Savoy humbled the still superb armies of the kingdom, and excited the rage of the 
aged Louis and lowered his pride. Peace was finally made in 1716, and two years 
later, Louis XIV. died. 

To the last the king was the haughty monarch, and surrounded even death with 
the pc-mp of royal splendor. Me composed speeches which he made on his death- 
bed to his favorites and his great-grandson, the Dauphin. In the seventy-eighth 
year of his brilliant and eventful life he closed his eyes on the earth, probably 
thinking as did one of the monarchsof old "How great is Death, since he can kill so 
great a king as I." During his reign art, letters and architecture, reached a glorious 
development, and his was the golden age of royalty in I'rance. The parliament had 
been but a shadow while the king lived, but when he was dead they felt that they 
could do what they had never dared before, — thwart his wish. They declared his 
last will and testament void and appointed as regent for the little Dauphin Louis X\\, 
the man above all others that Louis wouh' have never chosen, and coolly displaced 
the person named in the will as the guardian of the young king. 

The Duke of Orleans, the uncle of the Dauphin, was the regent appointed by the 
parliament, and he lived at so rapid a rate, that he soon ceased to live at all. When 
he died. Cardinal Fleury, the tutor of the king and a man who had from the first 



FRANCE. 



337 




Freniii Ahhe First Half i)f nth Contury. 



trained him to his purposes was made prime-minister. 
Louis XV'. as a child was weak and sickly, unable to 
walk alone until he was seven years old, and so frail 
until he was twelve, that he was obliged to be trussed 
up in stays and corsets, to enable him to stand upright. 
His mind and morals were neglected, and he was only 
trained in certain polite arts and accomplisments. 
The Cardinal did not wish his pupil to have any 
taste foi government and was careful to keep him 
ignorant of everything that could be useful to him in 
that necessary quality of true kingship. Fleury knew 
that he himself was able to govern France, and he 
meant to do so. 

Louis XV. was crowned in 1722 at the age of 
twelve. Some time later he was married to the only 
daughter of the deposed king of Poland. He grew 
stronger physically as time passed, but Fleury kept 
him occupied with pleasure, and in the meantime did 
as he liked with the kingdom. The monarch lived 
very splendidly, but being gifted with some powers 
of observation, he knew that under the mask of content and gayety in Paris, and 
■other brilliant cities of the realm was the misery and despair of a people overbur- 
dened ;ith taxes and ground down by Church and State. He knew perfectly well 
that to pay for his pleasures, the very life of the peasants of I'rance was worn out, 
but he did not care. "It will last my time," he was wont to say, meaning that royalty 
in France would endure that long, "and after me the deluge." 

The War of the Austrian Succession, of which I have elsewhere told vou, oc- 
curred. The king was really indifferent to the issues, but he allowed an army to be 
raised and sent to join in the struggle. If the P^rench people wanted to amuse them- 
selves by killing people or getting themselves killed, what cared Louis XV. As 
long as the wine lasted, and he could drink himself under the table everj' day with 
the gay men and women of the court, and his revels in park and palace were nut 
interrupted, he cared for little else. His pure-hearted Polish wife, disgusted by the 
vicious court had shut herself up in solitude to rear her children in the love and fear 
of God as befitted their station and the great responsibilities to which they might be 
called. Fleury died while the war was in progress, and a little later P'rance sent the 
Chevalier to Scotland, to harass the English by a last attempt of the Stuarts to 
regain their lost throne. Brave Marshal Saxe led the French army, which still 
maintained the glory of the days of Louis XIV. but in the end, this war gained 
nothing for France, and lost for the kingdom, much blood and treasure. 

While the cour( )f Louis XV was giving to France an example of the depth of 
degradation and folly to which its nobility had sunk, Voltaire, Buffon, Condillac, 
Rousseau and other great writers on nature and philosophy shook the old religious 
faith of France to its very center. It was while the people, disgusted with old forms 
and uncertain of the new were sure of nothing, that the sever, years' war occurred. 
The colonies of America and Prussia, wci^i the scenes of the conflict, whose 
outlines I have elsewhere drawn. When the war ended, England was mistress of the 
seas, Canada was lost and the rich future commerce of India was in the hantls of 



338 



FRANCE. 



England. Even these disasters did not move the 
selfish heart of the king. He revelled and feasted 
as before, and became the byword of the nation. 
In the very streets of the capital, revolting poems 
and songs were sung about his favorites and his 
pleasures. It is no wonder, that driven to insanity 
by the state of the countr}', a man should be found, 
eager to remove a king whose life was a disgrace 
and calamity to the nation. Such a man was 
Robert Damicns, who in broad day stabbed the 
king. The would-be murderer, unfortunately for 
France, failed. He was horribly tortured to death 
for the attempt, but Louis X\'. lived. 

One wicked woman after another ruled the 
kingdom through the weak king, and led him into 
new fields of dishonor. At last, Madame de Pom- 
padour, the most shameless of them all became 
his mistress. Woe to the person who offended 
this proud beauty. The gloomy dungeons of the 
Bastile were filled with her victims and those of 
the nobility. The virtuous Dauphin died in the 
prime of his life, and the Dauphiness too sank 
under a fatal disease. The weary-hearted queen, 
old and sorrowful w^as given the rest which comes 
at last to the sad and world-worn, and the people 
whispered that there was something more than 
chance in these deaths of the good an<l virtuous, 
and even hinted that the king and his favorite had 
poisoned them. Old in years and in sin, the king lived on. For fifty-two years he 
had been monarch of France, when he died in 1774, of small-pox, and was thrust into 
the grave by some humble workmen, without any of the ordinary ceremonies. 

Louis X\'I. was only twenty years of age, when he was called to the throne. He 
was the grandson of Louis X\'. but he had none of the vices of the court for he had 
been strictly brought up by the Dauphin, his father. He was more frightened than 
glad when he was proclaimed king, and felt that he was too young and ignorant to 
reign over France. He had been married at the age of sixteen to the daughter of 
the gifted Maria Theresa. On the occasion of his marriage, fifty people were 
crushed to death in a crowd assembled to view some fireworks set off to celebrate 
the happy event, and old women shook their heads over this catastrophe, declaring 
that it was an evil omen for the future. More evil omens were in France. They 
were written on the pinched faces of starving peasants, on the sullen visages of grimy 
workmen, and fluttered in the rags of the miserable denizens of the dark streets and 
alleys of Paris. The queen, Marie Antoinette, w-as a gay young woman who 
neither knew nor cared anything about State affairs, but passed her time pleasantly 
with friends and companions of her own age. The miserable people hated her 
because she was young, beautiful, happy and living in luxury, and more than all 
because she was an Austrian. Louis XVI. was anxious to break some of the chains 
of his people and secured the assistance of Turgot, a minister bold and loyal to 




IxMili- XIV. In illr (Jld Age. 



FRANCE. 



339 




Louis XV. ami Fleucti Guard. 



the people. Turgot was slovenly in his manners, and the 
cox-combs of the court sneered at him and jeered at him, 
the queen was wearied by his prosiness, and Louis at last 
sent him away, and put in his stead as prime minister, a 
man who openly expressed his hatred of "the rabble," as 
the people of France were called by the nobles. The 
treasury was very low, when this aristocratic minister 
died soon after, and Louis XVL called the best financier 
of Europe to the vacant ministry to restore France to T^ 
prosperity. No human power could repair the work of 
centuries of oppression and wrong but events delayed the 
fall of the tottering throne of France. America rebelled 
against England, and France aided the colonies to free 
themselves. The war ended in success for the colonies, ^g, 
and France gained important commercial advantages ^K 
for its aid. Still her treasury conld not be filled with the 
needful money to carry on the government, and the nation 
was nearly bankrupt. The king was determined to 
impose some necessary taxes, his minister opposed him, 
and was banished. The people murmured at this pro- 
ceeding and there were rumors that the king would quell their objections with fire 
and sword. It needed but a whisper to rouse Paris. The people had suffered much 
from tyranny in the past, but they had reached the limit of their patience. 

There were thousands of fair fields in France, the property of lords and church- 
men, that were untaxed, while in the poor villages of the kingdom the peasants 
starved themselves to pay the taxes of Church and State. War had so often inter- 
fered with commerce that the cities, too, were full of wretchedness. The French 
army made up of the people, had shown what courage and resolution could effect, 
and the success of the American colonies had fired all France with the idea of the 

liberty from the royalty, with which they had 
long been secretly disgusted. In the Bastile 
were many prisoners who had been immured 
behind its gloomy walls, for withstanding tyranny. 
The Bastile was the visible symbol of the people's 
wrongs. No sooner did the king discharge the 
minister in whom the people trusted, than their 
resolution was taken. They broke open gun- 
smiths' stores, seized what weapon they could, 
and even tore bricks from the walls with which 
to fight, and in a vast disorderly mob rushed 
to the Bastile. They dragged with them thirty- 
cannon and thirty thousand stands of arms that 
they had taken from the Hotel des Invalides, and 
assaulted the prison. Men and women fought 
side by side against the king's troops and after 
a terrible battle of several hours, the Bastile fell 
into their hands. The governor was executed, 
the prisoners liberated, and the prison levelled 




Nobleman aud Officer Time of Louis XVI. 



340 



FRANCE. 




Sturnilui? uf the Hastlle. 



to the earth. This was 
in July, 17S9, and was 
the beginning of the 
terrible French Revo- 
lution. The king was 
persuaded to send away 
all his troops, and recall 
the banished minister, 
but the storm did not 
subside. The minister 
on his return r.howed 
himself the friend of 
law and order, and lost 
the confidence of the 
revolutionists. The 
Commune, as the Revo- 
lutionists were called, 
took possession of 
Paris, and armed a 
great force of soldiers as a National Guard, but the king fearlessly appeared among 
them, and declared his willingness to rule France lunlcr a constitution. Still the agita- 
tion was not calmed. Rumors were spread that the king was merely trifling with the 
people to gain time in which to revenge himself upon them. The nobles had left 
France in great numbers, and formed a considerable army not far from the I'^rench 
frontiers, and it was feared that the king, who had troops in various fortresses would 
put himself at their head, and aided by the European powers jnit down the 
movement for popular liberty. 

Louis was at W'rsailies closely watched, and there was a whisper ihat he meant 
to escape from I'rance. as many of the nobility had done. Thi^ was in 1789, while 

Paris was under arms, the revolution spreading to other 
cities, and all Europe looking on in alarm. On the 
5th of October, a woman with a liberty cap on her 
head, and beating a drum, roused the Parisian mob with 
the cry "Bread, bread!" A howling multitude was soon 
collected, breathing threats against the king and queen. 
The king was informed of the tumult, and begged the 
c]ueen to escape with her children. Marie Antoiaette 
refused to desert her husband in his hour of danger, 
though she knew that her life might pay the forfeit of 
ht;r fidelit}'. The National Guard, under the noble La 
Fayette, who had fought for liberty in America, and 
was the favorite of the Commune, rallied to the defense 
of the rojal famil}-, and a detachment went out to 
\ ersaiiles in advance of the mob. At night on the 
5th, some of the rioters reached Versailles, and in the 
gray of the dawn of the next day the whole rabble of 
Paris surrounded the palace. The apartments of the 
queen were invaded, and slic barely escaped to the 




Mi'iiibcrs of the CummuQc. 



FRANCE. 



341 




Costume of French Citizens Aboul 1600. 



protection of the king, after two of her guards had fallen 
in her defense. The rioters cut off the heads of the two 
dead guards, and mounting them on poles, used them as 
standards. La Fayette and his national guards saved 
the lives of the king and queen, bu*" they wfre compelled 
to go back to Paris with the moo. On the way the 
rioters stopped at a barber shop and caused the two 
bloody heads of the queen's guards to be elaborately 
dressed, and as they marched, thrust these trophies under' 
her eyes. They sang and shouted ribald songs into the 
ears of the royal pair, and the whole march was a series 
of disgraceful insults to the king and queen. They bore 
them with patience and courage, and thus, undoubtedly 
for the time, saved their lives. 

Louis made every concession asked for, and the 
qeeen sold the royal plate and linen, to provide the starving c*'^ 
Parisians with bread. The king's relatives were sent 
away, and seeing that his presence in no way contributed 
to restore confidence and order, the king himself attempted 
with the queen to escape in disguise. They were discovered and brought back, 
and from that time were held close prisoners. The French fugitives had 
the pity of the sovereigns of Europe, and a League was formed against the 
revolutionists. Maddened by hunger antl the fear of punishment at the 
hands of their enemies, the revolutionists proceeded to extremities. After four 
months of imprisonment the king was tried and condemned to death. On the scaf- 
fold, which he ascended with calmness, he tried to speak to the people, and tell them 
how he had loved them and France, and how he had always meant to be to them a 
good king, but they drowned his voice with the roll of drums. A good Irish priest 
accompanied the blameless young king to the gates of death, and his parting words: 
"Son of Saint Louis, ascend to Heaven!" were the last that Louis X\T. heard on 
earth. 

The revolutionists were now boldly launched on the red tide that tilled Paris with 
terror. The queen and the king's saintly sister, Elizabeth, fell a victim to the thirst 
for blood, and then all indignant Europe flew to arms, and prepared to hurl its whole 
fury on France and crush it. The idea of liberty fired the heartb of the French 
people. Against the overwhelming force brought to oppose them, the splendid 
courage of theii armies vanquished numbers, obstacles, and carried all before it. 
Every assailant was beaten back, and FVance invaded the enemies country. The 
Marseillaise became the battle-shout of the nation. This song was composed by a 
young artillery officer, of Strasbourg, Rouget de Isle. One day when the revolutionary 
agitation was at its height, Rouget sat down to the clavichord, and began to play and 
sing. His heart was deeply stirred by the struggle for liberty, and almost uncon- 
sciously the words and melody of the song formed themselves. He sang them again 
and again. I lis friends gathered about to hear them. Soon all Strasbourg was sing- 
ing the grand anthem of liberty. In June, 1792, fifteen hundred men wearing the red 
caps of the republicans marched from Marseilles to Paris, singing Rouget's song. 
From that time forth it was called the Marseillaise, and like the song of the lame 
school-master at Athens, who inspired the Spartans to battle, the Marseillaise 



342 



FRANCE. 



awakened an echo in every patri- 
otic heart. "Ye sons of Freedom, 
wake, wake to glory!" was heard 
the length and breadth of the 
land. 

Danton. Marat and Robes- 
pierre were at the head of the 
revolutionary movement. The 
armies of Europe were movin;^ 
against France, and Danton called 
for 300,000 troops, to fight for the 
revolution. The peasants of La 
Vendee, in western France, refu3ed 
to enlist. These Vendeans loved 
the church, and were the friends of 
the old usages that from time 
immemorial had been common in 
Irance. Maddened by the over- 
throw of the clergy, and the death 
of the king, and indignant because 
of the deeds of blood that were 
every day committetl in Paris, they 
resisted the revolution with a 
heroism unparalleled in history. 
Without arms or sup])lie5, un- 
trained to war, they threw them- 
selves on the troops sent to oppose 
them, seized the very artillery 
that mowed down their ranks, and 
defeated the Republicans again 
and again. They were joined b\- numljcrs i>f the fugitive nobles who had fougiit for 
monarchy and knew the art of war, and by the clergy who inspired them with sermons 
and prayers. The Breton peasants, too, revolted and formed a force. Marat was the 
author of many bloody deeds, and indignant at his tyranny and the injury his course 
was inflicting upon France, Charlotte Corday, a brave Breton maid, came alone to Paris, 
sought the monster out, and stabbed him in his bath. Danton fell under the dis- 
pleasure of the mob, because he wished to form some lawful mode of procedure, and 
bring to an end the disorder and violence in Paris and other cities. Me and several 
of his friends were guillotined, and the awful deeds increasetl in number and 
atrocity. 

F"rance became a great camp for one portion of the people, and a prison for the 
other. Twelve hundred thousand soldiers composed of all the citizens over eighteen 
years old, were enrolled in the service of the Republic. The jails were filled with 
young and old of both sexes awaiting trial as enemies of the Republic. Everyone 
suspected of favoring royalty in the least, was imprisoned as an " enemy." Robe- 
spierre and the " Decemvirs," as the demagogues who ruled Paris called themselves, 
tried these unfortunates in batches. The guillotine, an ingenious instrument for 
taking heads off quickly and painlessly, was set u]) in. Saint Antoine, the heart of tiie 




FRANCE. 



343 



Commune, and a sewer was made 
to carry off the blood that flowed 
there. Fifty heads fell every day, 
and in every city of France similar 
scenes were witnessed. At Nantes 
the victims were drowned, at Lyons 
they were placed in the public 
square and shot to death with 
grape shot, at Orleans the principal 
inhabitants were slain, and at 
Verdun sixteen young girls were 
executed in one day, because they 
had danced at a Prussian ball, 
Sunday was abolished. A wicked 
woman was set up in Notre Dame 
Cathedral as " the Goddess of 
Reason," the most scandalous 
things were done byway of worship, 
and every tenth day was kept 
instead ot every seventh. God was 
mocked as a dream of superstition, 
and the Christian religion reviled, 
and its exercise prohibited under 
pain of punishment. The nation 
seemed to have gone mad, and 
the savage Committee of Public 
Safety, and the Revolutionary 
Committee, were the most dan- 
gerous madmen of all. 

While these dreadful things 
were happening in Prance, the 
armies of the Republic were every- 
where victorious. At the end of a 
two year's reign of terror, a con- ExcLutiouoi ojuisxyi. 

spiracy was formed against Robespierre and his bloody associates. He died by the 
guillotine, and after him the leaders in the odious Commune suffered death for their 
crimes. This was in 1794, and a convention was formed that suppressed the two 
committees, and abolished the Constitution of the year before. Thus there was a 
revolution within a revolution. The last days of 1794 saw the French army nearly 
naked, and without shoes or proper food. Nevertheless in a brief and glorious cam- 
paign it subdued Plolland, and a few months later compelled Prussia to sign a treaty. 
Jourdan with a ragged army of patriots gained some brilliant victories on the left 
bank of the Rhine, and the forces of the Republic defeated the Austrians and Pied- 
montese on the south, and subdued the army of La Vendee. Fighting its way to the 
very gates of Italy, the Republic compelled Holland, Spain and Italy, to lay down their 
arms. The little son of Louis NVL, whom the royalists regarded as the rightful ruler 
of France, and called Louis X\TI., had been kept a close prisoner all this time, in 
the charge of a brutal shoemaker who starved and neglected the poor little fellow 




344 



FRANCE. 



until he died of ill usage in June, 
1795. The royalists then pro- 
claimed Louis, CounL of Provence, 
his uncle, a fugitive in Holland, as 
Louis XVIIL 

A new Constitution was formed 
in 1 795 that placed the govcnment 
in the hands of five huncixX-d citi- 
zens. The Commune did not 
approve of this actioi , and armed 
forty thousand men to oppose it. 
The Convention appointed Barras 
to protect them, with the National 
Guard, and reduce the insurgents 
to order. Barras called to his 
assistance a young Corsican gen- 
eral, Napoleon Bonaparte, who 
had won fame in the service of the 
republic at the siege of Toulon. 
A dreadful battle was fought in 
the streets of Paris, but Napoleon 
put down the revolt with a strong 
hand, and thus won the complete 
confidence of the Directory, as the 
new government body was called. 
A second war of the Vendee, con- 
ducted with as much bravery and 
fury as the first failed, and its sup- 
l)orters fled to England. Austria 
and the Piedmontes' were still in 
arms against the Republic, and Napoleon was sent to Nice to take command 
of that portion of the Republican forces known as The Army of Italy, in i'-o6. The 
army over which he was to command consisted of but thirty-si.x thousand half- 
starved, nearly naked men, but the young commander inspired them with his own 
courage. They attacked the Austrian force of sixty thousand men, and in fifteen 
days defeated them in four great battles, while all Europe looked on in astonishment. 
He then made a passage of the Alps nearly as wonderful as that of Hannibal, and 
with si.K thousand grenadiers marched against twelve thousand Austrian infantry, 
four thousand cavalry and a large artillery force at Lodi, in the plains of Lombardy. 
He totally defeated the enemy, and quicklysubjugateci Italy, and Austria the next year. 
At the close of 1797 all Southern Europe lay at the feet of France, and peace was 
made. In that single year Napoleon captured fifty thousand prisoners, 
sixty-six flags, and eleven hundred pieces of artillery. He fought sixty- 
seven great battles, and won eighteen decisive victories. He forced 
treaties on every one of the Italian States, and exacted tribute of splemlitl 
works of art, that were carried to Paris. All this was accomplished by a 
man of the people, a slight and delicate looking hero of eight and twenty. 
Napoleon was the idol of I'rance, and when the peace was concluded 





Robespierre, 



FRANCE. 



345 




e '\>uj/\T, 



W-^l0r 



the Republic sent him to drive the 

EngHsh out of Egypt. He did not 

succeed, but gained fame for his brilliant 

campaign. While he was absent there 

was a change in the government of 

France, which caused a revolution in 

the Roman States. A new league of 

European powers was also formed to 

oppose the Republic, against which 

the generals could make no headway. 

Napoleon hurried back to France to 

find the Directory abolished and the 

country on the verge of another reign 

of terror. The people had confidence 

in him, and the army believed him the 

greatest genius that the world ever saw, 

so he seized the government and in 

imitation of the old Roman Republic, 

established three consuls, making him- 
self first consul. 

Napoleon at the desire of the 

nation would have made peace with 

England, who was the most bitter foe 

of the Republic. England had been haughty on the ocean, and because she pos- 
sessed the strongest navy in the world, was not at all particular about the commercial 

rights of other countries. She would not 
make any concessions of the points France 
desired arranged, and instead of peace, an 
alliance of France, Sweden =ind Denmark, 
was made against England iix 1800. On the 
14th of June of the same year Napoleon 
won back all that France had lost in Italy, 
by the victory at Marengo, and afterward 
made the peace of Amiens. That peace 
|'J\| lasted only a short time, and a new war 
with Prussia was finished up in six months 
by the Peace of Tilsit in 1S07, which left 
France at a high pitch of glory. In the 
meantime Napoleon had given the French 
tM cause reason to be proud of their first 
consul. He established a fine system of 
public instruction, made laws tht, are still 
used in France, and are the best ever framed 
for the government of a Republic, brought 
the country into order and prosperity, 
restored religion, encouraged the arts, 
sciences and inventions. By a vote of 
nearly 4,000,000 against 8,000, he was made 
consul for life, and a little later, in 1804, the 




346 



FRANCE. 



nation voted to make him hereditary emperor. His brothers and relatives were given 
the thrones of vanquislied kingdoms, after Prussia and Russia had been subdued at 
AusterHtz. In 1806, the German Empire was dissolved, and France was more pow- 
erful than it had ever been before. 

In his exile in Sweden, Louis XX'III, neglected and forgotten by the sovereigns 
of Europe in their struggles against Napoleon, made a vow never to renounce the 
throne of his fathers, and never to abandon the efforts to reclaim it from the tyrant 
Bonaparte. Nevertheless Napoleon sat proudly on the throne that violence had rob- 
bed of its king twelve years before. It was a prodigious attainment for the head of the 
humbly born Corsican, and it is little wonder, that in spite of his great mind, he be- 




U.. KI.-..I l,ix-..ii. 

came somewhat dizzy and puffed up, regarding himself as almost more than human, 
the favored of destiny. It is this that is his excuse for having the name of a new 
saint. Saint Napoleon, written in the calendar of the Republic, and the new saint had 
no more devout worshipper than Napoleon I., Emperor of the I'Vench. 

Napoleon mixed in a quarrel with Spain, and instead of winning the Spaniards 
to his interests and making friends of them, he settled the contest, which was in re- 
gard to the crown, by taking it himself, and giving it to his brother. The Spaniards 
waited until Napoleon had left their country, then with the aid of English soldiers 
under Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and the Portuguese, they resisted 
these new schemes of the conqueror. While Napoleon was absent in Spain trying 



FRANCE. 



347 



to retrieve the fortunes of the generals 

who could make no headway agauist 

Wellesley, a new league was formed 

against him, and Austria again took up 

arms. Napoleon's armies now covered 

all Europe, and he had little fear of the 

result. The English successes in Spain, 

however, began the decline of his glory, 

though at Wagram in 1S09 a fearful 

battle between 300.000 French and 

Austrians, resulting in victory for Napo- 
leon, again compelled peace. The 

next year Napoleon put away his kind, 

loving but childless wife, Josephine, 

and married the daughter of the em- 
peror of Austria. Me hoped to have a 

son to whom he could leave the crown 

of France. The same year one of his 

generals was chosen by the Swedes as 

the successor to their crown, and he of 

all the kings that Napoleon made, has 

descendants to-day in the palaces of 

Europe. 

In the pause of the wars, France 

had now begun to count what she had 

gainetl and lost, what her glory had cost 

her, and what it was worth. The 

Republicans were secretly the enemy 

of the emperor, who had used them as 

the ladder upon which he had climbed to greatness, but for fear of the prison which 

was the reward of those who spoke their 
discontent, they remained silent. The kings 
that he had made out of his brothers and 
friends were indignant, that while they were 
given the show of power, the emperor treated 
them as mere officers to do as he ordered 
them. The whole nation mourned their dead, 
and through their tears, the glory surrounding 
the throne of their emperor was becoming 
hateful to them. The enmity of all Europe 
had destroyed the commerce of the country, 
and the expenses of the war were beginning to 
press heavily. Above all, Napoleon's reverses 
in Spain continued. Just at this point, the 
emperor gained the hatred of the clergy 
through a quarrel with the Pope, and they 
began to influence the people against him. 
In the midst of these various discontents, 
Hussar 1-95. Cavalryman 1795. iLfantrymau 17%. Napoleou offeudcd Alexander of Russia, and 




Loui.s XVII. Ill lViii|il'.- 




348 



FRANCE. 



when he refused to recall an edict that he had made, declared war against him, and 
in 1812 invaded his dominions. 

He fought many bloody battles in Russia, and gained several victories. Bravely 
resisted all the way, he arrived at Moscow, only to find the beautiful city of the Czar 
deserted by the inhabitants. It was full of valuable supplier, however, and as it was 




then late in the fall of the year, Napoleon decided to make the city his winter quar- 
ters. The Russians had foreseen this plan, and provided against it. They had 
hidden convicts away in the city, who set it on fire when the French were established 
there, and the conflagration starting up at once in a thousand places, burned the; city 



FRANCE. 



349 




Geueral, Light lufautry 01H«t ami Ilifanlry of the Line, IKS. 



to ashes. Napoleon was eager then to make peace. 

Some time before he had haughtily refused to make 

peace with the Czar, and the Czar now in his turn 

refused to come to terms. Winter came on fierce 

and terrible. The French soldiers for the first ti.je 

under their renowned leader began a melancholy 

retreat. The horrors of that awful march will never 

be known to man. Harrassed by the enemy, hungry, 

ragged and wretched, the French covered the plains 

of Russia with their frozen corpses. Napoleon 

heard that a new coalition was forming against 

him, and that dangerous plots were being made in 

Paris. He hurried back to France, leaving the army 

to make its way home under the leadership of brave 

Marshal Ney. While he was in Paris raising troops 

from among all of his subjects over seventeen years 

old, the Prussians deserted him, and his allies fell 

away on every side. He could only raise a troop of 

young soldiers, many of them mere lads, yet with 

these he gained three great battles against the 

veterans of Sweden, England and Prussia. Peace was then offered, but its terms left 

France weaker than when Louis XVI. came to the throne, and Napoleon hesitated 

to accept it. While he did so, desertions from his cause were numerous, and it was 

finally too late. The allied armies of Europe threatened France on every side. 

Against 5C5o,ooo veterans Napoleon could bring but 300,000 raw recruits, and still he 

wasvic-orlous. He was defeated, however, at Leipsic, where he pitted 130,000 against 

nearly "-hree times the numbers of his enemies, and in Spain disasters crowded 

upon one another. France was now threatened with invasion on every side. Its 

subject kingdoms threw off their yoke, and there was neither money nor men to 

fight its foes. By a last despairing effort, Napoleon gathered 50,000 of his veterans, 

for the final struggle. Never did the genius of this 
greatest general of the world's history, display itself 
so magnificently as then. Six hundred thousand men 
were pressing on France, but by his movements and 
anticipating their plans, he divided their forces, and 
hurling his heroic soldiers on them, defeated them. 
New hordes were poured down upon him to take their 
place, but every man lost to France, was a loss that 
could not be supplied. 

Invaded on every side, Napoleon could not stay 
the march of the foe toward Paris. The city fell and 
the allied sovereigns compelled Napoleon to yield 
up his crown and retire to Elba. The faithful and 
loving Josephine died with grief for his fall, but his 
Austrian wife, Marie Louise, went back cheerfully 
enough to her own country, and in course of time 
married another husband. Her little son. Napoleon 
II., died in his early manhood, and never wore the 
crown that his father had sacrificed so much to keep 




Costume of Freuch CUizeus 1794. 



550 



FRANCE. 



for him. Louis XVIII. came back to France and was crowned king. The white flao- 
of the Bourbons displaced the tri-color of the Republic. France lost all of her con*^ 
quests, and sent back the works of art that Napoleon had taken as tribute, agreeing 
to pay $25,000,000 to the allied powers. The new king soon became unpopular. He 




EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. 

would not acknowledge that the world had moved since the death of Louis XV,, and 
wanted to restore all the obnoxious things, that the revolution had destroyed. He 
called back the fugitive nobles, and in many other ways excited the anger of the 



FRANCE. 



3^' 




Frtnt-h Geucruls. 



people. Napoleon heard of all that was passing, and as 

the government had not kept its promise to him, in March, 

1S15, he returned from his exile, with four cannon, and 

1,100 men. A general with a detachment of the king's 

troops were sent to bar his way and that of his little army. 

At Mure, the two forces met, and the king's troops were 

about to fire upon Napoleon's grenadiers. "Halt!" rang 

out the command of the chieftain of France's battle-fiekis 

and victories. "Reverse, arms!" The grenadiers obeyed, 

and stood silently with their eyes fixed upon Napoleon 

who rode within speaking distance of the king's soldiers, a 

majestic and commanding figure, surrounded with a halo 

of historic remembrances. "Soldiers!" he called to his 

enemies, "It is I! Do you recognize me? If there be one 

among you who wishes to kill his emperor, here he is! 

He comes with bare breast to offer himself to your 

weapons!" "Long live the Emperor!" shouted the troops 

as one man, "Long live Napoleon!" They then tore down„ 

the white flag of the Bourbons, nailed the tri-color in its place, and joined the 

Emperor. Ney and others of his old friends gathered about him and a little 

later with a semblance of law he raised 300,000 men to give battle to Wellington in 

Belgium. He separated the two armies and defeated the Prussians at Ligny, then 

went forward to the battle of Waterloo 
which was fought on the ever memorable 
day, June iS, 1S15. Ney fought bravely 
in this engagement, and had nearly 
defeated Wellington, when Blucher came 
up, and changed the fortunes of the battle. 
The Emperor's guard stood its ground 
amid shot and shell when the cavalry was 
overthrown and the army was a strug- 
gling, confused mass of men horses and 
guns. The heroic guard formed a hollow 
square, and fought coolly and calmly 
while about it was rout and ruin. In vain 
the English bullets fell about them. Not 
a solditr flinched though the comrade of 
many a campaign fell at his side. They 
simply closed up the gaps made by death 
in their rank and fought on. "Surren- 
der!" cried the English moved by the 
sight of such courage. "Surrender!" and 
the cannons yawned before them. Up 
from that shattered square went a deep 
cry like the cry of the gladiators before 
the throne of the Cajsar. "The guard 
dies, but does not surrender." The 




fNjKt 



JOSEPHIire.-WIFEOP NAPOLEON. 



35- 



FRANCE. 



cannons roared, and when their noise was at last stilled, the clouds wept over 
the battlefield upon which lay the wreck of the first empire, — sixtj' thousand 
■dead French soldiers. Xapoleon had courted death in vain in the thickest of the 




Nupoleou AuuuuuLing to Josephine His Detennliiatlou to Divorce Her. 

fight, and now heartbroken, defeated, fallen, never to rise again, he was borne away 
in the general rout. Many a satl day and mail}- a tlreary night in his far-away St. 



FRANCE. 



353 



Helena an exile and a prisoner, did the echo of Waterloo ring in his ears and its 
tragedy weigh down his soul. Let us hope that in that sea-girt retreat, he came to 
know himself at last as the instrument of Divine Will. He came to France in the 




The lietreat from Moscow. 



hour of her need, showed her what honor might be achieved by wise laws, and in 
himself was an example of the miseries that are wrought, by unrestrained ambition. 



354 



FRANCE. 



The evils of his life passed away with him and his generation. Its good remains 
incorporated in the life of the nation that he saved from anarchy and led to glory. 
Louis XVII. tried hard to keep up old forms. He was clever in his way, but to 




Napolcoi* Signs His AbUtcatlou. 

the clever men that formed his council is due all that is worthy in his reign. He 
died in 1S24, and left the crown of France to Charles X. The new king was a Ca- 
tholic, and hated Republicanism in politics, and liberalism m religion. He hated the 



FRANCE. 



355 




6b'- 



FRANCE. 




Marshal Murat, Xapuleou'8 Great Cavalry Leadur. 



constitution, too, and stifled the liberty of tlie press as 
the first step in throttling it. In 1830 there was a 
bloody insurrection, lasting three days in July, which 
resulted in the dethronement and banishment of the 
king. La Fayette lived to share in this rev^olution, and 
to see Louis Phillippe, a Prince of Orleans, chosen 
to reign over France, under a Constitution. Louis 
Phillippe L was in the main a good king, but he had a 
hard struggle with the Bonapartists and the Repub- 
licans, and at last to avert civil war, Louis Phillippe 
left F" ranee. Nevertheless there was a revolution, and 
the Commune, nearly as blood-thirsty as in the days 
of the Reign of Terror, fought fiercely with the 
National Guard, the army of the Republicans. They 
were subdued and made willing to submit the choice of 
the form of government to the Assembly. The 
Orleanists wanted a Monarchy, the Bonapartists an 
Empire, and the Republicans a Constitution and a Re- 
public. It was decided by the Assembly to have a 

Republic, with Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon the Great, as president. Louis 

Napoleon succeeded in abolishing the Assembly, and in making himself emperor 

with the title Napoleon III. He held the government with a strong, firm and wise 

hand until 1S70, when he fell into difficulty with Prussia, as I have told you elsewhere. 

He made friends with Queen Victoria, helped Italy to free itself froni Austria, and 

assisted England in the Crimean war. 

After the triumphal entry of William I. of Germany into Paris in 1871 the Com- 
mune broke out again. The disease of political frenzy seems to have attacked the 

people of Paris at intervals, ever since there has been a Paris. On this occasion 

the clergy were driven from their churches, ,-. r7,Trr--'.~,- 

the Sisters of Charity cruelly treated, and 

several attempts made to burn the capital. 

The people were furious with the emperor for 

yielding to Germany, and he was obliged to 

flee the kingdom. M. Thiers was then made 

a sort of President, but he displeased 

the people by his severity to the 

Commune, and MacMahonwas made 

President for seven years, in 1S73. 

MacMahon was su'^h a determined 

friend to monarchy, and made so 

many enemies, that he was obliged 

to resign a year before his term 

expired, and Jules Grevy, a popular 

Republican was elected President, 

and re-elected in 1885. He resigned 

before the close of his second term, 

and Sadi Carnot, a descendant of a 

Revolutionary hero, was elected in 




La Fayette In His Tonth. 



FRANCE. 357 

his place, and is still President of France. The French people bitterly regretted 
the loss of the two provinces. Alsace and Lorraine, which they were obliged to give 
up to Germany at the close of the war. The people of the provinces were opposed 
to their transfer to Germany, and that fact has led them to look upon every attempt 
of the rulers of the German Empire to make them a part of that nation as oppress- 
ion. From time to time in the last twenty years it has seemed likely that France and 
Germany would again go to war, and both nations have strengthened their armies 
and navies, and built strong fortresses on their frontiers. There is an old saying that 
to maintain peace, nations must be prepared for war. It may be upon this principle 
that the French and Germans have made such warlike preparations, and every year 
review their great armies, and march and manoeuver their soldiers and keep them 
up to the best point of discipline and readiness for war. In the interval of peace 
France has made wonderful progress. The energy of her people is so great, that 
when they have timi; for the cultivation of their arts and industries, and are not so 
much occupied in fighting for their country, that they have no leisure to work at their 
private occupations, they accomplish wonders in a short time. The France of to-day 
leads the world in science, art and literature, and is peaceful, prosperous and happy. 
The progress of the nation since 1871 has been truly remarkable, and the tree of liberty 
watered with so much blood, is bearing glorious fruit. Smiling fields cover the scars of 
old wars, and happy mothers by their peaceful firesides croon the Marseillaise to their 
babes, and tell in summer twilights the glorious deeds of the old days, while in their 
hearts they thank God for the newer, better ones. 




't^ 



T MAY BE that one ot the great convulsions of Nature 
which occurred lona; before "anything is known of man 
having lived upon the earth, broke off from the 
northern part of Europe as from the southern, bits of 
land, great and small, which now form islands. The 
British Isles are in some places only twenty miles 
distant from, the main body of the Continent of Europe, 
and it is almost certain that they were once joined to 
Northwestern brance. By the British Isles we mean 
Great Britain and Ireland, whose shape and boundaries 
you may see by looking on the map, although there are in the waters of the 
surrounding oceans many smaller islands also forming a part of Great Britain. 
The Phccnicians, thirty centuries ago, and perhaps even earlier, sailed tothe British 
Isles, finding there in the sands of the rivers and in the mines near the seashore, 
excellent tin and lead, of great value in making the bronze which served the ancients 
in place of iron and steel. They taught the savage natives how to properly wash the 
tin found in the rivers, and to mine it from the ground; to melt it into bars convenient 
to be stored on shipboard, and perhaps to manufacture it into weapons, no doubt 
bartering glass beads, arms, and ornaments of gold for the precious tin. 

The name Britain is from the Celtic words ("bruit" meaning tin, and "tan" 
meaning land), "Land of Tin." No doubt the Phoenicians tried to keep the rest of 
the world ignorant of the existence of the isles, and were, perhaps, successful until 
the Gauls penetrated to the northwestern part of Europe. 

Upon a clear day the chalk cliffs of Dover can be seen from portions of the 
coast of France, and the adventurous Celtic Gauls, curious to know what sort of 
land lay beyond the boisterous strip ot sea, probably ventured over in some kind ot 
rude crafts and settled in Kent (the word meaning corner), in southeastern England. 
They found the people of the country with a language and religion like their own, 
but far less advanced in civilization. Whereas the invaders wore garments of cloth 
and ornaments of gold, could build comfortable though rude round houses, and make 
pottery of the most primitive kind, the Britons wore only the skin of some wild beast 
about their loins, painted and stained their naked bodies with colored clay and the 
juices of plants, and lived In caves in the winter and in huts made of wattles, (that is 
stakes woven together in a sort of basket-work) in the summer. They may have 
scratched the ground with stone hoes, and planted certain crops. Like nearly ail 



ENGLAND. 359 

the early Aryans of Europe they had large herds of cattle, hogs and sheep, and as 
we have already said, knew how to work lead and tin. 

The new-comers being so far advanced in peaceful arts were also superior to the 
Britons in the art of war. They had chariots with scythed wheels, and arms and 
armor of metal, so they gradually drove the Britons, who were armed only with 
stone hatchets, bows and arrows back into the interior of the country, where they 
became nearly savage forgetting the few things they had learned of the Phcenicians, 
and lived as wandering shepherds, protecting the wealth of the tribe by enclosures vi 
felled trees surrounded by a ditch. They had many of these stockades and London, 
St. Albans and many other famous cities and villages are founded where once the 
barbarian princes of Britons dwelt in wattled huts surrounded by this rude sort of 
wall. In course of time the invaders made friends with the various interior tribes, 
who gradually adopted the manners of the newcomers and formed kingdoms, and 
when Cccsar came to the island they were as one people. 

Caisar knew that the Britons were bold and warlike for some of them had helped 
the Gauls against him, but he was eager to possess the riches he had heard existed 
there, especially pearls, for it was said that a pearl oyster abounded in certain parts 
of the coast waters. The Britons pretended to be willing to receive Caesar peace- 
fully and sent ambassadors over to him to tell him so, but really they wanted to 
delay him and learn whether the rumor that they had heard of his coming was true. 
Caesar sent a certain Gaul, who was his friend, back with the British ambassadors, 
who came to him, and as soon as they reached their own country, they threvir him in 
prison and sent to all the tribes for warriors to defend their island against the terrible 
conqueror of Gaul. 

When Caesar entered Dover Bay, August 25, B. C., 55, there were so many savage 
looking warriors upon the cliffs waiting for him that he decided it would not be safe 
to land and sailed a long way up the coast, followed by the Britons upon the 
shore, until he came to a place called Deal Beach. The Romans anchored their 
ships as near the shore as they could, and the soldiers started to wade to land, but 
the Britons charged into the water and killed so many of the Romans that they 
returned to their vessels. 

At last Cjesar made the ballistas of his warships discharge darts and stones at 
the Britons, and thus beat them off until his men could land, but as soon as they 
were well on shore they were again charged by the Britons, and it was not until after 
a very hard struggle that they succeeded in throwing up their intrenchments and 
forming their camp. For about a month Caisar fought in Briton, and then as he had 
repaired his shi|)s that had been damaged in a storm h:; embarked and crossed back 
into Gaul, sending word to Rome of his "Conquest of Briton," though it is certain 
that he was vanquished one-half as often as he was victorious, and had never been 
out of sight of the sea. 

Again the next year with eight hundred ships, 25,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 cav- 
alry, Ctesar crossed over into Briton, this time at the invitation of the son of a Brit- 
ish king, whose territory north of the Thames river had been seized by Caswallon or 
Cassivellaunus, as the Romans called him. Caesar would have eventually returned 
to Britain without any such invitation, for he had determined to subdue the country. 
Caswallon united a large number of chiefs to oppose Cassar, but they were so unruly, 
that after some hard fighting and several defeats, the British chieftain made peace 
with the Romans. The tribes promised the Romans tribute, which they never paid, 



o 



60 ENGLAND. 



and Ctcsar taking many prisoners went back to Gaul. For a hundred years the 
Britons were left unmolested by the Romans. They crossed over into Gaul in their 
boats, made of wicker and ox hides, and traveling in that country learned many new 
arts. Gymbeline, one of the kings celebrated by Shakespeare, was the first British 
king to coin money. He reigned over the Eastern part of the country, and was living 
when the insane Caligula made his ridiculous expedition to the shores of Gaul. 

It was his son, Caractacus who so bravely defended his country when the 
Emperor Claudius sent his army to ravage and conquer Britain. Some historians say 
that Caractacus was slain in battle in the forests of the Severn, but others declare 
that when he was defeated in a bloody battle h-is wicked step-mother betrayed him to 
the Romans, and they carried him away to grace a triumph and to become a slave, 
but there may have been two chiefs by the same name, and thus both stories be true. 

At all events the Romans hid some severe campaigns in the next seven j'ears, 
and when they thought they had conquered a tribe and left it to go and fight another, 
the determined islanders would fall upon the garrison and destroy it. Thousands 
of the Britons were killed, and general after general was sent from Rome to com- 
plete their subjugation. One of these generals conquered the isle of Anglesey and 
burned to death many Druid priests, then crossed into the country of the North-folk 
and South-folk (Norfolk and Suffolk). The British yueen, Boadicea had been 
plundered of all her property by the greedy Romans settled in the territory, and 
complained to the Roman general and his treasurer Catus, who instead of seeing the 
beautiful and spirited queen righted, shamefully abused her daughters before her 
eyes, and had her scourged from his presence like a slave. 

The proud queen went about telling the story of her wrongs to the people, and 
everywhere roused her countrymen to arm themselves and throw off the yoke of 
their cruel oppressors, for the Romans treated the w'hole people with the utmost 
injustice. The Britons fired by the wrongs of their queen and by the cruelty of their 
conquerors, rose in rebellion against the Romans and massacred seventy thousand of 
therp. They destroyed London which had grown into a considerable commercial 
town, and threatened to wipe out the civilization of the island. 

At length a certain brave Roman general, w^ith ten thousand soldiers, marched 
against the Britons, who had assembled in great numbers to give him battle. Led 
by Boadicea, in her war-chariot, with her outraged daughters at her feet, the island- 
ers fought with the utmost bravery, but they were no match for the disciplined 
legions, and eighty thousand of the Britons were slain. Boadicea poisoned herself 
to escape captivity, and the revolution was put down. This occurred in the year 61, 
A. D., and after eight years the Britons again rebelled, and were again subdued. 

It was Julius Agricola who finally subdued the island. He took as hostages from 
the various tribes, the sons of the chiefs, and caused them to be educated in the 
Roman manner, in this way introducing civilization in every part of Britain. It was 
Agricola who discovered that Britain was an island, a fact before unknown to the 
Romans, and who built a wall across the northern part, to protect the conquered and 
more civilized tribes from those who were still savages. He also enlisted native 
youths in the Roman army. 

Colonies of Romans settled all over Britain, taught the people to submit to law, 
and attempted to tame the Caledonians of the north. The Britons did not yield 
tamely to Roman dominion, but often revolted. Emperor Hadrian, in the year 120 
A. D., visited the country, to bring it completely under his rule, and caused another 



ENGLAND. 361 

wall to be built as a protection to the colonies. Until the year 410, the Romans 
remained in Britain, introducing civilization and Christianity. Then Rome fell 
under the power of the Goths, and her yoke was everywhere thrown off. Eight 
years later the Romans departed from Britain forever. In the centuries that they 
had been in the Island, the character of the natives had greatly changed. Christian 
churches had grown up, and though Druidism still existed in the North, and tinged 
the religion of the South with many of Its gloomy superstitions, it was no longer the 
national religion. The old power of the Pagan priests was gone, and the new creed 
had spread far and wide. Agriculture, stock-raising and various manufacturing In- 
dustries had come to be practiced, and commerce In the products of the island had 
become considerable. The people lived In houses of brick and stone. Instead of mud 
hovels, no longer painted their bodies nor dressed in skins, but clothed themselves as 
did the Romans, and tempered their harsh guttural speech with some of the melodi- 
ous characteristics of the Latin tongue. 

When the Romans withdrew their dreaded legions from Britain the Caledonian 
tribes of I^icts (painted men), and the Scots, (wanderers) came pouring down through 
breaches made In the walls of Agricola and Hadrian, and began to plunder the Brit- 
ons, who, it seems, were quarrelhng among themselves, and could not, or did not 
forget their petty jealousies and unite for the common defense. The hardy North- 
men, German sea-rovers of the Saxon tribe, had made several piratical excursions to 
the British coast, and now ravaged it mercilessly. Between the two enemies, the 
thirty cities of England that had been built by the Romans, were almost totally 
destroyed, and the land promised to again become a desert. In vain the Britons 
Implored the Romans to bring back their legions. Rome was in the throes of her 
death-struggle, and could give them no aid. Finally a powerful prince named Vorti- 
gern killed the king who had been crowned by the Bishop of London, and who had 
pushed the Picts and Scots back to their own country. Vortigern seized the crown 
himself, but he so angered the people by his haughtiness and cruelty that they would 
not obfey him, and the Caledonians who had been firmly held in check by the former 
king, began anew their ravages. Finding that his own subjects would not aid him 
against the Caledonians, Vortigern called to his assistance two famous sea-kings, the 
Saxons Hengist and Horsa. 

He was able by their help to drive out the Caledonians, but when the Northmen 
asked permission to settle upon the Isle of Thanet, he could not refuse it. In course 
of time Vortigern married the beautiful Saxon princess, Rowena, and showed such 
friendship for her people, that the Saxons began to flock to Britain in great numbers. 
The Britons hated the foreigners, and Rowena, Vortigern's wife. The king had a 
son, by a former marriage, named Vortimer, and him the Britons crowned king and. 
made a determined effort to drive the Saxons out of Kent, where they had also 
settled by Vortigern's permission. Rowena poisoned Vortimer, and Hengist, her 
brother, defeated the Britons and made himself King of Kent. When Hengist had 
securely established himself in his new kingdom, he Is said to have called all of the 
British chiefs who were his enemies to a council, then murdered them all, the place 
of the deed being marked to this day by huge stones at Stonehenge, on Salisbury 
Plain. 

It Vv'as In the terrible times that followed, when the heathen Northmen were 
hghting their way toward the Interior of the country, burning churches, killing people, 
and driving the Britons before them, that the good king Arthur was born in Corn- 



362 



ENGLAND. 




Bencdlctlnf Monk and Xun. 



wall, and held the western part of England against them. 
The legend tells us that his fair palace at Camelot grew up 
to the sound of magic music of Merlin, a Celtic wizard, who 
knew all sorts of mysteries. At Camelot Arthur gathered 
about him the Table Round of brave knights who fought 
with him against the Pagans, and in twelve great battles 
defeated them, and drove them back towards the borders of 
the Northern Ocean. He fell at last, fighting the Saxons, and 
in Cornwall the Britons long maintained themselves against 
the invaders, though thousands of their countrymen were 
slain, and other thousands took refuge in Brittany, Holland 
and elsewhere. Sometime between the first century and the 
year 593 A. D., the victorious Saxons founded several king- 
doms, whose names still remain as distinguishing the portion 
of England in which they fiourished. Thus Sussex, Essex, 
Wessex, and Middlesex mean the south, east, west, and middle 
seax, or Saxon, while Northumberland was a kingdom north 
of the I lumber, and Mercia was a "march" or frontier State. 
Now the Saxons were not all of the same tribe, for there were the Northmen 
from Jutland, who settled in Kent, the Angles, and the Saxons, but as they were all 
called Saxons by the Britons, they are usually so called in history. The conquerers 
made slaves of those who submitted to them, and remained in the country. They 
were exceedingly quarrelsome, and their kings fought for the honor of being called 
"Britwalda," or "Ruler of Britain," and being the chief authority among the tribes, 
but after awhile Ethelbert, king of Kent, was acknowledged "Britwalda." 

In the year 597 A. D., Ethelbert, who had been for twenty years married to the 
beautiful Bertha of Paris, a Christian princess, who had held fast to her faith, in the 
midst of the Pagans about her, was at last influenced by his wife, to forsake his idols 
and turn to the true God. 

He invited monks and Christian teachers into his kingdom, and they built many 
churches. St. Augustine, who was made bishop of the Sa.xons, was so merciless to 
the Saxons who would not acknowledge the pope as supreme head of the church, 
that there was no verj- great progress made in Christianity, until long afterward. 

When Ethelbert died, in 616, his widow, Queen Bertha was deeply in love with 
step-son, Eadbald, and in spite of the reproaches of priests and bishops, she 
married him. So bitter were the Christians of Kcnts toward Eadbald, that to 
retaliate upon them, he turned back to the worship of Odin and Thor, whereupon 
his people too, renounced Christianitj'. After awhile Eadbald forsook Paganism, and 
his subjects straightway followed his example, for their religion, whether Christian or 
Pagan, was no doubt, more form than fact. 

Sometime before the death of Ethelbert, Edwin, of Northumbria was driven 
from his throne by his brother-in-law, Ethelfrid, and lived lor tliirty years at the 
court of Redwald, kingof the East Angles. Ethelfrid at last learned where Edwin 
was j^iding, and plotted to have him delivered up to be put to death. Redwald was 
uncertain what answer he ought to return to Ethelfrid, when he sent messengers to 
demand his kinsman, Init his queen, fearing for the life of their guest, went secretly 
to him told him of his danger, and warned him to fly at once. Edwin went 
out alone in the forest, and sleeping one night in its depths he had a vision. 



ENGLAND 363 

He dreamed that a majestic figure with long flowing hair, stood by his side and 
assured him that his kingdom should be restored to him, and made him solemnly 
promise, that if a manner of life better than that known to his fathers should be 
shown to him, he would follow it. Then laying his hand on the sleeping king's head, 
the figure said: "When this sign is repeated, remember your vow." The king awoke, 
and while he was pondering over the dream, his friend, the queen, who had come 
into the wood to seek him, found him and told him that Redwald had decided to aid 
him against Ethelfrid. A war was begun, which ended in Edwin becoming not only 
king of Northumberland, but " Britwalda." 

Time went on, Edwin married Ethelburga, the sister of Ealbald, of Kent, but- 
the Christian priests could not convert him. One good bishop, Paulinus, was 
specially zealous, but seemed to make no impression, until Edwin almost miraculously 
escaped assassination, and his young queen recovered from an illness that had seemed 
mortal. Then Paulinus one day laid his hand on the king's head and said: "Remem- 
ber your vow." Etlwin recalled his dream, and became a Christian. Many of his 
nobles declared that they were also Christians, and had the bishop baptize them. 
Even the Pagan priests renounced their gods and converted their temples into Chris- 
tian churches. It was said that goodness and gentleness prevailed in Kent during 
Edwin's reign, and that when he was slain in battle, the vvhole people mourned him. 

It was long before another good prince became " Britwalda." About a hundred 
and thirty years after the reign of Edwin, Brithric of Wesse.x married a Saxon 
princess, Edburga, a woman of great beauty. Like many other beauties, Edburga was 
selfish, haughty and vindictive. She induced the king, her husband, to commit many 
acts of injustice and cruelty. One of these was the exiling of Egbert, the rightful 
heir to the throne. For si.xteen years the court of Brithric was the scene of violence, 
and often crime. Edburga contrived by the dagger or poison to take off all who 
offended her, and at last by mistake or intent, it is uncertain which, she poisoned her 
own husband. The people of Wessex revolted, and would have torn the hated 
Edburga limb from limb, but she escaped from them, crossed over into Gaul, 
wandered to Italy, and died years afterward a wretchetl beggar in the streets of 
Pa via. 

Egbert had passed the seventeen years of Brithric's reign under the protection 
of Charlemagne, the great Prankish king. He was with him in Rome when he heard 
the news of his father's death, and at once hastened to Britain to claim his right. 
The people joyfully hailed him king, and conquering several of the Saxon kingdoms 
he became the first real king of all England, for those States he did not conquer, he 
made pay tribute. 

Some time in the reign of Brithric, the Danes and Norwegians had crossed over 
the sea in tht-ir light, strong vessels, and managed to inflict upon the Saxons the 
miseries, that ages before they had meted out to the Celts or Britons. Indeed they 
were as fierce Pagans at the time, as the Danes were five hundred years before. 
Egbert beat them off but they came again when he was dead, and Ethelwulf, his 
weak irresolute brother, was on the throne. This time they were led by their terrible 
chieftain, Ragnar Lodbrok. After Ethelwulf, the reign of the next three kings, 
which included but thirteen years, was a long struggle with the -Danes. No sooner 
were they beaten off in one place, than they appeared in another, and wherever they 
went they left behind them the ruins of burned dwellings and churches, death, and 
desolation. You will remember that F"rance and Germany also suffered from them 



364 



ENGLAND- 




( 



^^>/ 



Alfnil's Jlotlicr Ttnchcs lUm the Saxuu Soutrs. 



at the same time, and all 
western Europe felt them 
a scourge. During these 
sad years there was grow- 
ing up in England its 
wisest and best king, 
^ r^ Alfred, the son of Ethel- 
\^^ wulf. He went with his 
father to Rome when he 
V was but a child, and there 
?^;©a';-W received manj- valuable 
" — -- ideas concerning educa- 
'■^^ tion, though at twelve 
years old, he still tiid not 
— >*^*'^ know how to read. It is 
said that he one day saw 
his mother reading a book of Saxon poetry, and expressed curiosity concerning it. In 
those times books were not printed as they are now, but the letters were carved on 
horn, or painted with a brush on vellum, and a book was a very costly article. Alfred 
desired very much to possess the book of poetry, and when his mother told her sons 
that she would give it to the one that first learned to read it, he secured a teacher and 
worked so diligently, that the book was awarded him. 

When Alfred was made king, after his brother Ethelred was killed by the Norse- 
men, the different States had made a truce with the invaders, but Alfred determined 
that he would drive them out of Wessex. He fought ten great battles against them 
the first year he wore the crown, but they still kept crossing over to the shores of 
England. Their leader now was Guthrum. 

In the fourth year of his reign Alfred was surprised by the enemy on Christmas 
day, and came near being made prisoner, but escaped and fled to a small island in a 
little river of Somersetshire, where some of his bravest nobles joined him, and built 
a fort from which they assailed the Danes, whenever the opportunity offered. The 
king was disguised as a cow-herder when he escaped the Danes, and as a cow-herder 
sought refuge in a peasant's hut. It was while he was a member of the humble 
peasant's household, that the housewife left him to watch some oat or barley cakes, 
v;hich she put down in front of the hearth to bake while she went about her other 
duties. Absorbed in the thoughts of his subjects and how to rid the country of the 
Danes, he allowed the cakes to burn and was soundly rated as a lazy dog by the 
wrathful woman. When his nobles assembled. King Alfred was anxious to give 
battle to the Danes, but he knew nothing of their number or their plans. His 
Devonshire subjects had beaten a Danish chief, Hubba, and taken from him the 
blood-red flag, on which the daughters of Ragnar Lodbrok had embroidered long 
before, a raven, that was thought by the Danes to be enchanted, and flapped its wings 
before a victory, and drooped them before a defeat. The Danes were far more 
dismayed by the loss of this standard than by Hubba's death. The Devonshire men 
repaired to Alfred's camp and put themselves under his orders. 

The Danes were fond of feasting and carousing. They were also fond of good 
music. King Alfred dressed himself as a wandering minstrel, and went to the place 
where the enemy was encamped, for he wished to spy upon their movements. He 



ENGLAND. 



365 



carried his harp under his arm, and as he could both sing and play, soon interested 
the Danes, who liked nothing better than to hear songs to the accompaniment of 
that instrument. He stayed about their camp several days until he had learned all 
that he wanted to know, then rejoining his own men, he advanced cautiously against 
the enemy. 

When the Danes least expected an attack, Alfred fell upon them with his warriors, 
and beating them soundly, compelled them to surrender. After making their chief 
Guthrum, submit to baptism, he allowed them to settle in East Anglia, and there they 
became Christians and peaceful dwellers among the Saxons. New hordes of savage 
Danes crossed the channel into England soon after, and ravaged the coast to their 
heart's content, then passed over to France. As soon as they were gone Alfred built 
a fleet of vessels to cruise about in the channel, and guard the coast. In spite of his 
watchfulness, a company of Danes did come over, joined Guthrum's host in East 
Anglia, and besieged Rochester, but Alfred 
defeated the "truce-breakers," and drove their 
allies beyond the sea. 

To protect the country, Alfred made every 
ninth freeman a soldier, and kept an army on 
hand for emergencies. He built up the ruined 
cities, formulated wise and good laws, and 
encouraged learning. For eight years no 
Danes disturbed England, then Hastings, the 
pirate chief, came over. For four years the 
Saxons fought bravely, and finally once more 
drove out the thieving, murdering sea-rovers, 
and put swift vessels on the ocean, to chase 
their crafts, hanging all of the pirates they 
could capture. 

Alfred was a perfect type of the English 
Saxon character. He was resolute, indus- 
trious, fond of knowledge, law anil order. I lis 
people had made much progress before his 
time, and he procured the most clever builders, 
the most skillful sailors, and workmen of 
various kinds to settle among them, and teach 
them new branches of work. 



ALfriil the Great In His Study. 

Allred, himself, was an inventor, and is said to have 
invented the horn lanterns, which the Saxons long used, to shield the tapers, that 
served them as clocks. After suffering for many years, with patience, from an 
incurable disease, Alfred died at the age of fifty-three, and his son Edward became 
king. 

No sooner did the Danes learn of the death of the great Saxon king, than they 
came over to England to plunder the people, and Alfred's own brother, who wanted 
to be king of the Saxons, joined with them against his country. The leader of the 
Northmen, and the traitorous Saxon chief, were both killed in battle, and Edward 
made a bargain with the invaders, allowing them all of their spoils and conquests, if 
they would promise not to fight any more. This was done merely to gain time to 
subdue them, for it is not at all likely that Edward believed they would keep that 
promise very long. He at once busied himself in buiUling strong forts, in favorable 




Hi 



-»•/»; 



366 



ENGLAND. 



places throughout his kingdom, and when he had finished his preparations, he made 
the Danes acknowledge him as their king, driving out of the country, all who were 
not willing to do so. 

Athelstan, the next English king, the valiant son of Edward, remembered the; 
glory of his father and grandfather, and his reign of fifteen years, which ended in 
940, was a wise one. 1 le was never married, and when he died his half-brother 
Edmund, became king at the age of eighteen. The Saxons still loved to feast, 
and Edmund, as his forefathers for ages had done, often sat in his great 
hall, surrounded by his fierce lords, with meats steaming on the board, and strong 
ale brimming in the beakers. One evening, when he had drunk more than was good 
for him, and all of his lords had probably followed his example, in spite of the fact 
that it was a Saint's day, he sat at the feast. He was in the quarrelsome stage of 
drunkenness, when looking down the hall, he saw seated at his board, and partaking 
of the good cheer, a certain Leof, a robber, upon whose head a price was set. King 
Edmund's anger rose above his prudence, for knowing that Leof was a desperate 
fellow, he commanded the robber, with contemptuous words, to leave the board and 
to depart. Leof refused, and the king made a dash at him, seized him by the long 
hair, and tried to fling him down. Leof snatched a dagger from his girdle, and 
stabbed the king to death. The guards fell upon him. but with the ferocity of a wild 
beast he fought them, until he was literally cut in pieces. 

Edred, the brother of Edmund succeeded him on th(; throne, but as the Danes 
chose one of their own countrymen, Eric, as king, Edred had his hands full in 
making war against them, and left the government of his kingdom to a crafty and 
unscrupulous priest, named Dunstan. You must know, that even as early as these 
times of which I am telling you, the popes of Rome declared themselves the supreme 
authority in religion, the world over, but the Saxons were too independent of soul to 
willingly acknowledge that a far-away Italian pope, was their spiritual master, or had 
any right to interfere in their affairs. Dunstan labored with all his might' to secure 
the Pope's power in Great Britain, and he seemed to have only two real objects in 
life; to increase the Pope's power and his own. When he was quite a young boy, 
Dunstan, in the delirium of fever, w-andered into Glastonbury church, which was 
being repaired, and walked upon the naked beams high above the ground coming 
down safely. When he became a man, and turned priest, this feat of his was 
declared a miracle, but if it was one you and I have seen similar ones in the lives of 
many boj's, who venture into all sorts of dangerous places, and come out unscathed. 
Dunstan was so very strict in his fasts, and was so uncommonly severe upon every 
one who indulged in any harmless amusement, that he gained a great reputation for 
holiness, and you will find in history, and perhaps in life, many otiur peojjle, who 
base their reputation for goodness, on no more solid fountlation. King Edred had 
great faith in Dunstan and appointed him treasurer of his kingdom, and took his 
advice on every subject. With all of the king's money at his command, Dunstan 
gained influence with the people, and founded many churches and monasteries. He 
was a clever man, who could sing, and play the harp, knew how to work metals, and 
had no doubt learned by secret study and experiment, many of the elements of the 
natiu^al sciences. 

Because of his knowledge of these with wnich he used to work " miracles," the 
people came to regard him as a magician, and were afraid to disobey or oppose him. 
Dunstan pretended to think it extremely wicked for priests to have wives, like other- 



ENGLAND. 



367 




Riding u'itli Pillloa. 



men, and he founded monasteries for monks, who were 
bound by the most solemn vows to Hve unmarried. He 
was planning to compel all of the priests to give up their 
wives and families, when Edred died, and his nephew, 
Edwy the Fair, came to the throne in 955 A. D. 

Edwy was but fifteen years old, a noble and beautiful 
youth. Although so young, he immediately married his 
sweet young cousin, Elgiva, in spite of the protest of 
Dunstan, and Odo, the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
When he was crowned the nobles of the land held a 
great feast in his hall, at which they ate so much, drank 
so much, told such coarse stories, and behaved altogether 
in such a beastly manner that the pure-minded Edwy was 
shocked and disgusted. He said nothing, however, but 
after awhile quietly left the company and went to his 
wife's room. He was sitting there in conversation with her and her mother when 
Dunstan and another impudent priest, both half-drunk, forced themselves into the 
queen's chamber and commanded the king to return to the hall. Edwy refused to go, 
and Dunstan, after pouring upon the queen and her mother a torrent of the foulest 
abuse, dragged the king by force back into the^ banquet room. 

The king was furious at the insult, and some of his nobles taking his side, Dun- 
stan was obliged to flee to Belgium for his life. Odo then stirred up a revolt against 
the king, and because he hated the beauty that had won Edwy's heart, seized fair 
Elgiva, and barbarously branded her lovely face with a red-hot iron. He pretended 
that he thought it monstrous for cousins to marry, and that he had been very gentle 
with Elgiva, who, he said, deserved to die. When he had taken revenge upon her 
beauty, he sold her as a slave into Ireland. The Irish people were so moved by the 
sorrows of the innocent queen and persecuted king, that they cured Elgiva of her 
cruel burns, and sent her back to England, as fair as ever. Hearing that she was 
returning, Odo and his supporters, who had now driven Edwy from the throne, 
caused the queen to be waylaid, and tortured to death. He had borne his trials most 
bravely, but when he heard of the dreadful death of his beloved wife his heart broke^ 
and he too, died, and the pitiful story of this boy and girl, so persecuted for love's 
sake, so true to each other to the last, has been the theme of many a poet's song. 

As soon as Edwy had been houndetl to his death by his priestly murderers, Dun- 
stan and Odo, his brother Edgar, who was thoroughly under their thumb, was 
crowned king. Dunstan became again the real ruler of the land, and did contrive to 
do some good amid the much evil, during the sixteen years of the reign of Edgar. 
The king made stately journeys through the kingtlom every year, ami kept a fleet 
constantly sailing about England to head off the Danes and Norwegians He called 
the assemblies of the people every year, made good laws, and punished so severely 
some outrages committed by the Danes settled upon the Isle of Thanet, that the 
English merchants, who had long suffered from their practices, were henceforth safe. 
All of there things the king no doubt did at Dunstan's suggestion. 

In spite of the fact that Edgar is often called the "Peace-maker," it is certain 
that he was a graceless scamp, antl that Dunstan, while pretending to be very severe 
upon his sins, really encouraged them, in order that the king should be amused, and 
should be kept engaged, and thus not interfere too much in the government. It is 



-,68 ENGLAND. 



o 



certain that the "Peace-maker" king was an unworthy descendant of Alfred, with 
none of the love of law and virtue that animated the greatest of the Saxon kings. 
He carried off the nuns from their convents to live with him in his court, and if he 
wanted the wife of one of his nobles, he made no scruple of taking her. 

There is a story told of him that shows well his character. He heard that one 
of his knights had a beautiful daughter, Elfrida, and as she was very rich, he sent 
one of his courtiers, Athelwold, to see her and find out whether she were really as 
beautiful as she was reported. Athelwold fell in love with Elfrida himself, and per- 
suaded her to marrv him, although she did not then know that he had come by the 
order of the king to inspect her charms. .Athelwold went back to Edgar and told 
him that Elfrida was rich, but not at all beautiful, ami after a time informed him that 
he himself had married the heiress. The king suspected that Athelwold had played 
him a trick, and informed him that he would visit him and his bride. .Athelwold was 
alarmed, and politely tried to dissuade the king, making all sorts of e.xcuses, but 
Ed'Tar was iletermined. Elfrida had professed the most passionate attachment to her 
husband, and Athelwold determined to confess his treachery to her, and implore her 
to help him out of the dilemma in which he fountl himself. He did so, and 
besou<Tht her to dre.ss herself in her meanest dress, when the king came to visit 
them, and pretend to be hali witted, in order to disgust him. 

Elfrida readily promised; but in secret she was bitterly angry with Athelwold, 
that he had prevented her from becoming queen. Therefore, when Edgar came, she 
dressed herself in her most splendid garments, arraj-ed her neck and arms with 
jewels, antl was as charming as she knew how to be, entertaining the king with witty 
conversation, and putting forth all of her arts to fascinate him. lulgar, of course 
determined to possess her, but he dissembled, and told Athelwold that his judgment 
was correct, and Elfrida was common-looking. One day the king and Athelwold 
rode merrily out to hunt in tlu- forest. How it happened was never told, but Athel- 
wold was left bleeding and dying from a spear-thrust in the forest, and the king 
returned alone to Elfrida, married her. and she foundetl a convent on the spot where 
Athelwold fell, as an atonement for his murder. 

This Elfrida was a wicked creature. \\"hen Eilgar died, leaving a son, Edward, 
by a former marriage. Elfrida schemed to have his claim to the throne set aside, and 
her own little son Ethelred, a boy of seven made king. Dunstan, and the Council, 
or Wise Men, chose Edward, and Elfrida left the court, taking Ethelred with her. 
About this time there arose trouble between Dunstan"s monks, and the priests who 
had wives, and many of the latter were driven from their churches, and monks 
installed in their places. A great pestilence visited England, and Dunstan, who pre- 
tended to know nearly everything-, and to be in the confidence of Providence, 
declared that the plague was sent on the people, because they allowed the priests to 
marry. Then a council was called to settle the religious quarrel. It is suspected 
that Dunstan had the beams of the council chamber sawed in several places at any 
rate the floor gave way, and many of his opponents were killed, while that part of 
the floor where Dunstan and his friends sat. did not fall. Dunstan at once declared 
that God had thus chosen to confound his enemies, and won his point, and the 
married priests were made to give up their families, ami those who were unmarried 
were bidden to remain so. 

When the new king, .Edward, had resigned four years, he was one dayhunting 
near the place where his step-mother, and his little half-brother, Ethelred lived. 



ENGLAND. 36Q 

Leaving his troop, he galloped alone to Elfrida's castle gate, and gaily wound his 
horn. The queen knew the sound of the king's blast, and calling one of her men- 
servants aside, she gave him an order, then went down to greet Edward. The king 
chatted kindly with Elfrida, and his little brother, and finally asked for a cup of 
wine to quench his thirst. It was given to him, and pledging his step-mother in a 
few courteous words, he raised it to his lips when the man, to whom Elfrida had given 
the swift and secret command, plunged a dagger into Edward's side. 

Ethelred shrieked with terror, as his brother struck the spurs into his horse and 
dashed away, and the cruel queen beat him unmercifully and bade him be silent. 
Fainting from loss of blood, the king fell, one of his feet hanging in the stirrup. His 
frightened horse dragged the poor young king over sticks and stones, and he was 
found dead by the roadside, his golden hair stiff with dirt and blood, and his fair 
boyish face so disfigured, that there was no semblance of humanity left. Elfrida 
showed no pity when she looked upon the sad sight. She rejoiced that her attempt 
had been successful, for now Ethelred would become king of England. 

Dunstan was rather unwilling to make Ethelred king. He would have preferred 
to take out of her convent the daughter of Edward, whose mother had been a nun of 
Wilton, and make her queen, but the maiden very sensibly decided to remain in her 
safe retreat, so Ethelred was crowned. Elfrida atoned for her guilt as usual, by 
building convents, and giving money to the church. 

Ethelred received the name of "The Unready" from his .Saxon subjects. The 
name Ethelred means "noble counsellor," but "se unrede" is the Sa.xon for "who 
cannot advise," so they called him in derision, Ethelred the Unready. He never 
knew the proper thing to do or say, and was always making some serious blunder. 
Dunstan had grown old by this time. He had told some very extraordinary lies, 
that made the people revere him as a saint. For instance he declared that he held 
long conversations with the devil, and that during one of these, when he was at 
work at the little forge in his cell, he pinched the nose of his .Satanic Majesty, mak- 
ing him roar so loud for mercy that he might have been heard a dozen miles away. 
In his old age Dunstan lived in a little cell that was too small for him to lie down 
straight in, fasted, wore an uncomfortable hair-cloth shirt next his person, never 
washed himself, and did a great many other things that were supposed to be the duty 
of those who wanted to please God. He accomplished, either by his eloquence or by 
trickery, everything that he set his heart upon, and died at a ripe old age. Even 
now there are people who believe that he was a veritable saint. 

When Ethelred had been king for some years, long enough for the Danes to 
discover his weakness, they came in great numbers to England. Three times Ethel- 
red bought them off, each time paying them a large sum of money. The last time 
he paid them $120,000, and made a treaty with them. This was in the year 1002, and 
soon after, Ethelred, with his usual genius for blundering, married Emma, daughter 
of Richard of Normandy, to secure the friendship of that duchy. 

The Normans, as you know, were of the same blood as the Danes, and they 
naturally took the side of their kinsmen. They regarded Sweyn of Denmark as their 
king, and as Sweyn commanded the marauding expeditions into England, would have 
been glad to see him king of that countrj'. 

Many Normans went over with Emma, and were given places of trust in the 
kingdom. In spite of these facts Ethelred gained the hostility of the whole Norman 
people, by one of the most cruel acts ever laid at the door of any English king. 



Zio 



ENGLAND. 



Having heard that some of the Danes were conspiring against him, he gave 
secret instructions that on St. Brice's day the Danes throughout the whole land 
were to be murdered, without regard to age, sex or religion, for many of them had 
become Christians. The wicked deed was done, and many a hearthstone was red 
with slaughter on that dreadful day in November, 1002. Some of Ethelred's 
own Danish soldiers took refuge in a church just outside of London, but more 
cruel than .Vlaric the Goth, who you will remember respected the sanctuary that the 
churches afforded, the Sa.xons dragged the brave soldiers forth and murdered them. 
Being accustomed to lay aside their arms on a saint's day, the soldiers were un- 
armed, and thus defenseless. To this day the place of their butchery is called St. 
Clement's Dane. 

Many of the Saxons had married Danes. Sweyn's own sister was the wife of a 
Saxon nobleman, but her two sons were killed before her eyes, and she was be- 
headed. With her last breath Gunhilda called a dreadful vengeance down upon 
her slayers and upon England, and it soon came. When Sweyn heard of Ethelred's 
savage onslaught upon the Danes, he swore by the gods of his fathers, by the souls of 
the heroes of Valhalla, and by the blood of his murdered kinsmen, to take as dread- 
ful revenge as the crime warranted. With a great army, composed of the most 
valiant, courageous and fiercest of the Danes, anti in which there was neither a slave 
nor an old man, he set forth for England, with such a fleet as never before had been 
launched upon northern waters. His own ship had the head of a brazen dragon on 
the prow, and was called "The Great Serpent." 

Every Viking ship in those days, and from time immemorial, had upon its prow 
the head of some beast or monster, and to the superstitious Saxons who saw this 
large fleet nearing England it must have seemed that all of the fabled creatures of 
the earth, air and waters, menaced their land from the i)rowsof these Danish vessels. 
Yet had those ships been themselves the most terrible monsters they would have 
been more easy to vanquish than were the men who manned them, and this the Sax- 
ons soon found. 

The invaders burned towns and killed people, made noble lords spread great 
banquets for them, then killed their entertainers, laid low the roof that had been 
their shelter, and passed on, sparing no .Saxon of anj^age or sex that fell in their way. 
The Saxons made a stand against the Danes, but were defeated in a terrible battle. 
The people left their fields unplowed and unsown, and tied before the Northmen. 
The harvest-time came, and there was no grain to be garnered. The horrors of 
famine were added to the horrors of war, and this at last compelled the Danes to retreat 
after they had ravaged the country for a year. They did not go far, only to the Isle 
of Wight, and fixing their winter-quarters there, in the year 1004, plundered the 
coasts of all surrounding countries. 

Ethelred called his councillors to him, for he had fled to a remote part of North- 
western England, and again he purchased peace, this time paying $iSo,ooo. Two 
years afterward the Danes came again, and scornfully refusing all offers of money, 
advanced into the heart of the kingdom. Many of the English ships either turned 
pirate, or joined the enemy. London held out for a year, but many other rich cities 
were taken by the Danes, plundered and burned to the ground. When there was 
little left for them to destroy, the avengers consented to take $240,000 to cease their 
ravages and leave the country. Poor England was now beggared of her wealth, and 
as her thousantls of brave defenders had been done to death by Danish swords, the 



ENGLAND. 371 

country was ruined. The mean-souled Ethelred would not face the result of his 
folly, and fled with his wife and two sons to Normandy. 

Sweyn made himself king of England, but the King of kings summoned him to 
pay that tribute which we must all at last yield, and his son, Canute, claimed England 
as his, by the right of his father's conquest, in the year 1013. The Saxons sent for 
Ethelred, who came back and led them to battle against Canute. The Danish king 
had taken hostages from the Saxons, and when Ethelred's army defeated him and 
drove him into his ships, he cut off the ears, noses, and hands of these unhappy 
creatures, and set them on shore at Sandwich. 

Canute sailed away, and Ethelred was soon blundering as was his fate. He dis- 
gusted his subjects by his cruelty to two Anglo-Danish chiefs, and created so much 
dissatisfaction among them that Canute at once sailed back again, and shut Ethelred 
up in London, where he died, and thus rid the nation of one of their greatest mis- 
fortunes, a weak king. 

Ethelred was married twice, and was the father of thirteen children, eleven born 
of a Saxon marriage, and two of the unfortunate Norman match. Edmund, his 
eldest son called " Ironsides," was crowned king of England by the besieged Saxons 
in London, and he immediately made his way out of the city, and raised an army. 
He was a brave, resolute prince, and the .Saxons lovetl him well. He gained their 
admiration by driving Canute away from London, and making him agree to bound 
his conquests by the old Roman road, lying between Dover and Chester, giving to the 
Saxons all south of it, with him, Edmund, as their king. Edmund Ironsides only 
lived two months to enjoy his victory. It was thought that he was poisoned by 
Canute's order. 

Canute now married Emma, the widow of " The Unready," who left her two sons, 
Alfred and Edward, in Normandy, and came over to England, with right good will, 
to marry the Danish king. She converted him to the Christian faith, and his eigh- 
teen years' reign over England, was a time of plenty and prosperity. Canute 
claimed also the crowns of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and maintained some of 
his claims with English arms. He became one of the most powerful monarchs in 
Europe, and was active in trying to convert his heathen countrymen, both in England 
and on the continent, to the Christian'faith, establishing among them many churches 
and schools. .So well did he protect, and so wisely did he govern England, that his 
subjects almost forgot that he was their conqueror, and liked to remember that he 
was descended from the same Teutonic tribe, that gave to them the ancestor of the 
illustrious Alfred. 

Canute made several pilgrimages to Rome, and from one of these he brought 
back to England with solemn pomp the arm-bones of St. Augustine, for which he 
paid $5,500,000, as much money as he had collected in taxes from his English sub- 
jects in four years. The traffic in saints' bones, you see, must thus have been very 
profitable for the Church in the days of Canute, and we may estimate what the whole 
skeleton of a dead saint would have brought, when his arm-bones were sold at such 
a high price. The ignorant supposed that these relics worked miracles, as though 
any sanctity could reside in this mortal husk, when the soul that hallowed it had fled! 
But even now there are persons who think more of the toe-joint of some dead and 
gone saint, than you would suppose, and cherish a tooth, or some other relic of mor- 
tality of a saint as a very choice possession. Their faith is not shaken by the fact that 
it has more than once been discovered that there are bones enough of certain saints 



372 ENGLAND. 

that have been solemnly asserted as " authentic," to fit out a whole monastery of 
uncommonly bony saints, and that wood enough of the " true cross" exists in various 
shrines, to build a good sized church. 

Canute died in 1035, ^^^^ ^I's widow, Emma, who Iiad long ago given her tvv« sons 
by Ethelred, to understand that they should never inherit their father's kingdom, and 
who seemed to care nothing for them, was left again a widow. Her son Hardicanute, 
and Canute's two sons by a former marriage, Sweyn and Harold, received their 
father's possessions. Sweyn was crowned king of Norway, and Emma wanted Hardi- 
canute to become king of England, but as he was absent in Denmark at the time of 
his father's death, Harold succeeded in having himself crowned. 

Harold was a worthless rascal, w-ho cared only for money, getting drunk, and 
going hunting. No archbishop would crown him, but this made no difference to him, 
for he was a Pagan. At his instigation Emma invited Alfred and Edward to come 
over to England. Edward came with a force of soldiers, but being convinced that 
some treachery was meditated, he went back to Normandy. Poor .Alfred was less 
fortunate; tempted by his unnatural mother, he lancied on the shores of Kent with a 
small force of soldiers. Earl Godwin, a Saxon who had grown rich and powerful 
under Canute, met him and welcomed him, and went with him and his men to Guild- 
ford. The Normans divided into small parties, and slept in different houses. The 
king's soldiers were informed where they all might be found, and in the middle of the 
night took them all prisoners. The next day, nine out of every ten of the Normans, 
to the number of six hundred, were butchered, the tenth man being sold into slavery. 
Prince Alfred was tied naked to the back of a wild horse, taken to the Isle of Ely and 
tortured to death, first having his eyes torn from his head. 

Emma had trouble with the king soon after, because he had.seizeil upon some of 
her property, and fearing for her life, fled to Flanders. Harold died at the end of 
two years, and Hardicanute became king. He was a Pagan, glutton and a drunkard. 
His first act when he returned to England, was to have Harold's body taken from its 
tomb, and thrown into the Thames. He hated the English, and took no pains to con- 
ceal from them his feeling. 1 le filled all of llie ofifices of the State with Danes, and 
granted them privileges that were very distastefid to the people. He lived for two 
years to wear the I'lnglish crown, and it is doubtful whether he was ever entirely 
sober once in that time. He fi;ll down drunk at the wedding feast of one of his 
Danes and died. \\ iih Hardicanute Danish kings came to an end in England. 

Ethelred's son, Edward, was now called to the English throne. Earl Godwin 
was chiefl}' instrumental in gaining the crown for Edward, and tlie king therefore 
married Editha, the earl's daughter. Edward did not love tlie young queen, and 
treated her with such marked coldness, that her father and brothers became his bitter 
enemies. The Normans with whom Edward filled all the posts of honor in the State, 
and to whom he gave riches in money and lands, grew very insolent to the English, 
antl were hated right heartily. 

-A party of Normans who came to visit the English king made themselves 
especially obnoxious to the people of Dover. When they had paid their visit, and 
were on their way home, they demanded food and lodging of the Dover people, 
until a sliip should come in, which they might secure to carry them across the 
channel. The Dover people were willing to lodge the Normans, but when the 
Normans flatly refused to pay for anything, treated the people as slaves, and rode 
over men and women in the streets, and even murdered one of the citizens at his 



ENGLAND. 373 

own fireside, they rose up in their wrath, killed nineteen of the Normans, and drove 
the rest out of town. 

Their leader hastened to Edward, and demanded judgment against the people 
of Dover. Earl Godwin was the lord of Dover, and Edward ordered him to punish 
the people with the utmost severity. The stern old Saxon told the king, who was 
so much under the influence of Norman priests and nobles that he had no feeling for 
the English that ht would not punish the people whom he had sworn to protect. 
The king then summoned the Earl to come and be punished for his disobedience. 
The Earl raised an army, and demanded that the king punish the Normans for 
their outrages upon the English. It seemed certain that war would be the result, but 
the Earl's men began to desert him, and the king ordered him and his sons to 
leave the country. Editha, who had nothing at all to do with the affair, was shut up 
in a convent, and all of her property and jewels were taken away from her. 

One of Godwin's sons, Harold, went to Ireland, and there secured a fleet to rav- 
age the English coast on the south. He was joined by his father, and they sailed to 
London. The wise men gathered, called Godwin and his family back and made all 
of the Norman favorities leave the country. They causctl the abused queen Editha to 
be restored to her rights, and invited Godwin and his sons to court. While the old 
Earl was absent in banishment, William, Duke of Normandy, made a visit to Eng- 
land. Edward had been brought up in the same castle with William, and felt very 
kindly toward him. William had his eye on the English crown, and as Edward had 
no children, he thought he had a fair chance of possessing it. 

Godwin only lived three days after he returned to favor. The French say that 
as the Earl and the king were being served at table by the former's sons, Harold and 
Tostig, for it was not considered a disgrace by the English for men to perform do- 
mestic services, and the thanes or nobles always served about the person of the king, 
Tostig slipped and Harold kept him from falling. Their father noticed it and said: 
"So brother helps brother?" 

Thinkingof his brother Alfred, so barbarously put to death, the king said bitterly: 
".So would my brother have helped me, hadst thou not slain him." Godwin broke a 
piece of bread and held it up. "May this piece of bread choke me if I slew thy 
brother, or had aught to do with his death," he cried. Then he put the bread in his 
mouth, and tried to swallow it, but it stuck in his throat, and he choked to death. 
The English denied the story, and said that Godwin died of old age and hardship. 
The whole nation mourned for him, because he had uphekl the English against for- 
eigners, and they loved Harold for his father's sake, as well as his own, and Edward 
made him one of his advisers. He was regarded by the nation as the successor of 
their king, whom the monks called Edward the Confessor, because he was in all 
things more like a monk than a king. 

Not long after Godwin's death Harold was for some reason out upon the sea, and 
was cast by a storm upon the Norman coast. He and the shipwrecked English with 
him were at once put in prison, and the nobleman who held them sent to Duke Wil- 
liam, and told him that he had Harold in his power. William took Harold to his 
castle, and treated him with great kindness, and Harold helped him in his war with 
the Celts of Britainy. One day William told Harold that Edward the Confessor 
had promised him the English crown at his death. Observing that Harold looked 
troubled over the communication, he laid a trap for him. He called his principal 
nobles together, and bringing a tub full of the bones of saints from a neighboring 



374 ENGLAND. 

sanctuary, covered them with a cloth, and laid a prayer-book upon the cover- 
ing. Then he summoned Harold, and commanded him to swear upon the prayer- 
book that he would give up all claim to the English crown, and allow Duke 
William to have it, pretending that Harold had told him that he was willing to do so. 

Now Duke William had not a shadow of right to the English crown, and 
Harold knew it. Neither had Harold ever intimated that he wouKl acknowledge 
William's claim for his own, as the head of the most powerful Sa.xon family in the 
kingdom, and the brother of the queen was far more likely to meet the approval of 
his countrymen. Nevertheless he was in the power of the Norman Duke, and he 
took the oath, not at all meaning to keep it. He was very much disturbed to 
find that the prayer-book upon which he had sworn was laid upon so many of the 
bones of the saints, but it is doubtful that his resolution not to keep the unfairly 
extorted promise was at all shaken. 

When Edward died, in 1066, the wise men chose Harold for the king. Tostig 
had been made ruler of Northumberland by Edward, but he was so cruel to his 
people, that they drove him from the country. He demanded that Harold restore 
him to Northumberland, but Harold knew that the people would not receive him, and 
refused to do so. Then Tostig secured the aid of Harold 1 lardrada, king of Norway, 
and sailed for England. The Norwegians landed at the mouth of the Tyne, and beat 
off the force that was sent to oppose them. They made peace with the people of 
York, and everything seemed to promise an easy victory. The defeated English had 
promised the Norwegians some hostages, and the invaders retired to their ships and 
waited for these. On the morning'of the fourth day after their landing at the mouth 
of the Tyne, and the defeat of the English, the Norwegians anchored near the mouth 
of the Derwent, spied the gleam of armor, and the glancing of spears, and thinking 
that the hostages were coming marched forth to meet them. 

What was t*heir surprise, to see king Harold, with a great English army, 
sweeping down upon them. The Norwegians threw themselves into a hollow square 
and waited. 1 lardrada, their king, was almost a giant in size, and sat his great war- 
horse, with right royal grace at the head of his army. Tostig was in favor of 
retreating at once to the ships, but Hardrada, who was one of the most famous 
soldiers of Europe, would not consent, and sending the marshal for the rest of his 
force, rode about among his men, encouraging them. 

King Harold noticed the huge Norseman, and asked of one of his attendants: 
"Who is that large, fair man, who rides so proudly yonder, and looks so kingly?" 

"He is Harold Hardrada," was the reply. 

Just then the Norwegian king's horse stumbled and threw him to the ground. 
Hardrada rose with a smile, repeating the lines from an old German song about a 
fall being "good luck for a traveler," but king Harold of England turned to his men 
and said: 

"Hardrada is a tall and stately king, but his luck has forsaken him." 

Then king Harold left the main body of his army, following a herald who carried 
a flag of truce. The herald stopped in hailing distance of the Norwegians and cried: 

"Is Tostig, Son of Godwin hej-e?" and Tostig himself answered, "I am, ' and 
rode out, to hear what the English might say. The herald addressed him when he 
had approached near enough: 

"Harold, by the grace of God, king of England, sends this message to Tostig, 
the son of Godwin. He would not, if perchance it may be avoided, make war upon 



ENGLAND. 375 

his brother, and bids me offer the peace, and a third of his kingdom." 

"And what will Harold give to my friend, the king of Norway, who hath 
espoused my cause, and ventured much on the issue?" replietl Tostig. 

"Seven feet of English earth?" replied Harold himself. "No more?" queried 
the other. "Aye replied the English king, with a smile. "Since Hardrada is an 
exceeding tall man, mayhap an inch or two more." 

"No peace for me, then Harold, son of Godwin," answered his brother, "It shall 
never be said that Tostig forsook his friends for his enemies. Defiance to thee, I 
will win England by the good swords of my soldiers, or die in the attempt." 

Tostig then rode back, and King Harold too joined his men. As Harold rode 
away, Hardrada inquired of Tostig: "Who is yon little man, who sits in his stirrups 
so well?" "That is Harold, king of England?" replied Tostig, and told Hardrada 
the substance of the parley. The Norwegian king reproached Harold, that he had 
not slain his brother on the spot, but Tostig protested that he could only give fair 
terms to Harold, when he came offering him peace and a third of his kingdom. 

Now all was made ready for the battle. It was near Stamford bridge, on the 
river Derwent, that the Norwegians were posted. Hardrada took his station by his 
banner, and his men awaited the onset. It soon came. The English shouted their 
battle-cry, as they dashed against the foe. ".St. Brice!" "St. Brice!" cried the Nor- 
wegians, in memory of Ethelred's dread massacre of their Danish kinsmen. 

As long as the Norwegians kept their ranks, the English could make no headway 
against them, but they soon lost all coolness, and throwing their shields aside, leaped 
among their foes, and fought as though the madness of their "Berserker" was upon 
them. Then it was that the English slowly pressed them back, but Hardrada did 
such mighty deeds that none could stantl before him, swinging his great battle-axe, 
like a veritable Thor. One huge Norwegian, as tall as Hardrada himself, reached 
the bridge, and held it until a host of his countrymen had passed over. The .Saxons 
tried in vain to dislodge him, but could not succeed until one of their spearmen crept 
beneath the bridge, and with an upward thrust of his weapon, between the planks, 
pierced the brave Northman's heart. 

Finally an arrow struck Hardrada in the throat and the red blood gushed through 
the wound with every pulsation of his heart. He staggered and fell, Tostig caught 
his standard from his hand and shook it aloft, that the despairing Norsemen might 
believe that their king was still alive. 

"Tostig," cried Harold, "I offer thee peace; you are my father's son. I offer 
thee peace, and quarter for thy men." 

"No peace for us," shouted Tostig, and his men took up the cry. "Victory we 
will have over thee, Harold, or the death which we do not fear." 

The Northmen from the vessels by this time reached the ground, and the battle 
began anew with the utmost fierceness. Again Saxon coolness won the day. Tostig 
was slain and the Norwegians defeated, and at the mercy of their foes, surrendered. 
Harold usetl his advantage wisely. He gave the Northmen who had survived the 
battle, four-and-twenty ships, and saw them sail away to their own country, then 
repaired to \'ork, and held a great feast over the victory. 

\\ illiam of Normandy had not been idle all of this time. He carried his story 
of Harold's broken faith to the Pope, who espoused the Norman cause, and sent the 
:luke a banner which he had l)lessed. William gathered an army of all sorts of 
adventurers, and desperate fighting men, to whom he held out prospects of English 



376 ENGLAND. 

plunder, and landed an immense force at Pevensy, on the southern coast, four days 
after the fight at Stamford bridge. 

Harold's two brothers, Gurth and Leofwin, advised him to lay the country waste 
before William, so that his army could get no supplies, but the king had not the 
heart to destroy the property of his people. He left York, and traveled in hot haste 
to London. Gathering what force he could, he fortified his camp which he pitched 
at Senlac, on a hill, by driving stakes along the front of his lines. These stakes 
served both as a shelter for his archers, and a protection against the Norman cavalry, 
for William had a large number of horse-soldiers, while the Sa.xons fought only on 
foot. 

The standard of England, a golden dragon, was placed in the center of the line, 
and near it Harold's own banner, a knight in armor, embroidered in goldthread, 
and set with jewels. The Normans were camped on the lower ground, nearer the 
sea, and so the two armies lay on the eve of the battle that decided the fate of 
England. In the morning, Harold placed his best armed and veteran fighters in the 
front, and bade them, no matter what might happen, not to allow themselves to be 
drawn from their shield of pickets. Early in the day, the Normans advanced to the 
attack. First came Duke William, a stately and warlike presence, and by his side 
rode his standard-bearer, holding aloft the banner which the Pope had blessed. To 
the right and left came his mounted knights, cased in steel from head to foot, and 
bearing huge two-handed swords, and armed also with battle-axes and javelins. In 
front were the Xorman archers on foot, and behind them were the nien of Britainy, 
and the host that made up Duke William's army. 

A Norman knight of giant size began the fight. Riding forth alone toward the 
English lines, and throwing up his sword and catching it by the hilt, he sang of the 
bravery of Roland at Rcncesvalles, and the glory of those who die on the field of 
honor. Two English knights came out against him. He slew them both, but fell 
under the battle-axe of a third. As he fell the Normans uttered their battle-cry, 
"God help us." The English answered with a deep shout of "God's rood. Holy 
rood," and stood as firmly as rocks, as the Normans rushed forward and dashed 
themselves against them, cutting down the assailing horsemen with their battle-axes, 
and linking their shields, to protect themselves from tlie rain of arrows that was 
showered upon them. The Normans recoiled, again and again, beaten off with great 
loss, and again and again they returned to the charge. 

It was rumored among the assailants, that Duke William was slain, and they 
began to lose heart. The duke took off his helmet and rode before the lines, to show 
his men that he still lived, and the battle went on. All that fair October day it raged. 
The English Harold fell blinded by an arrow, dying at the foot of his standard. A 
company of Normans pressed forward to secure the body, but the brave PZnglish 
defended their king dead, as they had fought for him living, and when the moon 
came out, it shone upon a heap of corpses, beneath which lay the dead body of 
Harold, for the Saxons had fought bravely by the side of their king and died bravely 
when he fell. The golden dragon was torn and stained, and the gayly embroidered 
knight in armor on Harold's banner was trodden under foot, and soaked with the blood 
of the bravest and best of the defenders of England. 

The Norman duke set up liis tent on that bloody field, and while the Saxon 
women without went to and fro seeking their loved ones, moaning and weeping over 
their dead, and I larold's fair wife, Editha, with her own hands, turned face after face 



ENGLAND. 377 

up to the pitying moonlight, seeking her lord, the Conqueror feasted and made merry. 
When the Conqueror was told that Harold's body had been found, he said: " Let it 
be buried here in sight of the sea. He guarded this land well living, let him guard 
it dead." 

I'he Saxons were not to be discouraged, by even so dreadful a disaster as the 
death of their king and most of their chiefs. Duke William marched toward Lon- 
don, killing every Englishman, armed or unarmed, that fell in his way, and burning 
the grain in the fields and barns, and destroying the houses of the peasants. In the 
city of London, Edgar Atheling, the son of Ironsides, was made king by the Saxons, 
but when the Normans came near the city, and the new king learned that the people 
had an idea of submitting to the conqueror, he fled to Scotland where his sister was 
the wife of the king. 

Duke William of Normandy was crowned King of England on Christmas day of 
the year 1066, but before he would trust himself to the people to whom he promised 
to be a loving lord, he built a strong fort from the ruins of an old Roman castle in the 
midst of the city, and garrisoned it with his soldiers. This fort stands yet, and is 
called now, as then, "The Tower of London," and it has played its part in many a sad 
tragedy. 

For seven years dreadful war raged all over England. The property of the 
Saxons was wrested from them, and given to the Normans. The outraged people 
banded together in the woods and swamps, again and again, and fell upon the Nor- 
mans, when and where they could. The Norman barons built strong castles all over 
the country to hold what they had taken, and the Conqueror rewarded his meanest 
servants with princely domains. Many of these founded " noble " families, who to 
this very day trace their ancestry back to those strong-handed spoilers. Once the 
Saxons fell upon the Norman garrison in the castle of York. There were three 
thousand men at arms, and five hundred mailed knights to oppose them, yet the des- 
perate English took the place and put every Norman to the sword. Then they 
implored the Danes to come to their relief, but William knew that the only object 
that the Danes could have in doing so, would be the hope of plunder, and he bought 
them off. 

William was hunting in the forest of Dean, when he heard of the disaster of 
York. Throwing aside his weapons of the chase, he called for his armor, swearing 
by the throne of the Almighty God, that he would take such vengeance on the 
Saxons of Northumbria, as would forever render them unable to revolt. Then he 
assembled his army and marched toward Northumbria. The Saxons, under the two 
sons of Harold took ship and fled, remaining in and about the river Humber during 
the whole of that winter. 

William too, remained in the north, and employed himself most cruelly. He 
ordered his soldiers to destroy everything in the country that had given support to 
the patriots — he called them rebels — and was careful to see for himself that his 
orders were obeyed. For sixty miles there was not a village, town, hamlet, or any 
human habitation left standing. The crops were burned in the fiekls, the cattle 
killed, and the whole land was made a desolation. The people who had been 
driven from their homes died by the thousands from hunger and cold. 

Oh what curses, what prayers for vengeance, what tears and lamentations filled 
England. Uneasy must have lain the head of the Conqueror many a wild winter 
night, when the crimes he had done, to gratify his love of power, must have passed 



378 ENGLAND. 

before his soul in solemn array. Yet he continued his course. What he had gotten 
by bloodshed, could only be held by violence, and the English brooks ran red 
with the gore of murdered peasants, and unburied bodies tainted the air. But the 
spirit of liberty lived among the hunted Saxons in the depths of the forests, af.d amid 
the fastness of the Scottish mountains. On the Island of Ely a valiant Saxon, Heie- 
ward, made a camp, to which a number of the thanes and freemen repaired. The)- 
drove from Peterborough the hated Norman priest, who had taken the place of the 
beloved Sa.xon abbot, and resisted every attempt to hunt them from their covert, 
until William himself brought a great army against them. IJereward cut his way 
through the Normans, but was killed by treachery soon after, and was the last of 
the Anglo-Saxon chiefs who resisted William's arms. 

The "loving lord" of the Saxons and Normans hatl now for seven years done 
everything that he could to excite the hatred of the unfortunate Saxons. He was 
fond of hunting, and though he had sixty-eight royal forests, he laid waste an im- 
mense tract in Hampshire, pulled down the houses of the Saxon peasants, appropri- 
ated the land of the Saxon thanes, and made a new forest. Now no matter what 
were the straits of the people, if they killed a stag or a boar, or even a hare in one 
of the king's forests, their eyes were torn from their heads. If they neglected to 
muzzle their dogs, or to keep their claws cut short, they had their houses pulled 
down, and were driven from their lands. 

The "curfew law," that is the Norman decree that lights and fires should be ex- 
tinguished at a certain hour every evening when the church bell rang, was enforced, 
and the Norman castle-men taxed and pillaged the Saxons relentlessly. So matters 
continued for twelve dreadful years after \\ illiani could really claim to be the con- 
queror of England, and in that time he had many family troubles. He had three 
sons, Robert, called Curthose, or short legs; Henry, called Beauclerc, or fine scholar; 
and William, called Rufus. or the red, on account of his red face and sandy hair. 
These sons were, as might have been expected, selfish fellows, who loved power, 
money, and their own way. Robert wanted his father to give him Normandy, but 
Henry and William had much influence with the king, and he refused to do so. One 
day, in a .spirit of malicious fun, William and Henry emptied a pitcher of water on 
Robert from an upper window. Robert was furious at what he termed the insult, 
anti, drawing his sword rushed up stairs, and would have killed his two brothers had 
not his father interfered. That night Robert left his father's court, and passing 
over to Normandy, attempted, with a few followers, to take Rouen, his father's 
Norman capital, but failed. He succeeded in capturing another Norman stronghold, 
and there his father found and besieged him, and nearly lost his life at his hands. 
When Robert, who was a good-natured, though hot-tempered and hasty fellow, 
found that he had nearly slain his father, he was filled with remorse, and humbly 
begged forgiveness for his rebellion. William at first cursed him, and refused 
to grant it. but at the intercession of his wife, Matilda, who loved this graceless 
Robert better than either of her other sons, because he was usually the victim of 
their malice, pardoned him, and made peace with him. Robert went from court to 
court telling the story of his wrong, and trying to get some powerful friend to 
help him win Normandy, for he was still determined to ha\e it. I lis mother sup- 
ported him with money, which he spent on vicious favorites, until the king declared 
that he would tear the eyes out of the head of any messenger who should carry 
Robert aid. Soon after this Matilda died. 



ENGLAND. 



379 



William had a dispute with the king of France 
about some territory. He war also secretly angry 
with the French king because he was inclined 
to aid Robert against him. He taxed the English 
people most mercilessly, to raise a sum of money 
to make war upon the French, antl at last crossed 
the Channel with an army. William had grown 
very large and fleshy, in spite of his active hab- 
its, and it was difficult for him to mount a horse. 
While he was in Rouen awaiting the settlement 
of the quarrel with the king of France, for he 
showed a disposition to settle instead of fight, he 
put himself under the care of his doctors to re- 
duce his flesh. The French king made some 
very rude jests about this, which so angered Will- 
iam that he rose from his bed and donned his 
armor. He caused his attendants to help him 
mount his horse, and led his troops to Nantes, 
where they burned the town, churches and all. 

As William was riding about the burned ruins 
his horse stepped on a hot cinder, and plunged 
violently forward. The king was thrown upon the 
pommel of his saddle with such force that he re- 
ceived an internal hurt. He was carried back to 
Rouen, and there lay ill for several weeks, attended 
by his two sons, William Rufus, and Henry Beau- 
clerc. When he found death near he gave to 
William the kingdom of England, and told him statue of wmiam , he conqueror. 

that he had better go at once and secure it. William Rufus was eager enough to do 
so, and, leaving his dying father, hurried over to England, where he was immediately 
crowned * 

William gave to Henry $25,000 in money, which that dutiful son at once secured, 
placed in a chest, and carried away. Thus William the Conqueror was left in his dying 
hours with only hired attendants to care for him, for Robert, to whom his father had 
at last given Normandy, was in Germany enjoying himself with his frivolous compan- 
ions. What dreadful visions have haunted the death-bed of conquerors no mortal 
can tell. Perhaps could the last hours on earth of the men who figure in history as 
heroes be faithfully depicted, none would dare hereafter to tread a path of glory that 
in the dying hour leads to terror and despair. 

Think of the evil deeds of William the Conqueror, and pity him, as lying there 
alone he waited for death, haunted by the groans of the thousands who had died in 
prison, in the woods and swamps of England, and on the field of battle, through him. 
How worthless his ill-gotten wealth, when it could not purchase for him thc^ love of 
one true heart, the touch of one familiar hand to wipe the death-dew froai his face. 
He heard, oneSeptemljer morning, the sweet sound of a church-bell, and as its chime 
died awaj', he murmured a prayer for the remission of his heavy sins, and closed his 
eyes upon the earth, that he had done so much to render a "vale of tears." 

The doctors and priests did not wait to close his eyes, but galloped off to their 







38o ENGLAND. 

own homes, fearing that war would result between the king's sons, and not wishing 
to be involved in any way. The servants plundered the king's chamber, and even 
stripped his body, rolling it from the bed to the floor, in order that they might be 
sure that they had left nothing of value about it, and there it lay on the cold boards, 
a ghastly sight, until a Norman knight, out of charity, had it carried to Caen to be 
buried in the church of St. Stephen. 

William had built this church when he was a simple knight and Duke of Nor- 
mandy. When the priests had, in a long sermon praised his good deeds, and 
mentioned none of his evil ones — a fashion in funeral sermons that has come down 
to us — they were about to lay the body in the grave, when from out the throng that 
had gathered to witness the ceremony, an angry voice was heard: "In the great name 
of God, I forbid the body of William of Normandy to be laid in this ground. It is 
mine, and was my father's before me, but William took it from me by force, and 
would never grant me justice. Accursed be the hand tliat helps to lay him in my 

soil. " 

Tncre was a great tumult, but the man's words were proven true, and the good 
knight who had charge of the funeral, then and there paid the owner of the land for 
enough ground in which to bury the king's body, and promised him full justice for 
the wrong that had been done. Then the bearers lowered the corpse, but the grave 
was too small, as if the earth itself rebelled against receiving the remains of the 
tyrant. Nevertheless, the body was pushed and crowded down, the mold thrown 
upon it. and William the Conqueror became only a name in history. 

Providence brings good out of every evil, and the blood and tears of England 
were not shed in vain, though it long seemed that God had forsaken the unhappy 
land. The Normans in their French home had become thoroughly French in mind 
and manners, and had so mi.xed their blood with Gaul and Celt that they were no 
longer Teutonic as were the Danes and Sa.xons. They were now more like the fiery 
southern races, though tempered with northern strength and constancy. Their 
language was French, too, but their civilization and architecture had its distinctive 
f.-atures. In a century the French element introduced into England by the conquest, 
had softened the rude Anglo-Saxon speech, tempered the manners of the English, and 
given the race a new element of strength. The union of Norman and .\nglo-.Saxon 
took place rapidly, in spite of national prejudice, and it is due to that union that the 
English people are what we find them, a brave, earnest, fiery, quick-witted, powerful- 
minded race, whose influence has spread over the- whole world, and who have become 
the founders of new nations. 

William Rufus promised great things to the English people* to peacefully secure 
the crown. His Norman barons were inclined to tavor Robert, the eldest son of the 
Conqueror, and resisted his authority, until he was obliged to call on his Saxon 
subjects to aid him against them. To secure their services he promised to remove 
some of their taxes, to repeal the detested forest laws, and to do many other things 
that it is not likely that he at all intended. The barons were finally defeated and 
banished, and their lands seized by the king. 

As soon as he was out of his troubles, the Red king went over to Normandy, 
where Robert's subjects were much dissatisfied, and where Henry Beauclerc had 
bought some land with his $25,000. He made a treaty with Robert, and joined forces 
with him against Henry, who was driven from his lands and forced into exile. Then 
he went home to England and showed the English people what all his fine promises 



ENGLAND. 381 

were worth He made the forest laws more strict than ever, and it was death to any 
man of the Enghsh race to enter the New Forest armed. 

Rufus seized church property right and left, encouraged the Normans to plunder 
everywhere, and set them an example. He soon became far more odious to the 
nation than ever his father had been. The Normans hated him too, for he had a 
habit of banishing them on any pretext, and seizing their lands, which they had now 
held for so many years, that they had forgotten that they had no real right to them. 

After a time, Robert of Normandy wanted to go on a crusade to the Holy 
Land— we know what sort of piety was his, for at that very time, he cared only for 
dancers, singers, drink and adventure. At all events, he mortgaged Normandy for 
five years to William Rufus, who miserably oppressed the English people, to raise 
the sum required. Rufus hoped that Robert would never come back, and that he 
could thus add Normandy to his territory. Another great French duke was anxious 
to sell William his dominions, and the king was about to go over to France to make 
the purchase, but one day he went hunting in the New Forest, and that day put an 
end to the hopes of the French duke of selling his dukedom to England. 

The New Forest had been so often cursed by the English, that they believed 
that the Devil dwelt there, and in different shapes appeared to the Normans, who 
hunted therein. The conqueror's Son Richard had been killed there by a fall 
from his horse; Duke Robert's son too, had been slain in its depths by a chance 
arrow. A monk had dreamed that William Rufus was to meet his doom in this 
accursed wood, and had told him of it, and warned him never to hunt there. The 
Red King only laughed at the warning, and one bright morning, in August, iioo, 
went out to hunt in the New Forest. By his side rode Walter Tyrrel, a Norman 
knight, and many other gallant courtiers were in his train. The day wore on, and 
Tyrrel and the king were far separated from the others, when an arrow pierced the 
. false, cowardly, covetous heart of the Red King, and he fell dead. Tyrrel declared 
that the shaft was sped by an unseen hand, the Saxons believed by the Devil, but it 
is not at all certain that Tyrrel to avenge some private wrong had not murdered the 
king. He at once spurred out of the Forest, and took ship for France, leaving the 
body lying where it fell. 

All that day, the dead king lay in the wood. Henry Beauclerc, who had now been 
for sometime in high favor with Rufus, rode by and saw it, then galloped off to 
Winchester, as fast as his horse could carry him, to secure the crown and royal 
treasure. It was after sunset, when a poor charcoal-burner, driving by in his cart, 
saw in the path the dead body of a man. He was a poor Christian, and not a roval 
prince, and could not bear to leave even a stranger's body lying thus, so he lifted it 
into his cart, and carried it to his hut. The next morning, he discovered that the 
corpse was that of the king, and carried it in his cart to Winchester, where it was 
buried in the cathedral. 

English and Normans, were equally glad to get rid of their tyrant. Henry had 
agreed to the treaty that William had made with Robert, by which the English crown 
was to descend to the Norman duke, should Rufus die first. Now he declared that 
since he himself had been born in England, and his -brothers had not, he was the 
rightful heir and so he was crowned, three days after the murder of Rufus. To 
strengthen his power with the English people, Henry married a Saxon princess, Edith, 
sister of Edgar, the Saxon prince who fled to Scotland on the approach of the 
Conqueror to London, some years before. Edith was a noble generous woman, who 



382 ENGLAND. 

hoped that her marriage with Henry would reconcile the English and Normans, and 
put an end to th'iir quarrels. She did not love Henry, nor did the king care for her, 
and she made a sad mistake in her marriage. The Norman nobles were bitterly 
angry about it, but Henry had made up his mind that the nobles were altogether too 
powerful, and resolved to reduce them. He forbade to plunder the English any 
more, and fined or banished them if they did so. 

Henry shut Ralph Firebrand. Rufus' hated prime minister, in the Tower of 
London, and appointed as his Chief Justice, Roger of Salisbury, a clear-headed 
Norman who served him well. This Roger was the first chief justice of England, 
and in after-times the person who held this office was called Lord Chief Justice. His 
duties were to decide disputes among the barons when the king was not present, and 
to listen to complaints from the people, for since the king had reduced the barons, he 
reserved to himself the pleasure of oppressing the people. Roger also received the 
king's ta.xes in the assembly of the lords. These lords sat about a table, upon which 
there was a checkered cloth, and as the money was usually brought in by the sheriffs 
and piled upon this table, the knights who formed the assembly were known after 
awhile, as the Knights of the Exchequer. Behind a screen called a " cancelli," the 
secretaries counted what the sheriffs of the different counties brought, and recorded 
the number of pountls, shillings and pence, by cutting on the two edges of a stick the 
sum, in a series of notches. The stick was then split, the sheriff received one half 
of it as his receipt, and the secretary kept the other halt as his record, a singular and 
clumsy way of keeping accounts. From the name of the screen, the secretaries 
received the name of Chancellors, and chancellors have been important personages 
in England ever since. 

Henry laid the foundation of English liberty, by establishing courts and limiting 
the power of the barons, but he did it for his own selfish purposes, and at heart was a 
tyrant. He was both cruel and deceitful, and his word could not be trusted. He 
coveted Normandy and made war upon Robert to gain it. He defeated his brother, 
took him prisoner, and put out his eyes. He followed Robert's son, William Fitz- 
Robert, with the bitterest hatred as long as that unfortunate prince lived, and even 
when William, his only son, was drowned, and "he never smiled again," he went on 
plotting and conspiring, and lied and deceived in his old age, as he h;i(l in his xounger 
days. 

Henry's daughter, Matilda, was the widow of the Emperor of Germany, and he 
named her as his successor, but when he died, in the year 1 135, after a reign of thirty- 
five years. Matilda was not allowed to become queen of England. She had married 
at her father's command, Geoffery of Anjou, and her son by this marriage, Henry 
Plant-a-genet, afterward became king, as we shall learn. 

In the Duchy of Boulogne, there lived at the time of Henry's death, a son of 
the Conqueror's daughter, Adela. This man, .Stephen, of Blois, as he is called in his- 
tory, was the brother of the Norman bishop of Winchester, and having made a 
wealthy marriage, was a great man in France. As soon as he hear<l of th<; death of 
his uncle, he went over to England, and laid claim to the crown, declaring that 1 lenry 
had promised it to him. It was conferred upon him, but he had no idea of government. 
He allowed the Norman nobles full privilege to plunder the English all they liked, 
threw Roger of Salisbury into prison, and displeased the pope so deeply that he laid 
England under ban. For a long time no church bells were rung, nor prayers offered 
by the priests of England. ' Matilda took up arms against .Stephen, and was aided by 



ENGLAND. 383 

• 

the pope with his approval and by the king of Scotland with an army. She took 
London, but the people were so offended by her haughtiness that they drove her 
out again. Her barons were too proud to be ruled by a woman. For fourteen 
years she and Stephen fought each other, sometime one and sometime the other 
being victorious. Once Matilda took Stephen prisoner after he had defended himself 
most bravely, but he made his escape. On one occasion she was so closely pressed 
by Stephen's troops at Oxford, that she made her escape in the night, alone, and on 
foot. The ground was covered with snow, and she dressed herself all in white to 
more easily escape detection, and after crossing the frozen Thames, walked a long 
distance to a place of safety. 

Finally Matilda went to Normandy, and for two or three years left the conduct 
of the war to her friends in England. Then her son, Henry Plant-a-genet, a young 
man of sixteen, came over to maintain his right to the English crown. Henry had 
married the divorced wife of the King of France, Eleanor of Cayenne, a wicked but 
wealthy woman, and through this marriage and his own inheritance, was Lord of 
Anjou, Guyenne and Normandy, owning more French territory than did the King of 
France himself. 

England had suffered much from foreign wars, but never had she suffered as in 
this. The peasants were tortured to death by the barons, it they were thought to 
have any money, and the churches, and even the very graves of the dead were dese- 
crated for the same purpose. The Scots, on the north, and the Normans on the 
south, vied with each other in their ravages. There was no safety anywhere, and 
as there was no land tilled, and the cattle were nearly all slain, there was no meat, 
corn, nor cheese, in all England. Famine hatl reduced the nation to the verge of 
ruin, and when Henry Plant-a-genet brought his forces into England, the clergy inter- 
fered between him and .Stephen. 

Henry agreed to resign his claim to the crown during Stephen's lifetime, and 
Stephen declared him his lawful heir, much to the disgust of his own son, who went 
insane and died from disappointment. Stephen died the next year, 1154, after hav- 
ing Henry confirmed his heir by a council of the nobles. So Henry Plant-a-genet (so 
called because his father was fond of wearing in his hat a sprig of the flowering 
broom or plant-a-genet) became king of England at two and twenty. He was wel- 
comed with great joy by the English people, for his mother traced her descent from 
King Alfred, through that fair Edith, who married Henry Beauclerc. 

Henry at once discharged the foreign soldiers that Stephen had brought into 
England, and took very stern measures to sc:t the country in order. He pulled down 
the strong castles in which the barons had fortified themselves as robbers, and to in- 
crease his power in France, married his five-year-old son, Henry, to little Margaret, 
daughter of the French king. His father, Geoffery of Anjou, had given his province 
to his son Geoffe.''y, but Henry had sworn that he should not have it. This French 
marriage prevented Geoffery from getting help to hold Anjou, and he died in exile, 
Henry having wrested his province from him. 

Early in his reign, Henry won over to his cause, Thomas a Becket, the son of a 
London tradesman and a beautiful Saracen woman. A Becket was a clever, hand- 
some, courtly man, combining all of the graces of his oriental mother, with the 
strength of his English father. He gained great favor with Henry, who made him 
chancellor, and heaped wealth upon him. He was a priest, arch-deacon of Canter- 
bury, but that did not prevent him from indulging in all the fashionable vices of the 



384 ENGLAND. 

times, and from living in state hardly less than that of the king. The clergy had grown 
very degenerate in the days of Stephen, but their bishops would protect them from 
punishment when they broke the laws of the land, and denied that those laws had 
any power over the church, or any of its servants. Henry determined to lower the 
pride of the clergy, and supposed that in a Becket, he had the instrument ready to 
his hand. 

A Becket was a proud man, and in his service to the king, had his haughty spirit 
wounded more than once. Whether he determined to pay off old scores, or whether 
he repented of his past life, which had been one of sin and pride, we cannot say, but 
certain it is, that as soon as Henry appointed him arch-bishop of Canterbury, and the 
head of the English Church, he set himself with all his really great mental powers, 
to oppose the king. 

The king found him ready to defend the clergy, and to maintain the doctrine that 
the church was above the interference of the State. Henry was soon engaged in a 
bitter quarrel with the arch-bishop, which set the whole church in commotion. The 
king lost no pretext to harrass his former favorite. A Becket was as firm as a rock 
against him, for he was now apparently as earnest in his piety as he had been extrava- 
gant, as a man of pleasure. He wore a hair-shirt next his body, and as cleanliness 
was not considered next to godliness by the penitent saints of those days, he never 
took a bath. He mortified his Mesh in everyway, was eloquent, fearless, obstinate 
and dignifietl. 

When one of his priests committed a crime and the king demanded that the 
culprit be given up to justice, a Becket refused. Henry then condemned him 
to pay a great sum of money, and even contemplated blinding him, or putting him to 
death. A Becket was compelled to seek safety abroad, and crossing over to Elanders 
he took refuge in a monastery, and submitted his case to the pope. He lived in the 
monastery two years, stricter in all the observances of religion than even the monks 
themselves. Then the I'rench king gave him protection, and invited him to court. 
Henry banished a Becket's relatives and friends to the number of four hundred, having 
first robbed them of all their worldly goods, and as he desired that a Becket should 
know this cruelty in every detail, he made the exiles sw'ear to present themselves 
before the fugitive archbishop in France, within a certain time, that his heart might 
be wrung with the sight of their misery. 

Many of these unfortunate people were sent away from their homes in mid- 
winter, and their sufferings so excited the indignation of the Catholics in several of 
the provinces under Henry's rule in France, that they revolted. The I'Vencii king 
also offered to compel Henry, by force of arms, to restore a Becket and his friends to 
their estates. After more than six years of quarreling, the pope succeeded in recon- 
ciling the king to a Becket, and the latter went back to England. 

In the meantime Henry had secretly caused his eldest son to be crowned by the 
Archbishop of York, and as this was done without the knowledge and the consent of 
a Becket, when he found it out he excommunicated the archbishop and the priests who 
had a hand in the coronation. Two priests who had shamefully misused the church 
taxes while a Becket was absent were also excommunicated. In return they beat 
a Becket's servants, lamed his cattle, killed his deer, and did everything that they 
could to injure him, w^hile the Archbishop of York went over to Normandy where 
Henry still remained, and complained bitterly of the way a Becket luul used him. 
The kin"- in a fit of rage said some very unkind things of a Becket, and when the 



ENGLAND. 3S5 

Archbishop of York declared that Henry would have no peace as long as a Becket 
lived, the king cried out: "Is there no one ">fho will ritl me of this contumacious 
priest ?" Four knights who had often eaten clC a Becket's board in his days of pleasure 
looked at each other, then went out, mounted their horses, and galloped to the sea- 
shore. They found a ship, sailed to England, and sought a Becket. Before going to 
a Becket, however, they quietly assembled some followers at a certain castle. Twelve 
of these they took with them, and repairing to a Becket's house unarmed, went in and 
sat down upon the floor. After a time a Becket asked his guests what they desired, 
for he knew that they came from the king. They replied that he wanted him to 
take the curse off certain men that they named, and to promise for the future to obey 
the king in all things. 

A Becket refused. They threatened him, but he was hrm, so they went out into 
the town, put on their armor, took swords in their hands, and came back to a Becket's 
house. A Becket had gone to the cathedral as usual, to celebrate the evening service, 
and his priests, seeing the armed men approaching, wanted him to bar the doors. 
A Becket refused to permit them to do so, saying that the church was the house of God, 
and not a fortress. He calmly proceeded to the altar, and all of the priests hid them- 
selves, save one, and he stood by a Becket. It was this true friend that warded off the 
first blow that was struck at the arch-bishop, but he could not protect him from the 
fury of the murderers. They killed a Becket at the very foot of the altar, and then 
fled from the scene of their crime. 

Henry pretended to be horrified at the manner of a Becket s death, and he was 
very much afraid that the Pope would curse him for it, and lay his kingdom under 
ban, so he hastened to write a very humble letter to his Holiness, denying that he 
had any hand in causing a Becket's death, and made peace. Not long after the death 
of Becket, who was now regarded as a saint by the very men who had hated him most 
heartily in life, Dermot, king of Leinster, Ireland, was driven from his throne. He 
promised to will his kingdom to any knight who would help him regain it, and Ed- 
ward Strongbow, a poor but gallant knight, and a great fighter, undertook to do so. 
With his aid Dermot, who was more like a savage beast than a man, captured Water- 
ford, and treated the people with the utmost cruelty. Strongbow seated Dermot 
again as king of Leinster, and received his daughter Eva in marriage. Dermot died 
soon after, and, according to the agreement, Strongbow became king of Leinster. 
King Henry, as Strongbow's royal master, then went to Ireland, took Ms kingdom 
from him, and receiving the submission of many of the Irish chieftains and kings, 
called himself thereafter Lord of Irelantl. 

Henry's four sons now began to give him much trouble. The eldest, Henry, but 
eighteen years old, began to tease his father to give him Normandy, Queen Eleanor 
secretly urging the young man on. When Henry refused to grant him his wish, 
young Henry went over to France, with his wife, and was received at court. Richard, 
aged sixteen, and Geoffery, aged fifteen, followed him, for they, too, wanted territory 
of their father. Then Eleanor, herself, dressed in men's clothes, attempted to 
steal away from the court, but was captured and thrown into prison, where deservedly, 
I think, she remained sixteen years. 

At the French court young Henry carried matters with a high hand. He called 
himself "The Junior King of England." Many dissatisfied English barons joined 
the princes, and when they thought themselves strong enough to do so with success 
they made war upon their father. Henry made peace with the king of France, and 



3S6 EXGLAXD. 

had beat:en his sons out of all their strongholds, when he was called back to England 
by an invasion of the Scots. 

It was when he landed on his return that he made his famous pilgrimage to the 
grave of Thomas a Becket. Dressed in sackcloth, and barefoot, he visited the tomb 
of his old enemy, and afterward caused eighty priests, one after another to scourge 
him on the naked back with knotted cortls, though I suppose they did not strike him 
hard enougli to cause him much pain. I lis army gained the victorj' over the invaders, 
and the people thought it was because Henry had committed the act of penance at 
a Becket's grave. 

The rest of the life of Henry Plant-a-genet was a sad one, made so by his false- 
hearted and undutifulsons. Young Henry died in 11S3, begging his father's forgive- 
ness with his last breath. Then Geoffcry was killed at a tournament, when he and 
his brother Richard were about to make war upon each other for the third time. 
Both had been several times forgiven by their father for rebelling against him, and 
both had each time promised henceforth to be true to him, but soon after Geoffery's 
death, Richard joined with the king of France to make war upon his father. 

The allies defeated Henry, and he consented to again make peace. Henry was 
now an old man worn down by sorrow at the age of fifty-seven. He had never been 
a good man, but he was not wholly bad. He loved his children tenderly, and they 
repaid his love with deceit and hatred. His wife had long been in prison, and now 
his nobles seemed more inclined to favor the dashing, fierce young Richard, whom 
they called "The lion-hearted," than their rightful king. 

Henry fell ill and was carried to Chinon, a place that he used to love in his 
youth. He soon felt that he was upon his death-bed, and called for a list of those 
"whom he was required to pardon for their failure in allegiance to him. John was the 
best beloved son of the king because he alone had never rebelled against his father. 
The first name that the king saw on the list of traitors was that of John. The poor 
old king cried aloud when he saw that this child upon whom he had lavished his 
love, this son who had been his hope, had proven false to him, then cursed him, 
cursed the hour when he himself was born to such unhappiness, and cared no more 
for the world. He died of a broken-heart and thwarted ambition, and Richard 
who had done so much to hurry him to his grave, did not reach his bedside in time 
to be again forgiven. He pretended to be very sad on this account, and to repent 
his wicked conduct, and perhaps he did, for never had a son more reason to regret 
misconduct than this "lion-hearted" warrior prince. 

Richard I. was crowned at Westminister Abbey, London, September 3, 1189, and 
the ceremony was one of the most magnificent of the kind that had ever taken place. 
The king walked to the abbey under a silken canopy, borne upon the points of four 
lances, carried by four great barons of the realm. On either side of him walked a 
high church dignitary, in magnificent robes. Among the people assembled in London 
from all parts of the kingdom with costly presents for the new king, were many jews, 
for the Hebrews were now scattered all over Europe, and then as now, there were 
many wealthy Jewish merchants and money-lenders in every city of England. 

It was well known that Richard hated the Jews, and though he received their 
presents, he is charged with secretly ordering the massacre of all the Jews then in 
London. He may not have done so, but it is certain that he could not be induced to 
leave his banquet table to interfere, when the savage Christians who owed the Jews 
money, fell upon them with great fury and killed young and old alike. They broke 



ENGLAND. 



3^7 



into the houses of the Hebrews and slew them by their own firesides, and for twenty- 
tour hours, committed every sort of crime upon the unoffending Jews When it 
oecame known what had happened in London, there was no safety in the kino-dom 



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iiji 




y«Hiiiiiiiiiii(iuitf/uii«iiiiiiirijiii)ifyniiiiiii 



for the Jews. They were tortured to death and given over to every species of outraae 
that the Christians could devise. Five hundred Hebrews, among whom was one of 
their most learned Rabbis, seized the castle of York, in the absence of the crovernor 



-8S ENGLAND. 



3 



and held it against an infuriated mob. Tiiey had carried all of their money and 
jewels into the castles, and this may have had something to do with the eagerness of 
the besiegers to get at them. They held out a long time, but finding that they were 
in danger of being taken, the Jews in the castle stabbed their wives and little ones, 
piled all of their jewels, money and treasure in a heap, set them and the castle on fire 
and perished in the flames. 

Richard had passed nearly all of his life in France, and was more French than 
English. Me cared for England only as a source of revenue, and he no sooner 
became king, than he began to extort money from his subjects on various pretexts. 
He sold some of his castles in the north, to the Scottish king, and appointed for his 
chancellor, a certain \Villi?m Longchamp, who was utterly unscrupulous in raising 
any sum that his master required. Longchamp found out how much money different 
persons had owed to the persecuted Jews, and fined them for taking part in the murder 
of the Hebrews. He thencompe..ed them to pay the full amount of their debts to the 
money lenders into the royal treasury. He also compelled all those who held castles 
and lands as vassals of the king, to come to him and have them affirmed, and made 
them pay a heavy fee for it. In this way and many others, Richard, in the nine 
months of his stay in England, got together a large sum of money. 

All Europe was excited over another crusade, and Richard, who loved fighting 
and adventure, was bent on going. When by the robbing of his subjects he had 
amassed enough money to do so. Richard joined his friend, the king of France. 
Between them they had a hundred thousand soldiers, adventurers like themselves, 
and this great army set sail from different ports of luirope, bound for the Holy Land. 

The ships were driven by bad weather into the harbors of the island of Sicily, 
and there they were compelled to remain for a time, on account of storms. Richard's 
sister, Joanna, was the widow of the king of Sicily, and an uncle of her husband had 
seized her property and thrown her into prison. Richard released Joanna, beat some 
of her enemies out of a castle, and placed her in it, with a large number of good 
stout English men-at-arms to protect her. Then he settled himself in a monastery, 
to await the coming of the King of France, but the people would not give him sup- 
plies, and he was obliged to have recourse "-o the ships, with their provisions. 

When the King of France finally caine, he was displeased that Richard had 
incurred the hostility of the people of Sicily, and still more so when Richard took 
Messina, and made Tancred, the usurper of the throne, give back to Joanna all of 
her property. In return he promised to supportTancred on the throne, which deeply 
angered the Emperor of Germany, whose wife had a claim to it, as the daughter of 
the former king. One of the first acts of Richard when he became king, was to 
release Eleanor from prison, and she now brought out to him in Sicily a fair French 
princess, Berengaria, to be his wife. As they arrived in Lent, King Richard would 
not be married until the holy season was over. Eleanor went back to France, and 
King Richard took his sister, his lady-love, and his army and sailed away, to the great 
relief of the people of Sicily. He touched at Cyprus, to punish the Greek king of 
that island who had robbed some shipwrecked English sailors some time before, and 
when he had thoroughly chastised him. and had married Berengaria, he sailed on to 
Acre in the fall of i iqi, capturing a large Saracen vessel on the way. 

The valiant and c.ivalrous Saladin, the noblest Saracen of history, had driven 
the King of Jerusalem from his throne and taken him prisoner. He set him at liberty 
on his solemn promise that he would leave the country. When he was released the 



ENGLAND. 389 

king broke his word as lightly as though he were a Pagan monarch instead of a devout 
Christian king, and besieged Saladin in Jerusalem. Philip, the King of France, had 
promised to help him. He arrived at Acre and besieged that city by sea, but his 
soldiers fell ill, he himself was sorely tried by the heat of the climate, and was so 
discouraged that the siege languished. Richard, too, felt the effect of the climate 
when he arrived to aid in the siege of Acre. Nothing could discourage him, and though 
he was ill, he caused himself to be borne about in a litter, that he might direct the 
operations better. Richard soon' became the idol of the anny. He was generous 
with his money, would take hard fare without complaining, and never avoided dan- 
ger. The Saracens defended Acre with great bravery, but at last Richard offered 
four pieces of gold to every man of his army who would remove a stone from the 
fortified defenses, and in less than a month Acre fell into the hands of the two kings. 

Philip was bitterly jealous of Richard's popularity with the army, and quarreled 
with him on every possible occasion. When Acre surrendered, he turned back to 
France with his men, and left Richard to bear the whole burden of the crusade. The 
English king restored the fortifications of Acre. Richard worked side by side with 
his soldiers, in rebuilding the walls of the city, and requested the Duke of Austria 
to do the same. The insolent German' prince told the king to his face that as his 
father had neither been bricklayer nor mason he had learned neither trade, and would 
not do as he was requested. Richard was not a mild man at any time, and we cannot 
wonder that he felt indignant that the proud duke should consider himself better 
than the King of England. He may have thought, too, that there was a covert 
sneer at his own ancestry, in the Duke's reply, for the grandfather of William the 
Conqueror, you will remember, was a tanner, and a good honest trade it was, far more 
respectable, according to my thinking, than that of war, wdiich is only another name 
for violence and wrong. However, Richard was in a mighty rage, he kicked the duke 
out of the royal tent, and hauled down his banner from the walls of Acre, where the 
Duke, who was a brave soldier, had placed it with his own hands during the siege. 
It was a satisfaction to Richard to kick the duke, but even a king cannot safely kick 
a prince of another empire. 

When the garrison of Acre surrendered to the crusaders, the Saracens promised 
to give hostages, release the Christian prisoners, and perform certain other condi- 
tions. As the Saracens had the r ample of promise-breaking set by the Christians 
themselves, they did not perform their agreement. To revenge their faithlessness, 
Richard caused three thousand Saracen prisoners to be murdered in the sight of 
their friends, and Saladin killed his Christian prisoners in the sight of the crusaders. 

Richard then marched out of Acre, leaving it garrisoned, and on his way to 
Ascalon, had plenty of his favorite pastime, fighting. The whole journey of twenty 
days was a continual battle. He took Ascalon, and after much fighting, parleying 
and fighting again with Saladin, came in sight of Jerusalem. His adventures in Pal- 
estine would fill volumes, and fascinating volumes have been written concerning^ 
them. Finally he agreed with Saladin for a truce of three years, three months, three 
days and three hours, and made all haste that he could back to Europe, for his 
brother John and the king of France were conspiring against him. 

John had made a promise not to enter England in Richard's absence without his 
permission. Longchamps became very tyrannical when Richard had been gone a 
little while, and when Philip returned to France John determined by his aid to make 
himself king of England. He broke his word to his brother, and not only entered 



590 



ExXGLAND. 




KICUARD COUr, DE LEON IN BATTLE. 



ExNGLAND. 391 

his kingdom, but assumed authority. Longchamps fled to the continent, and as 
soon as the design of John and the French king was known to him, he sent word to 
Richard. Before embarking for Europe, King Richard saw his wife and sister safely 
started with most of his army. They reached home in due time but his own ship was 
driven by a storm into the Adriatic, and as he was anxious to reach Normandy as 
soon as possible, he landed at a convenient point, assumed a disguise, and untler the 
name of "Hugh the Merchant" started to cross Europe. 

Richard made presents in his usual generous manner. He was remarkable in 
face and figure, and was moreover well known to many European knights and 
soldiers in the territory through which he passed. The Duke of Austria was told 
that Richard was in his territory, and of the name under which he traveled. He had 
not forgotten the kick at Acre, nor the disgrace to his banner, so he seized the king, 
and threw him into prison. The Emperor of Germany, too, had a score to settle, on 
account of the Sicillian crown, so he bribed the Austrian duke, to give Richard into 
his keeping, and placed him in an obscure castle in the Tj^rol. 

It is said that Richard, who was a highly educated man, sang well and played 
■delightfully on the harp. In his prison he was allowed to solace himself with music, 
and often, no doubt, sat at the barred window, singing the sweet French love-songs 
■with which in happier days he had wooed fair Berengaria, or softly crooning some 
•old melody breathing of bravery and death. 

There was a certain Blondel who loved Richard tenderly, and who was deter- 
mined to find where he was imprisoned, for the Emperor of Germany had kept the 
secret. Blondel was something of a minstrel, too, and he knew a song that Richard 
had often sung, perhaps had even composed, for it was not a common ditty, but a 
plaintive, sweet lay. Blondel took his harp, and went from castle to castle, singing 
under many frowning walls, the sorrowful song that Richard loved. Under the walls 
of the little castle in the Tyrol, he heard what he had so often been disappointed in 
not hearing. A well-knov/n voice took up the refrain, and he knew that behind tliose 
walls his loved master languished, 

Blondel carried the news of his discovery to Longchamps and Oueen Eleanor, 
who interceded with the Pope to compel the emperor to release Richard. They said 
that it was a shame that the most valiant knight in Christendom shoukl be a captive 
because of his zeal in the cause of Christ, and that all future ages would e.xecrate 
the Pope and the English people if they permitted such an injustice. The Pope com- 
manded the Emperor of Germany to allow the English people to ransom Richard. 
The fame of Richard the Lion-hearted, had been sung in nearly every castle hall in 
Europe, and the English people were proud of the great deeds of their valiant king. 
They hated his crafty avaricious brother John, who was as cowardly as Richard was 
brave. They raked and scraped together the money for their king's ransom, the 
priests even melting the gold plates and cups in the churches to be coined into money. 

When the emperor had received a large portion of the ransom, John and the 
King of France, bribed him to hold Richard a prisoner for life. The German 
princes would not allow the emperer to hold to this wicked bargain, and compelled 
him to set Richard free, so after a year of captivity all together, he returned to 
England. To win the favor of his lion-hearted brother, the cruel John invited a 
large number of French chiefs, who were Richard's enemies, to a banquet, and mur- 
dered them every one. Richard, therefore, forgave John, partly, too, because his 
mother, Eleanor begged him to do so. He remained in England only a short time, 



39 J EN'GLAXD. 

then made war upon the French with great fury. In the year 1199, a peasant 
digging in the field of the viscount of Limoges, found a quantity of golden 
coins, buried in the earth long ago. by whom no one knew, perhaps by the 
Romans. There was a ver>- unjust law in France, which compelled the vassal 
who found such treasure to send it all to his king. The viscount was a vassal 
to King Richard, and sent him half of the treasure. Richard was fond of 
money, for he loved to scatter it among his friends and servants. He therefore 
ordered the viscount to yield up the whole to him. The viscount shut it up in the 
strong box in his castle of Chalus. and refused to obey. He had many stout men-at- 
arms, who were willing to help him defend it, and defied Rich,"-d. The king took a 
force of soldiers to storm the castle, for he was not a man to be defied with impunity. 
As the English king was riding about inspecting the walls to find the best place for 
an assault, a young archer, Bertrand de Gourdon, one of the visrjunt's liegemen. 
took careful aim at Richard, whom he knew and hated, and sped a shaft that struck 
the king in the shoulder, between the joints of the armor. 

Richard was carried to his tent, and though weak and suffering, so directed the 
siege, that the castle was taken. Unskillful treatment caused the wound to gangrene, 
and in a few days. Richard felt himself dying. He willed his kingdom and treasure 
to the unworthy John, and then asked that Bertrand be brought before him. It is 
said that there was an old song that declared that in Limoges should be made the 
arrow that should be the death of King Richard, and that Bertrand himself had 
often sung it. Ir may he that he thought of the song, as he looked upon the dying 
king. 

'• Why shouiU st tnou kui me, iiertrand de Gourdon?" inquired the king. ■" What 
harm have I ever done to thee?"' 

" Thou hast done me morta. King Richard. My father and brothers were 

slain by thine own hand, and thou wouldst have taken the castle of Chalus, of which 
I was defender, and hanged everv man that you found therein. I am not afraid to 
die, and would welcome even torture, know'ng that I have rid the world of thee, and 
thy t>-ranny." It is said that King Richard mused a moment, then turning his eyes 
'.is officers ordered that Bertrand should beset free and rewarded with the gift 
vi ci.i Hundred shillings, but it was not done. The other castle defenders were hanged, 
and Bertrand was flayed alive. 

lohn was in Xormandy at the time of his brother's death, and hastened to Eng- 
land to receive the long-coveted crown. There lived in a castle of Britainy, Prince 
Arthur, the son of Geofifer>-, the elder brother of Richard and John. According to 
the law. this prince had the real right to the English crown. Although the French 
king had been friendly to John when he was only a prince, and had seemed eager to 
place him upon the throne, no sooner was he seated there, than he began to con- 
spire against him. He inspired young Arthur to resist his uncle, but afterward made 
a treaty with John for peace, and observed its terms for two years. In the meantime 
John, who had always been hated by the English people, became more odious than 
ever. He put away his wife, and carried off a fair Freneh woman, Isabel of An- 
gouleme to be his queen. This lady was promised in marriage to Hugh le Brun, the 
Count of La Marche. and the outraged knight, out of revenge, succeeded in prevailing 
upon the French king to again take arms in Arthurs cause. 

The p! c- ': of Britainy loved Arthur, and had great hopes of his future. There 
was a dim cy. handed down since the days of brave King Arthur of the Table 



ENGLAND. 393 

Round, that another Arthur should restore the lost glorj' of the Britons, and that 
they believed that this little prince was the Arthur of the prophecy. The king of 
France knew that Arthur had not a ghost of a chance of success in the contest with 
his uncle, but he did not care what befell the lad, if John were only worried and an- 
noyed by him. He did everything to e.xcite the eagerness of the boy, and to encour- 
age him to the war, and finally gave him a few knights, and men-at-arms, to besiege 
the town and castle of Mirabeau, where his grandmother, Eleanor, w^as shut up. 
Arthur took the town and besieged Eleanor in the castle. Although she was eighty 
years old, the queen was vigorous in mind and bod}', and held the castle until John 
came to her help, and successfully besieged the besiegers. He took Arthur and his 
young sister Eleanor prisoners, put most of the soldiers who had espoused the cause 
of the prince to the sword, and threw Hugh le Brun into a dungeon. 

Young Eleanor was placed in a convent, where she lived a melancholy captive 
for fort}- years, and Arthur was carried to the castle of Falaise. There King John 
visited the boy, and tried to persuade him to give up his claim to the kingdom, but 
Arthur answered him with so much spirit, that the king determined to put an end to 
his pretensions to the throne, b}' blinding him. He sent some rufifians to do the cruel 
deed, but the jailer, brave Hubert de Burgh, though a loyal friend to the king, would 
not permit it, and they were obliged to report their failure to their master. Then 
the king sent some murderers, with a demand for Arthur's person, but Hubert would 
not allows them to have the little prince. At last King John came himself, pretend- 
ing that he wanted to take his nephew to Rouen, and Hubert, with many misgivings, 
yielded up the captive, whom he had grown to love verj' tenderl}-. 

Arthur was never heard of more, and it is almost certain that the king either 
murdered the prince with his own hand, or else had the deed performed in his pres- 
ence. There was horror and indignation in England when the fate of Arthur was 
known. The king of France, too, pretended great anger, and summoned John, who, 
holding territory in his realm, was his vassal, to appear before him to answer for the 
crime. John refused to come, and Philip then declared that 11 the land that the 
English king held in vassalage was foreited to the French crown. John fled to 
England, relinquishing Normandj^ and Britainy without a blow. 

John was a sad coward, but he did pluck up courage enough to trj- and win back 
these French lands. He tortured the unhappy Jews, to make them give up monej' to 
enable him to hire soldiers, and after two years of preparation went over to France 
with an army. There were several battles fought, but as John alwaj^s ran away when 
there was danger, and boasted prodigiously when there was none, he accomplished 
nothing, and at last made peace, leaving to France. Normandy. Britain}-, Maine 
and Anjou. 

When John went back to England after this humiliation to the pride of the 
nation, he fell into disgrace with the Pope. The clerg}- quarreled about the election 
of an Archbishop of Canterbury-. One part}- secretly nominated a certain priest to 
the office without the know-ledge of the king or the other party, and sent him off to 
Rome, to be confirmed by the Pope. The other party, backed by the king, sent its 
choice to Rome, but the Pope w-ould not confirm either, and appointed instead 
Stephen Langton, a learned Englishman, then in France. 

John was furious, and refused to let Langton land in England. Langton was 
learned and eloquent, and because the monks favored the Popes choice, John took 
to himself the property of the monasteries, imprisoned the clergy, and carried mat- 



394 ENGLAND. 

ters with such a high hand that the Pope put him under a ban. For some time the 
king prevented the pubHshing of this ban, but at last it was done by the Pope's mes- 
sengers, who were then compelled to flee for their lives. 

Now again there were no church services held in all England, except baptism 
and prayers for the dying. The people were very angry on account of John's injus- 
tice and cruelty, and would perhaps then have risen in revolt, but he compelled them 
to make new oaths of allegiance, and obliged his barons to give up their sons to him 
as hostages. Nevertheless many of the lords did strengthen their castles in prepar- 
ation for war, and some of them fled to Scotland. When matters had gone on in 
this way for a couple of years, John committed an especially atrocious act. He mur- 
dered twenty-seven boys and girls that were the hostages of his Welsh subjects, and 
prepared to invade Whales. His troops for the purpose, were hired with the money 
wrung from the Jews, or realized from the sale of forfeited estates, but even these 
mercenaries felt disgraced by serving such a master. The Pope now excommunicated 
John, and told the people they need not obey him. He also offered to remit all of 
the sins of Philip of France if he would invade England. Perhaps Philip thought 
this a good bargain, for he had committed a great many sins in his time, or he may 
have had a more worldly object, at any rate he accepted the Pope's offer. It is said 
that at this juncture, John sent to the Saracens in Spain, and agreed to pay them 
tribute if they would come to his aid, but the Saracens had heard what sort of a 
villain he was, and would have nothing to do with him. Next he found that some of 
his troops and barons had conspired to hantl him over to the French, and hastened 
to make his peace with the Pope. He even went so far as to yield up his kingdom, 
to receive it at the Pope's hands, and offered to pay a large sum of money to the 
Pope everv year as long as he lived, and bound his kingdom to continue the shameful 
tribute to Rome forever. 

The Pope, with his accustomed cleverness in making such bargains, had carried 
on his affair of being reconciled to John without the knowledge of Philip of France, 
and the latter had continued his preparation for the invasion of England. The 
English fleet defeated the French naval forces, and burned Philii)'s ships, then John 
hired some troops, and with the Pope's permission, crossed over into PVance. There 
he gained some victories. Init ran away at last in the face of danger, and crossed back 
to England. 

Stephen Langton had been permitted to enter England and assume his office, 
when John became reconciled to the Pope. Exasperated by the king's treachery, 
cowardice, and cruelty, the barons, headed by Stephen Langton, made a list of 
grievances, which they asked John to redress. The Pope, may be on account of the 
tribute money, was now the king's dearest friend, and he sternly forbade the barons 
and Stephen Langton to insist on their demands. They did insist, however, with 
weapons in their hands, and supported by the whole nation. The king was, therefore, 
compelled in June, 1 215, to sign the Great Charter (Magna Charta) which was the 
foundation not only of English liberty, but of our own. 

This charter promised several important things. Among these was freedom to 
the clergy, barons and gentlemen. It gave solemn pledge;, to respect the liberties of 
London, and other towns; to protect foreign merchants in England; that no man should 
be imprisoned without a fair trial; that justice should neither be sold, delayed, nor 
denied; that courts should be established throughout the country, where suits might 
be tried, and that suitors should not be obliged to follow the king from place to place, 



ENGLAND. 395 

as hitherto, and to depend upon his pleasure for the redress of their wrongs. 
King John agreed to everything, and even offered to send all of his foreign 
troops out of the country, but he had no intention of keeping his word. As soon as 
he had gotten rid of his barons, and they were dispersed to their homes, he withdrew 
with his hired soldiers into Kent, and receiving the Pope's permission to break his 
pledges to his people, ravaged the estates of the barons. The people resisted, and 
the Pope again laid England under ban, cursing with especial heartiness the brave, 
eloquent Langton. The gallant archbishop who had warned and threatened the king, 
exhorted the people to stand fast in their struggle for liberty, and made freedom the 
watchword of the nation. He held church services as usual without the permission 
of the Pope, and would have doffed robe and mitre for mailed shirt and helmet, if 
the weight of his arni had been required by his country. 

Being convinced that they had nothing to hope and everything to fear from John, 
the English now invited Louis, the son of the French king, to come over and take 
the crown. Louis was the husband of John's niece, Blanche, and their children 
would be in the line of succession on the female side. When Louis came with his 
army, he aped the villainies of William the Conqueror. As he marched toward 
London, he gave away the property of the barons to his P rench subjects who behaved 
toward the English as though they were a conquered people. On this account many 
of the barons turned again to John's side. The king was on the way with his army 
from Lynn to Lincoln. As he was crossing at low tide, a place which was a sand-bank 
when the tide was out, but an arm of the sea at high tide, his army was too slow in its 
movements. The tide crept up unaware, seized the baggage containing the king's 
treasure, and swept it out to sea, where it was all lost. 

Cursing and raving, John went forward to an abbey not far away, and there ate 
so gluttonously of peaches, and drank so much of the new cider that the monks set 
before him, that he fell ill. In dreadful terror of death he was carried forward on a 
litter for two days, and on the third died at Newark, on the Trent, on the nineteenth 
of October, 12 16, in the forty-ninth year of his age, and the seventeenth of his vile 
reign. 

Meaning only to do evil, John, the most detested monarch of England did some 
good. By his injustice, he drove the barons into formulating a Charter, that in time 
gave popular liberty. . The commerce of England, in John's day, was considerable, 
and the people had made great advances in the art of building, working metals, and 
weaving. The crusades had given new impulse to the life of the people, and educa- 
tion was slowly spreading among the nobles. The common people and even the 
clergy, however, were still densely ignorant. The castles of the nobles, though 
strongly built and stately, were rudely furnished. The most wealthy persons slept on 
couches, formed by placing boards upon benches covered with rugs, while a litter of 
hay or straw was the usual bedding. There were no carpets, curtains or wall hang- 
ings, in the ordinary castles, and their great halls in winter must have been cold and 
cheerless. Rich commoners lived in two-story houses, whose movable stair-ways 
were on the outside, while the "dwellings of the poor were thatched hovels with dirt 
floors, that were little better than modern pig-stys. The food of the people was of 
the coarsest kind, and their conversation was as coarse as their manner of living. 
Rich ladies spent their time in needle-work, and adorning themselves, and in fashion- 
ing the singular garments, that required no small skill in the cutting and making. 
English literature was slowly growing, and in the monasteries were learned monks, 



396 ENGLAND. 

who wrote history and poetry. The seed of national greatness was germinating to 
bear rich flower and fruit in after times. 

As soon as King John was dead, the Earl of Pembroke, a wise a.id good man, 
declared that the barons who were faithful to the cause of England should swear 
allegiance to Henry, the ten year old son of King John. The conduct of Prince 
Louis soon disgusted his English adherents, and they left him to join the Earl of 
Pembroke, and the young king. The destruction of the fleet which Louis' wife 
Blanche, sent to his aid, made it necessary for him to come to terms with the English, 
which he did, and left the country utterly bankrupt, his expenses home being paid by 
the people of London. 

The barons who had taken the part of the French were pardoned, and as the 
Earl of Pembroke, the regent of the king obeyed the Great Charter, there was prom- 
ise of better days for Englaml. In three years, however, the good Earl died, and 
for the next twelve years sturd)- 1 lugh de Burgh, and the bishop of Winchester, were 
the real rulers of England, and labored with some success to bring order out of the 
chaos into which it had fallen. Peter de Roches, the bishop of Winchester, and 
Hubert, had a quarrel, after a time, and the former left England. He came back, 
after the king had himself assumed the government, and then Henry of Winches- 
ter, who had often shown himself as faithless as his father, exemplified the gratitude 
of kings. He stripped Hubert of his honors and riches on a trivial pretext, and 
without his honest counsel, fell into difficulty. First he married PLleanor, a French 
princess, and filled the court with his wife's relatives, to the disgust of the nation. 
The Londoners were especially bitter against these foreign favorites, for they used 
the goods of the London tradesmen, but refused to pay the bills. When tl'-eatened 
with the law, they jeered at the English boors and their laws. 

I told you that King John married Isabel of Angouleme, who was already 
pledged to Flugh le Brun. John could be faithful to nothing long, and soon tired of 
the fair Isabel, and shut her up in prison. At John's death, both Isabel and her first 
lover, Hugh, were released from duress, and were married. The pair had several 
sons, of whom Henry of \\ inchester, who was the son of John and Isabel, was ex- 
tremely fond. He loaded these half-brothers, as well as his full brother Richard, 
with such wealth that they all became odious to the English, who hated Isabel and 
her influence over the king so deeply that they called her Jezebel. 

Hugh le Brun hated the king of France, Louis the Good, and to annoy him per- 
suaded Henry to all sorts of wild ventures upon England's lost provinces in that 
country. The Pope had great Influence, too, with the weak Henry, and the king tor- 
Lured as many Jews as John had 'lone, to satisfy the Papal greed, and was constantly 
engaged in some scheme to extort money from the people to give to the Pope. So 
loud did the complaints of the people become, that Henry thought it prudent to 
strengthen the Tower of London against them. The new walls were overturned by 
an earthquake, and because the people rejoiced at the disaster, the king fined them. 

In fact Henry was always fining the Londoners, on one pretext or another, and 
was glad to detect them in any offense, that he might thus extort their gold. He 
cared nothing for the Great Charter, antl was always begging money from his par- 
liament, or assembly of nobles, for in spite of his disdain of the Charter, no taxes 
could be levied and collected that were against the law as set forth therein. 

There was hardly an error that Henry of Winchester could have committed, in 
the dealing with his subjects, that he left undone. He was a coward, a liar, and a 



ENGLAND. 397 

tyrant, and when England had been patient with him for twenty-one years, his own 
brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, made a brave effort for the 
nation. This noble gentleman, lovingly called Sir Simon the Righteous by the Eng- 
lish people, had been very unjustly treated by the silly king. He and his friends ap- 
peared fully armed, one day, in the House of Parliament, and made Henry yield up 
the government to a few knights. Henry had sworn ten several times to observe the 
Charter, and every time had broken hi'- oath, so he very readily swore to whatever 
Sir Simon required. He awaited a favorable opportunity, then repudiated his prom- 
ises, but the consequences were so serious, that he was compelled to flee to France. 
After a miserable five years of quarreling with his people, Henry and his son, Prince 
Edward, made war upon England. A severe battle in 1264 resulted in their defeat, 
and they were both imprisoned. While they were in prison, the first English House 
of Commons was assembled January 28, 1265, by Sir Simon de Montfort. That in- 
stitution has endured to this day, and has always been a check upon tyranny. Thus 
you see that England's best institutions were forged by the stroke of sword and 
battle-axe. This civil war, like the struggle between Tohn and the barons, bore good 
fruit for liberty. 

Prince Edward was a clever youth, and as he was not kept in very close confine- 
n ^nt, he managed to escape. He gathered about him some of the knights who had 
grown restless under Sir Simon, and looked with disfavor upon his allowing the com- 
mons to have a hand in the government, and soon had quite a large army. With 
these forces Edward marched against Sir Simon, meeting him at Evesham, in 1265. 
De Montfort carried the old king about with him wherever he went, and therefore 
took him into the battle. Being now a very abject and sorry looking old king, in- 
deed, he would have been slain by one of his son's own men, had he not cried out "I 
am Harry of Winchester," and thus saved himself. 

Edward gained the battle of Evesham, and brave Sir Simon was killed, but he 
will never be forgotten as long as there are patriots in England, who hold the liber- 
ties of their land above the will of kings. The other rebels were pardoned, when 
they had been made to pay nearly every penny they had in the world for the purpose, 
and Henry was again placed upon the throne, after nine years of civil war. 

Prince Edward soon established peace so securely, that he felt at liberty to go on 
a crusade to the Holy Land. While he was gone, Henry of Winchester died in the 
si.xty-fifth year of his age and the fifty-fifth of his reign, believing to the last that he 
was a very admirable and ill-used king, and never having the remotest idea that his 
whole life had been a huge blunder, and that in all his reign he had done no good 
deed for England. Edward quietly succeeded to his father in 1262, at the age of 
thirty-three, though he did not return to be crowned until two years afterward. 

The French king, Louis, whom Edward had gone to join in the crusade, died in 
Tunis, Africa, before Edward reached that country. Most of the French knights at 
oncf abandoned the crusade, but Edward declared that he would press on to the 
Holy Land, though only his own 'squire bore him company. He sailed for Acre, 
after taking Nazareth from the Turks. At Acre he was wounded by a thrust from a 
poisoned dagger in the hands of a treacherous Saracen, and had not Queen Eleanor, 
his wife, sucked the poison from the wound, and a Christian physician sent him a 
certain herb to bind upon it, he would have died. He visited many places of interest 
in the Holy Land, and then turned homeward. The news of his father's death 
reached him in Italy, and when he had visited the Pcpe and received his blessing, he 



398 ENGLAND. 

journeyed leisurely to England, and amid the rejoicing of the people was crowned at 
Westminster Abbey, August 12, 1274. 

Edward himself contributed in a substantial manner to the public rejoicing on 
the occasion of his coronation. It is said that he feasted the people on the flesh of 
380 cattle. 430 sheep, 450 pigs, 18 wild boars, 278 flitches of bacon, and 19,660 fowls. 
After the banquet he turned 500 noble war-horses out as prizes to whoever might 
choose to catch them. 

Everybody was merry except the poor Jews, who kept closely at home. They 
had learned from Richard, the Lion-hearted, what mercy they might expect from a 
crusading king, and Edward's hatred for them was well-known. Their fears were 
soon realized. The king ordered hundreds of them hanged on the suspicion of having 
clipped the coin — that is shaved off some of the gold — and every Jew was ordered to 
wear a badge on his clothing, and severely punished if he failed to obey. This 
badge marked the Jews for every kind of abuse and insult, but it was not suflicient 
to satisfy the king's hatred. Finally he ordered the Jews on pain of death to leave 
the country, carrying with them only their light movables. When they were gone, 
their houses with all that they contained, fell into the hands of the king, and greatly 
enrich'.'d him. 

The Welsh people had never been thoroughly conquered by the English, 
although Wales was tributary to England. Edward determined that he would 
subdue them. He summoned the spirited and brave Welsh king. Llwellyn to come to 
his court and do homage for his kingdom. Llwellyn had reason to distrust the English. 
His uncle Griffith had ventured into their power, and had been clapped into a gloomy 
dungeon in the tower. He therefore politely told Edward that he would rather be 
excused. Edward exchanged no compliments with him, but mustering an army, 
marched into Wales and took Llwellyn prisoner. He captured also a fair lady whom 
Llwellyn was about to marry, and threw her into prison. 

Llwellyn was set at liberty on the payment of a heavy ransom, but Edward would 
not allow the ransom of the lady. This was in 1277, and the English proceeded to 
take possession of nearly all of the castles in Wales, and were intolerably over- 
bearing and insolent. Llwelljn and his countrymen bore their haughtiness with what 
patience they could for a time, then they took up arms and drove them out of the 
country. Llwellyn was finall)- killed, and his brother was murdered by the order of 
the king. The English re-took the castles they had lost, and built many new ones 
which they filled with soldiers. 

The Welsh bards and minstrels were wont tosing of an old prophecy dating back 
to the days of King Arthur, which declared that when Welsii money became round, 
a prince of Wales should wear his crown in London. They took this to mean that 
England would one day be tributary to Wales. Welsh money was now round, for 
King Edward had forbidden the cutting of his coin, and thinking that the prophecy 
was about to be fulfilled, and receiving the encouragement of the bards, the people 
had joined in the uprising. The castle-men feared the eloquence of the bards nearly 
as much as they did the valor of the Welsh, and to prevent them encouraging any 
more revolts, they hunted them to death with great cruelty. Wales was, after muclr 
hard fighting, thoroughly subdued. Strangely enough the old prophecy " came true," 
though not as the Welsh people had imagined. Edward's queen gave birth to a son 
at Carnarvon, in Wales, and Edward made him " Prince of Wales." This " Edward 
of Carnarvon" did wear his crown many a day in London, and the Welsh people 



ENGLAND. 399 

felt that their old prophet was vindicated. Edward I. was doomed to an unquiet 
reign, and he now had trouble with France. It arose in this way : The 
crew of an English ship, and that of a Norman ship, happened to meet 
at a certain point on the French coast, where they had landed to fill their 
water-casks. As the Normans and English hated each other, the sailors of 
the two vessels began to quarrel and then to fight. Some of the Normans were 
killed, and the rest driven to their ships. To revenge this defeat, the Norman sailors 
fell upon an English merchant-ship, killed the crew, and hanged the captain in the 
rigging of his own vessel, with a dead dog at his feet, as a token of the contempt in 
which they held his nation. After this the sailors of both nations were engaged in 
fights upon the seas to that extent that commerce was almost ruined. The Irish, 
Dutch and English seamen were banded together, against the French, Italians and 
Normans. At last eighty English ships fought a battle with two hundred Norman 
vessels, and defeated them, giving no quarter to the prisoners. 

The King of France summoned Edward, as his vassal for Guyenne, to answer 
for the damage done by the English sailors. Edward sent his brother Edmund to 
arrange the affair, but he managed it so clumsily that the French king seized 
Guyenne. Edward was determined to win back his French province, and asked two 
of his g'reat nobles to lead armies into F"rance. They refused, and as the Parliament 
did not approve the war, and would give him no money to carry it on, the king 
resorted to the most desperate means of securing the necessary supply. He taxed 
the people, but Parliament calmly told them that as the tax was unlawful they need 
not pay it. Edward was then obliged to make peace with France, which he did, 
marrying the French king's sister, for he was then a widower. He also betrothed 
his son to the daughter of the French monarch. 

While Edward was in France on the occasion of his marriage, he took into his 
household an orphan lad, who caused much trouble in England afterward. The boy's 
father had been a noble of Guyenne, who was so loyal to Edward that the French 
king hung him and burned his wife as a witch, though of course he must have known 
that she was nothing of the sort. 

Edward's trouble with Scotland began when he had been thirteen years King of 
England. Alexander, the king of the Scots, died and left no children, the only direct 
heir being his orphan grand-daughter, Margaret of Norway, who died as she was on 
her way to Scotland to claim the crown. A dozen claimants for the Scottish throne 
at once appeared, and quarreled and contended for it. In an unlucky hour, some of 
the noblemen thought of asking Edward to decide the matter. Edward saw a good 
opportunity for making Scotland tributary to the English crown. When his sister 
had married the Scottish king, Edward had solemnly acknowledged the independence 
of Scotland, but now he styled himself Lord of that country, and made John Baliol, 
whom he declared to have the best right to the crown, accept it at his hands, as 
though it were granted him by England's favor. He also made Baliol twice acknow- 
ledge him as his liege lord, once in the presence of the commissioners, who had been 
instructed by Edward to declare him the heir of the crown, and again in the presence 
of the king and his court at Newcastle. 

When King John Baliol went back to Edinburgh, the Scots reproached him 
bitterly with having bartered away their freedom. King Edward soon made him feel 
the weight of his authority. He commanded him as his vassal to come to him at 
London, and treated him with studied indignity when at court. At length John was 



400 EXXxLAND. 

deposed without the knowledge of Edward, and twelve Scottish nobles took charge 
of the kingdom. They implored the help of France, but before they could receive 
it, Edward marched into the country, and defeated the Scottish forces. He left 
William Warren as custodian of the kingdom, and Hugh Cressingham as treasurer, 
and returned to England in triumph. 

Warren went throughout Scotland with a force of soldiers, compelling the nobles 
to swear allegiance to England. Cressingham plundered and oppressed the people, 
and caused their bitter hatred of England to grow ten-fold stronger. Edward had des- 
troyed all the records and monuments of the Scots, seeking thus to make them forget in 
time, the past glory of their race, but he could not destroy the national spirit of this 
free people. You have heard of William Wallace, the noble champion of Scottish 
liberty. Well, when I tell you the story of Scotland, I shall have more to relate of 
his deeds. For five years he led the bravest of his countrymen against the English, 
and when by death or desertion he had lost all of his followers, and had no place 
except the wild moor, or the rocky Highland glen to lay his weary head, he still defied 
England, and defiant to the last,. was betrayed into Edward's hand. 

King Edward caused the noble Wallace, who had never acknowledged him as 
his lord, to be condemned as a traitor. All the world knows how the Christian 
crusader-king, who pretended to love justice and mercy had this valiant patriot 
dragged at the tails of horses, hanged on a high gallows, torn open while alive, and 
after he was dead had his body cut in pieces. W' allace died with the heroic spirit 
still unconquered, and his fame is written with his blood, in the long list of the 
martyis for liberty. 

Edward's troubles with Scotland did not end with the death of Wallace. Bruce 
became the champion of the Scottish nation, was crowned king, and inflicted some 
severe losses upon the English. He harrassed them in every way, and showed such 
cunning and military skill, that Edward though old and feeble in body, himself took 
the field against him. With the intention of carrying death and desolation into 
Scotland, he turned his face northward. His strength failed him before he reached 
the border. He made his son, Edward of Carnarvon, promise never to make peace 
until Scotland was conquered, and never to bury his bones, but to boil them clean and 
carry them before the army, until the proud Scots were brought low. He died on 
Iuly7, 1307, having reigned for thirty years. He was as cruel and unscrupulous a 
Flantagenet as ever sat on the English throne, but he was wise in government, and 
able in war, personally brave, and loved the glory of the English name. 

On his deathbed, the old king had made Edward of Carnarvon, also promise 
that he would never recall Piers Ciaveston, who was in exile, and it would have been 
better had he kept his vow. Piers had grown up in Edward's court, a fascinating, 
brave, yet vicious young man, and he had so much inlluencc with young Edward, and 
led him into so many difficulties, that the king had banished him. As soon as he was 
king, Edward II. broke all the promises he had made with his father. He abandoned 
the war with the Scots, and they regained all they had lost, and became independent. 
He called Piers Gaveston back to E.igland, and loaded him with riches. He even 
made him regent of the kuigdom when he went over to France to marry the daugh- 
ter of the French king. 

Gaveston was insolent and haughty, and took great delight in nick-naming to 
their faces some of the proud English noblemen. He called the Earl of Lancaster 
"The Old Hog," "the Earl of Warwick," "The Black Dog of Ardennes," and Edward's 



ENGLAND. 401 

uncle he styled "Joseph the Jew." So bitterly ilid he insult these peers, and many others, 
that they would not give him his title, for the king had made him Earl of Cornwall, 
but always called him the "Witch's son." When the king had been for three years 
under the influence of this unworthy favorite, the Parliament compelled him to ban- 
ish him. The king swore a solemn oath never to recall Gaveston, and the favorite 
on his part swore never to return to Eiigland. Piers did not go very far away, only 
to Ireland, where the king gave him almost royal power, and in a vear's time was 
back in England, more insolent and more powerful than before. 

The king and Gaveston spent in questionable amusements the money that the 
Parliament granted to carry on the Scottish war, and the nobles saw that they could 
expect nothing from the king as long as Gaveston was spared. The "Black Dog of 
Ardennes" persuaded the Earl of Pembroke, who had b- ;ieged and captured Gaves- 
Lon, to turn him over to his vengeance, and at once murdereti him. You may be sure 
that King Edward II. was wild with rage at the fall of his favorite, and swore that 
he would do dreadful things to his barons, but he did nothing at all. About the same 
time the Scottish king, Bruce, who had retaken every castle in Scotland except Stir- 
ling, was besieging that. 

Edward went to the relief of the castle with a hundred thousand men, but his 
luck was against him. The English were dreadfully defeated at Bannockburn, and 
afterward plague and famine desolated England. Nothing could reconcile the king 
and his lords. Unwarned by what had occurred to Gaveston, the king selected an- 
other favorite, named DeSpenser, a man much like his former favorite. He took 
also the father of DeSpenser, a brave, honorable man, into his service, and lavished 
wealth upon them both. 

It was now a foregone conclusion that what the king liked his Parliament would 
hate, and they accordingly held the DeSpensers, father and son, in the utmost abhor- 
rence, and ordered the king to dismiss them. Edward did as he was required, for 
he had no alternative at the time, but he soon recalled them. He secured their 
aid to besiege a castle where the queen had been denied hospitality, and afterward 
took many prisoners from aihong his nobles. The Earl of Lancaster was beheadetl 
by the king's order, and eight and twenty knights who were especially obnoxious to 
him and the DeSpensers, were murdered. A number of gentlemen who had ex- 
pressed their mind somewhat too freely about the king's vagaries, were also thrown 
into prison. 

Edward II. now made a formal truce with Ijruce, and thinking that he had thor- 
oughly terrorized his lords, rested easily. Isabella, his French wife, was a clever 
woman, who hated her husband and loved Roger Mortimer, one of the unlucky 
knights, who languished in the tower, fo' '^eing too outspoken in regard to the king's 
folly. She helped him to escape, by having a trusty friend send him a rope ladder 
in a cask of wine. He made his guards drunk with drugged liquor, climbed up the 
prison kitchen-chimney, and let himself down from the roof with his ladder. He at 
once hastened to France, and placed himself under the protection of the king. 

This King of France had been only a little time on the throne, and he pretended 
to be offended because Edward II. had not done homage to him for the Duchy of 
Guyenne. Edward's affairs were in such a state that he did not dare to leave 
England, and it is not at all unlikely that the French Charles knew this perfectly 
well. Edward sent his queen to arrange matters. Charles was the brother of the 
queen, and when she was safe at his court, she wrote her husband, saying that Charles 



402 



EXGLAXD. 




Duke, Page, Nobleman, 14th Ceutury. 



suggested that since tne King of England could not 
himself come to do homage for Guyenne, he must send 
his son and heir, Edward of Windsor, who was then 
twelve years old, as his representative. ' When the 
queen had young Edward in her hands, she refused to 
return to England, pretending that the DeSpensers 
had made her position at the court of Edward II, 
unbearable. The fact was, that under the direction of 
her ambitious lover. Mortimer, she was planning an 
invasion of England. 

When her plans were perfected, Isabella, with a 
small force landed in England. She was joined by the 
rebellious nobles, and after a short resistance, the De 
Spensers were killed in battle, the king carried a 
prisoner to Kenilworth, and Parliament deposed him. 
Edward II. had bj'this time reigned nineteen j^ears and 
a-half, with the greatest folly and incapacity, and the 
nation had long been alienated from him. He was 
murdered soon after his deposition, it is said, w-ith the 
most revolting torture, and Isabella and Mortimer became the real rulers of England, 
though young Edward of Windsor was crowned in 1327, before the death of his 
father. 

Eor four years Isabella and Mortimer carried matters on to suit themselves, and 
a most disgraceful mess they made of affairs. When Edward III. was eighteen, and 
had endured the insolence of his mother's lover until forbearance ceased to be a 
virtue, he put him to death, imprisoned Isabella, and began his actual reign. As 
Edwartl I. was the able son of a weak, foolish and incapable king, so Edward III. 
was the w.ise, prudent and valorous son of a cowardlj- sire. It seemed the fate of 
the best of the later Plantagenets to rear weak and silly sons for the English throne, 
while some of the worst of them gave to England the bravest and best princes, a 
singular outworking of the principle of mental and moral heredity. 

I shall not attempt to relate in detail the events of the fifty years' reign of 
Edwartl 111. After he had brought Scotland again into dependence upon England, 
he assumed the motto "Dieu et mon droit, " (God and my right) which the British 
monarchs have borne ever since. With this motto on his banner, he laid claim to 
the Kingdom of France, through his mother, Isabella, and began a war on that 
account, which lasted for many years. Away back in the earl)- history of France, 
the Salian I'ranks made a law that no woman should rule over them, and that the 
crown should descend to the male heirs of the male line. This .Salic law barred 
Edward's claim, but he nevertheless persisted in asserting it. 

Under Edward III., himself, and the Black Prince, his warlike son, the English 
besieged the town of Calais, for eleven months. The French made a gallant defense, 
but when they had eaten all the dogs, rats and mice in the town and there was nothing 
left to cat except one another, they sent messengers to the English besiegers, humbly 
entreating terms. Edward III. had been often angry and impatient with the French 
of Calais, and now was his chance of revenge. He ordered the messengers to send 
him six of the most distinguished of the citizens of the town, with no clothes upon 
them exccjjt their shirts, and with ropes about their necks, with the keys of the place. 



ENGLAND. 



403 




The HhvL-k Prince. Eilward of Wales. 



When the messengers returned and related what 
Edward had said, the people assembled in the market- 
place were alarmed. There was weeping and despair, 
and every man who in happier times had desired to be 
thought " the most distinguished citizen of Calais," 
was willing to acknowledge that some other had a 
better right to that honor than he. Finally one worthy 
man, Eustache cle Saint Pierre, offered himself as one 
of the six, and besought the citizens to remember that 
it was better that si.x be sacrificed, than that all should 
feel the weight of the anger of the English king. 
Inspired by his example, five others consented to 
become victims, and they all went out as Edward had 
desired, dressed — or rather undressed — in their shirts, 
and with ropes about their necks. The king com- 
manded that their heads be struck off, but his good 
queen, Phillipa, begged for their lives, and I am happy 
to say that Edward spared them. The French war 
came to an end after terrible years of desolation, leaving 
France in such a dreadful condition, that it took the country two hundred years to 
recover. The king of France was captured, and carried prisoner to London, and 
there stayed for a long time. He was released upon the paynient of a ransom, 
but was so ill-received by his countrymen, when he was sent back to France, that 
he returned of his own accord to his peaceful prison in England, and died there. 

The Black Prince married his cousin Joan, and settled in Bordeaux. He was 
induced to help Pedro the Cruel, of Spain, to regain his throne, but he gained 
nothing thereby but broken promises, and heavy debts. To pay the expenses of his 
Spanish campaign, he taxed the people of his F rench province to that extent that 
they rebelled, and called upon the king of France to aid them. The Black Prince 
had been ruined in health as well as in pocket in the service of the ungrateful 
Spaniards, and he was too ill to withstand the rebels. Thus he was defeated and 
driven from the country. He went home to England to die, and when he had suf- 
fered most patiently for four years, closed his eyes on the world in the year 1376, 
mourned by the whole English nation as their most valiant and noble prince, as well 
as their best beloved. His death was a crushing blow to the old king, whose 
last years, in spite of his long and successful career, were very sad. 

Enfeebled in mind and body, Edward 111. became the prey of designing favorites 
and was distracted by the quarrels of his remaining sons. A wicked woman, one 
Alice Perrers, acquired so much influence over the aged king, that he could refuse her 
nothing. She robbed and abandoned him in his dying hours, and only a poor priest 
who happened to be present, heard his last sigh, and closed his world-weary eyes. 

On account of his many years of war, Edward 111. was obliged to leave the gov- 
ernment of his kingdom almost wholly to Parliament. Wealth had largely increased 
among the middle classes, and through its power they began to have more influence 
both in Parliament and out, and to use it wisely. The English, instead of the French 
language, became the speech of the court, and of law. Education spread, architec- 
ture improved, and England was prosperous and progressive. It was also during the 
reign of Edward III. that "The Morning Star of the Reformation," John Wickliffe, 



404 



ENGLAND. 




EiigUsl) Ductless and LathCH I4tli Century. 



a preacher of O.xford. began to preach and write about 
the avarice of the popes, and the scandalous Hves of the 
clergy. He denied the right of the church to interfere 
with worldly affairs, and to maintain his position, trans- 
lated the Bible into English, thus causing new light to be 
shed upon the minds of the people. 

The monarch who succeeded Edward III. was a boy 
of ( leven, Richard II. he was called, and was the son of 
the Black Prince. The English were disposed to love 
him for his father's sake, but like other Plantagenet kings 
who had great fathers, he was unworthy of regard. His 
uncles, the Dukes of York, Lancaster and Gloucester, 
gov^erned the country while he was in his minority, and 
were constantly wrangling. When Richard was about 
si.xteen the expenses of the various foreign wars of the 
country decided the Parliament to collect a ta.x that had 
been levied in the last reign. This tax was a certain sum 
of money on every man and woman in the realm over 
fourteen years old. The common people were very poor, and resisted the collectors 
of the odious tax, and even besieged the king in the tower of London. They ran 
riot in the streets of that city, and destroyed many fine buildings, in their wrath, be- 
fore the king would agree to take off the tax. He did finally agree to do so, and to 
grant them some privileges, that would leave them less at the mercy of the rich, but as 
soon as he was surrounded by an army of his nobles and their followers, and knew 
himself safe from the common people, he denied all his promises, and punished the 
rebels by executing fifteen hundred of their number. 

When the king was two and twentj', he took the government into his own hands. 
He at first displaced his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, but allowed him almost royal 
privileges in time. The Duke took advantage of his position to create a rising 
against Richard, who was very unpopular with a large portion of his subjects. The 
revolution was a failure, and Gloucester was imprisoned and murdered by liic; king's 
orders. The Duke of Hereford, who was the son of King Edward's brother, and 
therefore first cousin to King Richard, was expelled from the court, on account of 
the king's jealousy. The king was so haughty toward his nobles, so utterly untrust- 
worthy, cruel and exacting toward his people, that they decided not to bear his rule. 
I~or eleven years he had plotted against nearly every one of his near relatives, 
as well as against the liberty of the nation, and while he was absent in Ireland. Here- 
ford returned to England" with an army. He captured Richard's friends, won the 
people over to his cause, Richard was dethroned, and he had himself crowned. 
Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford and Lancaster, was a merciless king. He 
imprisoned Richard on his return from Ireland, and is accused of murdering him, for 
he showed to the people a body which he declared to be that of the late king, with 
only the lower part of the face uncovered. There were people who declared that 
Richard did not die in prison, as was popularly supposed, but that he escaped one 
dark night from the Tower, fled from London, and lived safely in hiding among th(; 
hills of .Scotland for twenty-two years, a harmless madman, who fancied himself still 
the ruler of a great realm. 

Henry I\'., as the new king was called, had achieved remarkable success in war, 



ENGLAND. 405 

when he was Duke of Hereford, but liis luck seemed to desert him 'after he was 
made khig. A Welshman, Owen Glendower, had all of his property wrested from 
him by an English lord, who was his neighbor. That .vas a common thing in those 
days, and though the Welshman appealed to the Parliament for redress, they evi- 
dently thought the matter too trivial for their interference. Despairing of obtain- 
ing justice peacefully, Glendower took up arms, won back his estate, and drove his 
oppressor out of Wales. Moreover, he caused himself to be crowned king of 
that country. When the Welsh in the service of King Henry Bolingbroke heard of 
this proceeding, they left England in large numbers, and joined their countrymen. 

Glendower professed to be a wizard, and to be able to control thunder and light- 
ning, wind and weather. Since the days of Merlin, the wizard of King Arthur's 
court, the Welsh had believed firmly in wizards, and they accepted everything Glen- 
dower asserted about his miraculous powers, as gospel truth. Henry IV. laughed 
Glendower's magic to scorn, but attempted three several times to invac' i Wales, and 
every time was driven back by dreadful storms. He believed, too, that Glendower 
was a magician, with whom it w? • unsafe to tamper, and let him alone. He remained 
king of Wales as long as Henry lived. 

It was in the early days of Henry's, troubles with Glendower, that he sent his 
uncle. Sir Edmund Mortimer, against him. Sir Edmund was captured by the valiant 
Welshmen, and held for ransom. Now Mortimer had many true friends. Among 
them was Lord Percy, the brave old Earl of Northumberland, and the knightly 
Harry Percy, his son, who was such a dashing warrior, so ready to fight in any good 
cause, that he had received the name of Hotspur. The father and son were about 
to ransom the captive uncle of the king, when that dutiful individual sternly forbade 
them to do so. 

The Percys were very much incensed with the king, and more so when he squan- 
dered on his own pleasures, and those of his worthless favorites, the money that Par- 
liament granted him for the prosecution of the war with Scotland. He had failed 
to keep his promise to drive the Scots from some strong places they had seized, but 
the Percys still carried on the war. In a battle soon after the failure to ransom Morti- 
mer, they captured a large number of Scottish prisoners. Henry forbade them this 
time to accept ransom, though it was the universal custom in these days to release 
noble prisoners on the payment of ransom. 

One of Hotspur's prisoners was the famous "Black Douglas," and so angry was 
Harry with King Henry IV. that he allied himself with the famous Scottish chief, and 
with his father rebelled against the king, and marched with 1,400 followers to join 
Glendower in Wales. Henry's forces met the rebels before they succeeded in cross- 
ing into Wales, and 1.1 the dreadful battle that was fought, valiant Harry Hotspur 
was killed. The elder Percy fled to Scotland, but neither the Earl nor his brave son 
were much blamed by the English people. The Percys had done much to seat 
Henry IV. on the throne, and upon the first opportunity, he turned against them. 

I told you about Wickliffe and his doctrines. By this time he had gained many 
followers, all of whom had earnestly supported Henry's claim to the crown. These 
followers of Wickliffe were called Lollards, because a certain Walter Lollard had 
taken up Wickliffe's doctrines, and preached them eloquently in German. The Lol- 
lards proposed to Henry that the State should take charge of much of the church 
property. The church now claimed nearly a third of the land in England, and 
Henry was not at all opposed to the Lollards' proposition. Some of his advisers 



406 



ENGLAND. 



persuaded him that there was more to be gained by protecting the church than 
plundering it, and he had a law passed in Parliament condemning, to be burned at 
the stake, all of the Lollards who would not deny their faith. 

England's quarrel with Scotland and France had been on all this time, though 
there was a truce with the former countrj'. The wicked brother of the Scottish king 
had compassed the death of one of the royal princes, and to save the other his father 
had put him on board a ship to be taken to France. The English captured the ship, 
and with it the young Scottish Crown-Prince, James. Henry made him remain in 
England, and in his prison he became a scholar and a poet. He remained a captive 
nineteen years. 

In the latter years of King Henry's life he was subject to epileptic tits, which 
were brought on by the least excitement. In one of these he died. March 20. 1413, 




The TowiT of LoiHliin. 



and the nation was not inconsolable. He was the first king of the House of Lancas- 
ter, and though he tried hard to oppress his people, the commons steadily gained 
power. The king could not tax the people, spend public money, nor give away land 
without the consent of the commons, and the lords forced him to administer justice, 
dismiss unworthy favorites, and in every way limited him. Henry IV. could, there- 
lore, not accomplish as much mischief as his disposition prompted. When Henry of 
Monmouth, the son of Henry Bolingbroke, came to the throne, the English people 
believed that they had gained a great deal by the death of the old king, and the 
accession of the new. He was twenty-five years old when he was crowned, and was 
handsome, manly and winning. He had been a wild youth, but he dismissed all of 
his roystering companions, told them that he had reformed, and l)ade them do like- 
wise. There were many abuses and mistakes to rectify, and Henry \'. proceeded to 
do so. He set King James of Scotland free, and sent him home to wisely rule Scot- 
land. He recalled Harry Hotspur's son, who had been in exile for many years, and 



ENGLAND. 407 

restored to him the estates of the Percys. There was one thing that Henry V. did 
that was extremel}' cruel, though the fanatical Catholic clergy were more to blame 
than was the king. 

Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham), had been a good friend to Harry of Mon- 
mouth in his young days. This nobleman was an eloquent supporter of the doctrines 
of the Lollards, and according to the laws passed by Henry IV., he was a heretic, 
who must suffer death if he would not recant. The king disliked to use severe meas- 
ures against his old friend, so he sent for him, and tried to argue him out of his re- 
ligious beliefs. The genial, brave Oldcastle was not to be convinced, and was so 
eloquent in the support of his faith that the King was silenced. At length finding 
that argument had failed, Henry threatened Oldcastle. Sir John retired to his 
estates, and laid a plan to protect his fellow-believers by force of arms. The plot 
was discovered, and the king allowed hundreds of the Lollards to be put to death by 
torture. Sir John escaped to Wales, and remained there in hiding for four years. 
When he was discovered by Lord Powis and some men-at-arms, he fought bravely 
for his life, until a wretched old woman came up behind him, and broke his legs by 
a blow with a wooden steel. IVIaimed and suffering. Sir John was carried to London, 
and roasted to death over a slow fire. 

Torture fires blazed all over England, and many hideous forms of death sought 
out the Lollards, whose only crime was the exposure of the corruption of the church. 
Blood and tears could not quench their zeal. It was not to be consumed by the burn- 
ing faggots, nor darkened by the shadow of the dungeon and the gibbet. They stood 
for religious liberty, as their ancestors had stood against political tyranny, and their 
martyrdom was the beginning of that darkest hour that comes before the dawn of 
the reformation. 

France was dreadfully distracted by civil war, and Henry went over to that 
country to lay claim to the French crown. For the first time in the history of 
England's wars with that country, ravage and plunder were positively forbidden. 
King Edward III. had used small cannon and gunpowder long ago, in the battle of 
Crecy, but the English now for the first time, used large-sized cannon. After a long 
march with his six thousand armored knights and twenty-four thousand archers. 
King Henry caught sight of a great French force drawn up to oppose him near 
Agincourt. Their ranks were thirty deep, while the rank of the English were only 
five deep, yet the French seemed to hesitate to bring on the fray. Henry, therefore, 
sent out two parties, one to conceal themselves in a wood to the left of the enemy, 
and the other to make a wide circuit, come up behind the French, and set fire to some 
houses, in order to make them begin the fight. 

The French sent three of their knights to command the English to surrender, 
and avoid the bloodshed that would end in their certain defeat. Henry returned a 
defiance to the French, and intimated they were in as much danger as the English. 
His archers knelt and bit the dust, as a token that they took possession of the ground, 
and then at the word of command rushed forward. Each archer carried a sharp- 
pointed iron stake, and as each man discharged his arrow and turned to retreat before 
the advancing French, each stuck his stake in the ground and left it there. The 
ground was soft and miry for the heavy armored horses and cavalrymen of the French, 
though firm enough for the English archers on foot. The cavalrymen dashed forward, 
but being brought to a stand by the stakes, threw the horsemen and footmen behind 
them into confusion. Thus entangled they were mired in the soft mud, and when 



4o8 ENGLAND. 

thrown to the ground were unable to rise on account of their armor. The English 
archers wore no armor, and even threw off their leather jackets to act with more 
freedom. They slew the French without mercy, and when the foe attempted to flee, 
they found that they had been drawn up in such a narrow space that flight could not 
be accomplished. Their rout, therefore, became a slaughter, and they lost ten 
thousand men on the field and fourteen thousand prisoners, while only forty 
Englishmen ail told, fell. Among these were three valiant Welshmen, who saved 
the life of the king at the risk of their own, and these Henry knighted as they lay 
dying. 

The French hastened to treat for peace. Henry gave it on the condition that the 
Princess Catherine, whom he had seen and with whom he had fallen in love, should 
be given to him for his wife. He agreed to allow the French king to rule during his 
lifetime, but insisted that the crown should descend to his house upon his tleath. 
This peace was called "The Perpetual Peace." Henry fondly imagined that he had 
settled for all time the quarrel with France, and was happy in the possession of a 
beautiful bride and the prospects of a long reign. 

Catherine bore him a son and his joy was complete, when he suddenly 
fell ill. When he felt that death was near at hand, Henry commended his sorrowing 
wife and little child to the care of his brother, the Duke of Bedford, and with calm 
patience and kingly dignity, a'/aited the end. It came August 31, 1422, and gave, 
indeed, perpetual peace to Henry V., in the thirty-fourth year of his age and the 
tenth of his reign. He was the noblest and best of the Lancaster branch of the 
house of Plantagenet. The infant son of the dead king was made sovereign vith 
the title of Henry \'I.. and Parliament appointed some nobles to rule for him during 
his minority. 

The war in France was renewed by the wonderful .successes of Joan of Arc, of 
whom we have already told you,, and under her guidance in the next seven years, 
the French gained many victories. The English compelled the French to crown 
1 lenry's son their king in 1431, but the maintainence of the war became so unpopu- 
lar in England, that when the young king was twenty-two a truce was made. It was 
none too soon, for the English had lost nearly all oi their I'rench provinces, and to 
secure at least Normandy, Henry \T. agreed to marry a French princess, Margaret 
of Anjou. The English had been unsuccessful in France, througii the improvement 
in French implements of war. The cannon used by the English were large and 
clumsy, and flung stones, but a clever Frenchman had invented a small cannon that 
could be easil_, moved from place to place, which shot iron balls. Thus they^ were 
able to batter down strong walls with their new-fashioned cannon, and the English 
had nothing with which to oppose this formidable artillery. 

As soon as he was married, the king began to take part in public affairs, or at 
least his wife did in his name. With the usual fate of the Plantagenet kings, Henry 
v., the able and brilliant king, had given to the throne a weak and incapable prince. 
In fact 1 lenry \'I. was so very incapable that had he not been a king he would have 
been considered an idiot, or something approaching one. The beautiful young Mar- 
garet of Anjou had a genius for government, and with the aid of the Duke of -Suf- 
folk, ruled with wisdom. She was surrounded by enemies, one of whom, the Duke 
of Gloucester, she no doubt caused to be murdered. The loss of Normandy occurred 
about this time, and Parliament claiming that the Duke of .Suffolk was responsible 
for it, first banished him, then caused him to be put to death. 



ENGLAND. 



409 



After that event the country was wretchedly governed. The queen had no sup- 
port, and the king was but a figure-head. The Duke of York, and the Duke of 




Joan of Arc Wounded. 

Somerset, of the House of Lancaster, were rivals and bitter enemies. Each had a 
considerable following in Parliament. When one of these dukes was in high favor 
at court, the other would usually be a prisoner in the Tower, and at all events they 



4IO ENGLAND. 

were continually plotting against each other. Roger .Mortimer, the grandfather 
of the Uuke of York, hat! been named by Richard I. as his heir, but his claim 
had been set aside by Henry Bolingbroke. The Duke of York had, therefore, 
many powerful friends, who thought that he had a right to the crown. 
Somerset was the queen's favorite. He liatl the misfortime to lose Gascony, 
and Calais alone remained to England of all her conquests in France. Taking 
advantage of the popular discontent on this account, York became the real ruler 
of the country, for the poor king was a little more imbecile than ever. Somerset 
shut himself up in his castle, in order to prevent York from shutting him up in the 
Tower. The King recovered enough of his mind to realize that York, whom he dis- 
liked, was too powerful, ajid he dismissed him from court, and recalled Somerset. 
The Yorkists took up arms, and in the first battle that they had with the Somerset, 
or Lancaster party, killed the Duke. This battle was fought at St. Albans in May, 
1455, and was the first conflict in that long ami bloody struggle, known as "The War 
of the Roses." so called because the York badge was a white rose, and the Lancaster 
a red. 

Warwick, known as the "King-maker," took the part of the \ orkists, and the 
whole country was arrayed on one side or the other. Those were sad days for Eng- 
land. The white rose was dj'ed in the crimson of many a battle-held, and the red 
rose paled in death under the blue sky, or in despair faded away in many a prison 
before the Duke of York, in 1460, captured the king, and defeateil the noblemen who 
had charge ot the forces of the queen's army. It is said that on this occasion Mar- 
garet and her little son escaped the Yorkists, and on their way to Scotland alone took 
refuge in a forest. There the queen was set upon by night and robbed of ail her 
money and valuables. The ne.\t day Margaret was sorrowfully leading her little boj- 
along, when a little ahead of her, she saw another robber, concealed at a turn in the 
path, and awaiting her approach. Fearlessly accosting him, and appearing not to 
notice his threatening looks, the queen cried, "Friend, this is the son of your king, I 
commend him to you. and as you are a true man, crave your protection for iiim and 
for myself. Margaret of England. " 

The robber was touched by the appeal, and proud of the confidence reposed in 
him. He guarded the queen and little prince until they were safe in Scotland, and 1 
hope was well rewartled therefor. Once in the north country, the queen had no 
trouble in raising an army to invade England. The Duke of York had meanwhile 
been declared by Parliament to be the heir to the throne. By this agreement Henry 
\T. was to hohl the name of King during his lifetime. Upon Margaret's approach 
with her army, the Duke of ^'ork went out with his forces to oppose her. A battle 
was fought at Wakefield, and the Duke was there defeated and killed. 

The queen followed up her victory with shocking cruelties. One of the late 
duke's sons, a mere boy, was murdered by her order, and the eldest onlj^ escaped the 
same fate by flight. This )-oung man, Edward of York, was crowned king soon after, 
and Margaret took her son and went abroad. Edward W . sent Warwick the "king- 
maker" to France to seek a bride for him, and while he was gone married a pretty 
young widow, Elizabeth Grey, whose maiden name was Woodville. Warwick was 
bitterly offended, but bided his time. Soon afterward the king repeated the offense 
in a more e.xaggerated form, for this time he actually allowed some negotiations to be 
begun. He sent Warwick to arrange a marriage for his wife's sister with a French 
prince, and while he was absent on that errand, compelled the young lady to marry 



ENGLAND. 



411 




Kulght Ti'inplar. 



the Duke of Burgundy, a friend of the new queen. This time 

Warwick was furious, antl made no secret of the disgust tliat 

the king inspired by filling the court with the low-born relatives 

of his wife, and insulting his most loyal and powerful friends 

to please them. He pretended to be reconciled after awhile, 

and to revenge himself, married his own daughter, against the 

king's wishes, to the royal prince, Clarence, the next in the line 

of succession, should the king die without children. Clarence 

had some hope that the "king-maker" would make him king. 

His brother, Edward IV., hail taken from him his promised 

wife, a sweet young girl, and compelled her to marry Anthony 

Woodville, the queen's brother, for the maiden was an heiress, 

and on this account Clarence hated Edward. The king ne.xt 

caused his wife's little son, Thomas Grey, a boy of thirteen, 

to be married to the queen's eighteen-year-old sister. He 

was so infatuated with his new relatives that he stopped at 

nothing to satisfy their greed, and they were uncommonly greedy. 

Warwick hoped by winning the favor of the common people to 

unseat Edward IV., and was generous and kind to the poor. 

He took Clarence, went over to France and made friends 

with Margaret, and married one of his daughters to her son, the young Prince 

Edward. Clarence saw that his chances of ever being king of England were 

now small, and he secretly sent word to Edward of all Warwick's plans. When 

Clarence and Warwick returned to England, they defeated Edward in battle, and he 

fled to France, the customary refuge of persecuted Englishmen. Warwick then took 

poor imbecile King Henry out of prison and seated him again on the throne, keeping 

the real power in his own hands. Clarence was more and more dissatisfied, and kept 

up a secret correspondence with his brother. Edward returned to England with an 

army, having secretly corresponded with Clarence during his absence, and the latter 

stole away and joined him. 

Again Englishmen prepared to shed English blood to satisfy the ambitions of 
the York and Lancasterparties. Edward had apartyof archers, armed with guns carry- 
ing powder and ball, the first ever seen in England. Clarence would have gone back to 
the cause of his father-in-law, on the eve of the battle, but Warwick would not 
receive the double traitor. The battle was fought in a blinding snow-storm. Margaret 
and her son had returned to England, and were near the scene of combat, the young 
prince manfully striving to maintain his right. They were both taken prisoner. The 
3'oung Edward was carried before Edward of York, the king, who angrily asked him 
how he dared to invade England. The noble and fearless lad replied: "1 entered 
England, which was the dominion of my father and grandfather, to redress my 
wrongs and claim my rights." Edward IV. was so angry at this answer that he struck 
the boy across the mouth with his mailed hand and knocked him down, and Clarence 
and Gloucester murdered him with their swords. Margaret was ransomed by her 
father, and lived to be a poor, lonely, sad, old woman. 

Clarence was a thorough traitor, and Edward feared his ambition and distrusted 
him. He therefore had him confined in the Tower, and requested him to choose some 
manner of death. It is said that he requested to be drowned in a huge barrel of his 
favorite wine, and the king permitted it. King Henry had been put out of the way 



412 ENGLAND. 

safely and secretly long before, and Edward had only Gloucester to fear and he was 
wih' enough to disarm suspicion. 

Edward IV. was a good soldier and possessed much personal courage, but his 
l)rivate life was beastly. He indulged every vice that destroys the health, sears the 
conscience, and makes a human being despicable, and was a man wholly without 
conscience. He was a bloody-minded tyrant, a liar, and a villain, and during his 
reign the old nobility of England was almost exterminated. Upon the death of 
Edward IV. Gloucester became the Protector of. England, but the two little sons of 
the dead king found in him the same protection that the wolf gives helpless lambs. 
The eldest of these children, Edward, a boy of thirteen, was proclaimed King 
Edward V., but he was never crowned. Under the pretense that little Edward was 
lonely in the tower, whither his uncle had taken him "for safe-keeping" until the day 
of coronation, his young brother, the little Duke of York, was also taken from his 
mother. When (Gloucester had the princes in his power, he tried to bribe the keeper 
of the tower to murder them, but he indignantly refused. Then he sent an order to 
the keeper of the tower to relinquish his charge for twenty-four hours, to three men 
whom he sent to take command of the prison. In that twenty-four hours the little 
princes disappeared. Whether they were smothered with pillows, as was afterward 
affirmed, or whether only the eldest was murdered and the other escaped, will never 
be known. Years afterward, a youth who claimed to be the younger of the two 
princes, appeared in England, and related how his brother was murdered and he 
escaped to Burgund}', grew up there under the protection of his aunt, the Duchess 
of that province, and now desired to be righted. He made much trouble, and caused 
some bloodshed in England, during the reign of Hrnry \'1I.. who declared him to be 
an impostor. 

It is almost certain that the king himself did not think iiim an impostor, for he 
would never allow the mother of the little princes to see the person who claimed to 
be her son, and could never explain how the Duchess of Burgundy, who knew the 
princes well, could be deceived by his claim, and whj' she furnished him with money, 
to push his fortunes in England. Henry \'1I. declared that the young man was one 
Perkin Warbeck, the son of a baker, but he took care to have him hanged, and it is 
more than likely that the youth was in reality the unfortunate Duke of York. 

Gloucester prevailed by murder and other crimes, in making himself king of 
England, was crowned as Richard 111. in 14S3. The great poet Shakespeare has 
made us familiar with the crafty, cruel character of this king, his hump, his limp and 
iiis terror of the ghost of his murdered wife Anne, and the poor little princes of the 
Tower. He put his wife, daughter of "The King-maker," out of the way, in order 
Id marry his niece, Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV. and Elizabeth Woodville, 
a princess as unscrupulous as was her precious uncle. 

Princess Elizabeth did not marry Richard III. The English people were bit- 
terly opposed to the match, and when Richard saw that this was the case, he de- 
clared that he had never thought of such a thing as marrying his niece. Elizabeth 
was disappointed, and she took a sweet revenge. She and her mother conspired with 
Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who was the grandson of that fair French Cather- 
ine, whom Henry \'. won, after the battle of Agincourt. The sprightly ex-queen 
had married one of her attendants, Owen Tudor, and the eldest son by that mar- 
riage was made Earl of Richmond, by the unfortunate Henry VI. The first Earl of 
Richmond, of the line of Tudor married a great-grand-daughter of a younger son of 



ENGLAND. 



41, 




414 ENGLAND. 

Edward III. of England, and the Earl with whom Elizabeth conspired was therefore 
a representative of the Lancaster party, as well as the rightful heir. Princess Eliza- 
beth had among her friends several great lords, who hated Richard III., and lent 
their aid to the conspiracy. Henry Tudor therefore invaded England with a large 
force. Richard had not so many friends as he supposed. Some of those who pre- 
tended to be on his side were really the friends of Henry of Richmond. A terrible 
battle was fought at Bosworth. in which Richard III. was killed, and the red rose of 
Lancaster was triumphant. Henry Tudor was crowned king as Henry \'1I., on the 
bloody field of Bosworth, A. D. 1485, though he did not lawfully become king until 
two months later. He then married Princess Elizabeth, the representative of the 
York, or white rose faction, and thus in the Tudor line of kings was the blood of 
both the rival parties. The accession of Henry V!l. brought to an end the War of 
the Roses, the bloodiest civil struggle of England. 

Under the later Plantagenets, England made great progress. The wealthy 
classes of people now had carpets, bedsteads, clocks, and elegant household furniture. 
Gunpowder had done away with the tournament and sports of chivalry, and the cir- 
cus, the jester and theatrical shows of a rude kind were the amusements of the no- 
bility. Music came to have an important part in the church and all great festivals, 
and a musical school was established at O.xford. Minstrels were in high favor with 
all classes of the people. In 1474 a Kentish man gave to England something far 
better than clocks or carpets — a printed book, made wholly in Kent — the herald of 
the press, and of the growth of English literature. 

Thus when Henry Tudor began his reign, it was over a great and enlightened 
nation, and one that stood at the head of European powers. He had been brought 
up in poverty, and became the veriest miser of a king. He ground the people by 
taxation, reviving every old dead and dusty law that gave him the shadow of a right 
to do so. He thought no means too foul to be used, if it turned him a penny, and 
hoarded his wealth closely. 

Elizabeth bore two sons and a daughter. When the eldest .son, .Arthur, was 
twelve years old, Henry VII. contracted him in marriage with Catherine of Arragon, 
a rich Spanish princess. Arthur died a few months after, but his father was not to 
be balked in winning the fortune of the Spanish Catherine. He made Henry, his 
second son, only eleven years of age, wed his widowed sister-in-law, who was seven 
years his senior. This thrifty bargain concluded, and the dollars of the Spanish 
princess safely locked up in his coffers, the king married his daughter Margaret to 
the Scottish king, taking care to give her only a beggerly marriage portion, and 
getting rid of all the wedding ceremonies at the smallest possible expense. 

Princess Elizabeth died in 1503, and for several years thereafter Henry VII. 
drove quite a profitable business in proposing to rich princesses, who he knew 
would not accept him, and pretending to be so angry at their refusal that they would 
pay him large sums of money, as a salve to his wounded feelings, and as an induce- 
ment for him to withdraw his proposals, which of course he did when he saw there 
was nothing more to be realized by maintaining them. Thus, in various ways, Henry 
amassed such wealth that he became the richest monarch in Europe. War was too 
costly a luxury for him, and England was at peace during his reign. He was neither 
admired nor loved by his subjects, and he did nothing of special value for the nation. 
During his reign Columbus discovered America, and the new world beyond the At- 
lantic began to excite the imagination of the English people. He died in 1509, to 



SMM 



7 '(|?^^T 









HENRY VIII 



4i6 ENGLAND. 

make way for the Blue-Beard of English history, Henry \'III. Henry VIII. 
came to the throne with everj-thing in his favor. He had wealth, education, 
was handsome, and was married to a good woman. He nevertheless became 
an odious tyrant, and disgraced the English throne with a career that rivals in 
atrocity that of the Roman Caligula. He made war upon the French in the early 
part of his reign, and won a great victory, not, however, because he was v^aliant, but 
because the French became frightened, and ran away. The result of this victory 
was the peace by whose terms his sister became the wife of the French king, much 
against 1 jr will, for she was betrothed to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. 

At the battle of Flodden, just before the defeat of the French, English arms 
were victorious over those of the Scots, and "Bluff King Hal'.' returned to England 
in high favor with the English. His sister Mary was married to the French king, but he 
died in a short time and she came back to England as the wife of the Duke of Suffolk, 
whom she married without her brother's royal permission, but as Henry had niade 
no plans for disposing of her, he readily forgave her. 

Early in his reign Henry VIII. took into his service a priest named Woolsey, who 
had won his regard by dancing, singing and making coarse jests with the royal favorites. 
Henry gave full reign to his passions when he became king, and his court was an 
evil and corrupt place. Woolsey pandered to the king's humors and became his 
chief adviser, living in almost royal state. After the death of his French brother-in- 
law, Henry renewed the war with France, and linally sent Woolsey over to Paris to 
arrange a meeting with the new French king, with a view to the conclusion of a 
peace. 

A splendid tournament was hekl in I'rance, and there was a great display of gold- 
lace, banners, jewels and gaudy clothing. It cost a vast sum of money, but it came 
to nothing. Henry ground his people in every possible way, and the e.xpenses of this 
fruitless meeting gave him a new e.xcuse for raising funds. Woolsey was unscrupu- 
lous and hard-hearted, and to him the king entrusted the securing of more funds. 
He had a way that he had indulged more than once in the dozen years that he had 
been king, of bringing to the block those who did not do as he required. Thus far 
Woolsey had been a willing tool, and he did not hesitate to oppress the people by 
added taxation at Henrys command. 

Henry had married Catherine of Arragon when he was eleven years old, and in 
the eighteen years that she had been his wife, she hat! a restraining influence over 
him. After the return of his sister Mary to England, he fell in love with a young 
lady who had been one of her maitls of honor, and who had become a maid of honor 
to Catherine. This lady, Anne Boleyn, had an ambition to become a queen, and so 
fascinated Henry with her beauty and vivacious ways, that he determined to get rid 
of Catherine and make the fair maid of honor ..his wife. He pretended to have a 
conviction that it was extremely wicked in his father to have married him to his 
brother's widow, and called upon the Pope to dissolve the marriage. The Pope was 
afraid to do so, and delayed so long that Henry appealed to an eminent English 
divine for aid. This man, Cranmer, suggested that Henry make himself the head of 
the English Church, and with the aid of Woolsey and other equally unscrupulous 
tools, dissolved the marriage. Woolsey hated Catherine, for she had more than once 
rebuked him for his wicked life, and he was eager to bring about h»r downfall. It was 
the crowning act of his unrighteous career. In compassing the ruin of the queen, he 
brought about his own. 




411 



4i8 ENGLAND. 

Woolsey had served Henry faithfully, and had never opposed his will, but when 
he found that the king intended marrying Anne Boleyn, he knelt to him and pleaded 
with him to give up the idea of such an unsuitable match. This was a fatal mistake. 
Henry was determined, and as he had found a man named Cromwell, who would 
serve him without scruple, he at once resolved to disgrace Woolsey, who had by this 
time become a Cardinal, and had once nourished an ambition to become a Pope. He 
accordingly ordered Woolsey to go into York. He then prevailed upon the mean- 
spirited, cowardly Parliament, that was made up of his own creatures, to declare 
Woolsey a traitor. The Cardinal died on his way to London, whither he was being 
conveyed by the king's order, and thus escaped the block. 

Henry married Anne Boleyn. who had done everything in her power to bring 
him to her feet, and for a short time was extremely fond of his beautiful bride. 
Then he tired of her, and fell in love with Jane Seymour. Anne disappointed him 
by giving birth to a daughter, instead of the heir he desired, and he trumped up a 
charge against her, and caused her to be thrown into the Tower. Of course the 
Parliament condemned her, and she was beheaded. Henry married Jane Seymour 
the day after Anne's death, and proceeded to burn at the stake everybody who said 
that he was not the head of the English Church. He was particularly savage 
against the monasteries, and had them torn down by the scores, destroying many 
beautiful works of art that he found in them, and appropriating their lands and prop- 
erty to his own use. Nearly all of the monasteries were thus destroyed, and the 
tombs of the saints were rifled by the insatiable king. 

Martin Luther's doctrines had made many converts in England. Although 
Henry had a quarrel with the Pope, and put to death the Catholics who refused to 
acknowledge himself as the head of the English church, he burned to death the 
Protestants who denied that the Pope had the power to sell the remission of sins antl 
who would not profess a belief in everything tiiat the Pope asserted, except, of 
course, his own claim to the headship of the Catholic faith in his realm. The 
shocking story of the crimes of Henry VHI. has in it no element of instruction, and 
I will pass it over as lightly as possible. Patriotism and independence seemed to 
have been banished from the masses during his reign, and the most horrid crime 
and odious tyranny existed in all the offices of Church and State. After Jane Sey- 
mour's death, which was a natural one, and occurred before Henry had a chance 
to tire of her, he married Anne of Cleves, who came to England to be his 
bride. She had been represented as extremely beautiful, but was plain in the 
extreme. He could not recede from his bargain of marrying her, but he 
revenged himself on those who had misrepresented her charms, and straight- 
way divorced her, to marry vivacious Catherine Howard. Catherine How- 
ard was guilty of the very crimes that Henry had charged upon Anne Boleyn, and 
he had her head struck off, when living with her had become slightly monotonous, 
and looked about him for another wife. He proposed to several foreign ladies, but 
as none of them were two-headed, and did not care to risk the only head attached 
to their service by hazarding a match with Henry, they one and all politely declined 
the honor. Finally Catherine Parr, one of his own subjects, married the monster, 
and I am happy to tell you, outlived him. 

Henry VIII. died a repulsive, bloated human beast, helpless from excessive fat, 
covered with ulcers, tortured with suffering, but a cruel, blood-thirsty villain to the 
last, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and the thirty-eighth of his reign, and leaving 



ENGLAND. 



419 



the world was the only 
good thing he ever did 
for it. Jane Seymour's 
son, Edward, a sickly boy 
of ten, became king upon 
his father's death, with 
the title of Edward VI. 
He died six years later, 
never having really 
reigned, but having Cran- 
merat the head of affairs 
during the whole period 
that he was called king. 
Cranmer advanced the 
interests of the Protes- 
tant religion with wisdom 
and moderation, and 
though there were several 
people beheaded during 
the reign of Edward VI., 
they suffered for plotsand 
conspiracies against the 
crown, and not for their 
religion. Edward feared 
that should the Princess 
Mary, the fanatical 
daughter of Catherine of 
Arragon, succeed him, the 
Protestants would be 
called upon to suffer for 
their faith, as they had 
done during the life of his 
father. He therefore 
named as his successor, 
Lady Jane Grey, the wife 
of Lord Guilford Dudley, 
and the daughter of the Duchess of Suffolk. Both Mary and her half-sister, Eliza- 
beth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, were named in the will of Henry VIII. as his 
heirs, but Edward set them aside. 

• Edward VI. died in July, 1553, and the Londoners proclaimed the Princess Mary 
Queen. Lady Jane Grey was for ten days considered queen of England, by the 
Protestants, but as her friends had no means of advancing her claim, she cheerfully 
resigned the crown to Mary. The new queen was so fearful that she might have 
trouble on Lady Jane's account, that she murdered Dudley, the Duke of Suffolk, and 
then poor Lady Jane herself, who was a sweet, harmless young girl of seventeen, and 
without any ambitions or designs on the throne. 

Mary was a sour-faced, lean, violent-tempered old maid of seven and thirty, 
when she came to the throne, and next to the Protestant religion, which she ab- 




ELIZAllETll OF ENGLAND. 



420 



ENGLAND. 







& 




e.h. - 



C"^ 



_--^ H^n.;i?W^. 



hurred with all her nar- 
row soul, she hated 
Cramner, and two other 
Protestant bishops. She 
burned all three at the 
stake, and then married 
Philip of Spain, and . 
with his help proceeded 
to displace the Protes- 
tant faith as tlie State 
religion. A vile wretch 
named Gardiner, who 
had helped Henry VIII. 
in that short time com- 
mit many brutal mur- 
ders, became her prime 



Elizabeth lioriic In Her Palauqulu. 

minister, and carried on a dreadful persecution of the Protestants. Elizabeth 
was shut up in the Tower, and came near falling a victim to the hate of 
Gardiner and her gloomy sister. Bloody Mary died of a fever in the fourth 
year of her reign. She had tortured nearly four hundred persons to death for 
their religion, and no queen ever gained such odium as that which deservedly rests 
on her memor)-. 

Elizabeth was brought out of retirement and crowned Uueen in the year 1558, 
at the age of twenty-lhe. The people were certain that they could not have a worse 
ruler than Bloody Mary, antl had every hope that ICli/abeth, who was a pious 
Protestant, and liberal in her views, would be at least more tolerant than her half- 
sister had been. The very fact that Mary had hated her was a recommendation to 
the favor of the nation. Her coronation was, therefore, the occasion of much i)ub- 
lic rejoicing, and she began her reign under the most propitious auspices. 

The people were not mistaken in Elizabeth. She was not beautiful, though to 
her dying day she believed that she was, and she was not refined, as we judge refine- 
ment. She had the violent temper of her father, softened by the gayety of her un- 
fortunate mother. She was mannish in her ways, used coarse language, and thought 
nothing of swearing roundly at any one who offended her, and her servants and 
courtiers were not unacquainted with the weight of her fists, for she often laid about 
her with a will, when she was in a temper. We must remember, however, that the 
times were different from our own, and that Elizabeth was prol)ably like; n^any of 
the fine ladies of that day. 

Elizabeth was a crafty, far-sighted and prudent woman, and as a sovereign, 
English history has not her superior. She chose for her ministers two of the wisest 
statesmen in England, placed her confidence in them, and followed their advice. 
Cecil Lord Burleigh, and Lord Walsingham were those two ministers, and to them 
Englantl owes a debt of gratitude. 

The first act of Queen Elizabeth was to open the prison-doors to those who were 
prisoners on account of their faith. Soon after she was crowned she caused the 
Bible and the prayer-book to be printed in English and widely distributed, that all 
might read them. Her conscientious ministers did not persecute the Catholics, but 
they did turn some of the lazy priests and bishops out of their jilaces, and put 



ENGLAND. 



421 



Protestants in their stead. Eliza- 
beth established the Episcopal 
faith as the State religion of 
England, and aided by every 
means in her power, the perse- 
cuted Protestants of France and 
Holland. She greatly disliked 
that sharp form of argument, 
the axe of the executioner, and 
in carrying out her reforms, 
never resorted to it. Her mod- 
eration in this respect and many 
others, endeared her to the 
nation, and her cleverness in 
avoiding foreign quarrels, won 
their admiration. 

It had been the custom for 
ages for English sovereigns to 
marry foreigners in order to 
increase their influence abroad. 
Elizabeth was too discreet to 
commit such a foolish act. She 
had a well-defined plan of gov- 
ernment, and was able to carry 
it out. She had no wish to 
hamper herself with a husband 
who might interfere with her 
authority, and though she re- 
ceived many offers of marriage, 
she kept her suitors dangling at 
her pleasure, avoided decisive 
measures in regard to them as a matter of State policy, and remained unmarried all her 
life. You will remember that I told you al)out the marriage of Margaret, the daughter 
of Henry VII., to the King of Scotland. Resulting from this marriage was one child, 
Mary, who married a French prince of Guise. Her daughter Mary married the heir 
to the French throne. The Catholics of Europe had always declared the divorce 
between Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon illegal. They also argued that 
Henry VIII. had never, therefore, been lawfidly married to Anne Boleyn, and Eliza- 
beth had no real right to the throne of England. The French king was a devout 
Catholic and would not recognize Elizabeth as Oueen of England. He commanded 
Mary Stuart, his son's wife, to claim the crown for herself and husband. Mary had 
been brought up in the French court, and was a Catholic, as was also her mother, 
who was regent of Scotland for her. 

The Scottish people were nearly all converts to the doctrines of Calvin or Luther, 
and as the Scots are a conscientious, stubborn people, and were so at that time, they 
had a deep hatred lor the Catholic religion. Indeed they went so far as to destroy 
the Catholic churches and monasteries in the country, and resistetl with all their 
might the Catholic influences in the State. Mar^/ of Guise being a Catholic, had a 




MAl:V STUART. 



422 EXGLAXD. 

hartl time with the stubborn Scottish Protestants, and could only support her authority 
as reg^ent by the aid of French troops. 

\\ hen Mary Stuart claimed for herself and husband a right to the English crown, 
Elizabeth sent soldiers to Scotland to help the Scottish Protestants drive out the 
Erench garrisons there. She feared that should Mary Stuart become Queen of 
France, as Queen also of Scotland, she could take England with the aid of her 
French soldiers, and by the methods of "Bloody Mary," again restore the Catholic 
faith in England and Scotland. Elizabeth's help was so valuable to the Scots, that 
they not only drove the French out of the country, but would not acknowledge the 
right of Mary Stuart to reign over them until she resigned her claim to the English 
crown. 

Mary Stuart's husband became King of France upon the death of his father, but 
he lived only a few months after he was crowned. The young widow's mother-in- 
law, Catherine de Medici, had always hated Mary, and made her position in France 
so uncomfortable that she was obliged to yield to the call of the Scottish people to 
come over to Scotland and rule them. I shall tell you in the story of Scotland, how 
she fell into trouble, and was compelled to fly to Elizabeth for protection. Elizabeth 
would not allow her to cross over to France, nor would she give her any aid to regain 
her kingdom until she had cleared herself of the charges the Scottish people made 
against her, and as .Mary could not prove her innocence. Elizabeth held her a 
prisoner. She treated her kindly, allowed her considerable liberty, and moved her 
about from castle to castle, that she might not be the center of plots. At length 
Mary was implicated with the Romish priests and partisans in a plot against the life 
of the queen. For nineteen years Mary had been a captive, and in that time several 
plots had been made by the Catholics to free her, and several persons lost their lives 
on her account. There was no proof that Mary had known anything of these 
attempts, and she was not, therefore, punished for the mistaken zeal of her friends. 
Finally there was evidence that she was directly concerned in a conspiracy, and she 
was tried and condemned to death. 

The dreadful massacre of St. Bartholomew in h'rance, and the tortures to which 
, the Protestants in .Spain and the Netherlands had been subjected, made the English 
people more severe in dealing with the Catholic plot against the queen's life than 
they would otherwise have been. Elizabeth was reluctant to sign her cousin's death- 
warrant, but at last did so, and Mary Stuart died witii becoming dignity and 
heroism. 

The persecutions of the Protestants in E.urope, developed in England a pure, 
lofty, narrow-minded sect of Christians, called Puritans. They would allow nothing 
in their churches that even suggested the abhorred faith that was torturing Protestants 
to death, and robes, crosses, and every Catholic emblem, were prohibited in their 
worship. They held a doctrine whose truth has since been proven but was then 
considered extremely dangerous by both Catholics and Protestants. That is, they 
held that the Church and State should be entirely separated. 

Before Mary Stuart was executed, she willed her right to the English crown to 
the King of Spain, the former husband of Mary. Philip had a grudge against 
England because even while he was "Bloody Mary's" husband, the Parliament would 
allow him no voice in the government. Me wanted to marry Elizabeth after she 
became queen, but she politely declined the honor, which did not make him love 
England any the better. Upon the death of Mary Stuart he resolved to take posses- 



ENGLAND. 423 

slon of England by force. The Pope had some time before declared Elizabeth an 
usurper, and when he found that Philip intended to conquer England and kill the 
heretics as they had been killed in France and Spain, he enthusiastically approved. 
He sent Philip a banner that he had solemnly blessed, and told him that his under- 
taking was so pious that it could not fail, but it could, and did. 

Nearly a hundred years before this time, Columbus discovered America. The 
Cabots followed him to the westward, and discovered the mainland of the North ' 
American continent. They came back to Europe with glowing descriptions of the 
New World, and a host of adventurers from every country in Europe, had sailed 
across the Atlantic seeking wealth and adventure, before Elizabeth came the English 
throne. As far back as the days of Henr^^ \TI. there was a regular company of 
merchant adventurers in England who sent out ships in every direction, for the 
purpose of discovery and exploration. Commerce with Russia by the way of the 
Arctic Ocean had for some time been carried on by English merchants, and the 
African Gold Coast had begun to yield up some of its wealth to English traders. 
England had cod fisheries on the Coast of New F"oundland in the early days of the 
reign of Elizabeth, and sent every year its fleets of whalers into the Polar Seas. 
Sir Francis Drake, an Englishman, had' sailed arountl the globe, exploring the 
western coast of North America on his way, and English sailors were the most 
skillful that sailed the high seas. 

When Elizabeth learned that Philip of Spain was gathering a great fleet of 
vessels to attack England, she sent Sir Francis Drake and some other bold marin- 
ers, to capture the Spanish treasure-ships, which were sailing from Peru to Spain, 
laden with gold and jewels. She also dispatched her favorite courtier, Lord Leices- 
ter, to the Netherlands, to harass the Spanish there. Leicester had been in high 
favor with Elizabeth for many years, and had an ambition to become her husband 
and king of England. Indeed it is charged that he murdered his fair young wife, 
Amy Robsart, whom he had secretly married, so that he might marry the queen. 
Elizabeth alternately abused, and petted him, but would neither marry him, nor dis- 
miss him. 

Sir Philip Sydney, "the Flower of English Chivalry," went to the Netherlands 
with Leicester. Sydney was more beloved in England than any man of his time. 
He was a soldier, a scholar and a courtier, but above all he was a true gentleman. 
He led Leicester's cavalry, and when he was sorely wounded in battle, and lay dying 
on the field, one of his aides brought him a cup of water, which he had earnestly 
craved. Beside him there lay a poor wounded common soldier, who cast longing 
looks at the cooling draught. Sir Philip was about to drmk when he noticed the 
wistful look of the wounded commoner. He pushed the cup gently aside, and bade 
his aide give the water to the soldier, saying as he did so, "His need is greater than 
mine," a small act, you will say, to be recorded in history, but how infinitely great 
and noble, when compared with many of the deeds of kings and conquerors. Sir 
Philip was true in the hour of death to the principles that governed his life. Per- 
haps as the poor soldier drank the cup of cold water, the dying knight remembered 
who had said "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it 
unto me." 

Leicester accomplished little in the Netherlands, and he was soon called back 
to England. He found a new aspirant ior the queen's favor in Sir Walter Raleigh. 
Years before, Raleigh had won the attention of the queen, by an extremely graceful 



424 ENGLAND. 

act of courtesy. One day in the course of a walk Elizabeth came to a puddle of 
water, which she could not cross without wetting her shoes. She hesitated a mo- 
ment. Noticing her hesitation Raleigh took from his shoulders his magnificent new 
cloak, and spread it on the ground over the puildlc, and the queen crossed in com- 
fort. The chivalrous act was done with such modesty, and with such a respectful 
air of admiration, that the queen was touched, and singled the youth out for many 
.favors. By the aid of the queen, Raleigh afterward sailed to America, made a settle- 
ment on Roanoke Island, and explored a portion of the main land, which he called 
Virginia, in honor of the virgin queen, his mistress. The courti'-rs were wont to say 
according to the chroniclers of the time, that by sacrificing his cloak Raleigh had won 
many a noble suit. 

With such mariners as Drake and Raleigh, although she had but thirty-four ves- 
sels and a land force of forty thousand men, Elizabeth did not greatly fear Philip. 
Her fleet was under the command of Lord Howartl, a Catholic, but he, like most of 
the Catholics of England, hated Philip and his plans. Philip had a hundretl and 
fifty large ships that he called the "invincible Armada," for he believed there was no 
fleet in the world that could beat it. 

It was in July, of the year 15SS. that the "Invincible Armada," in the form of a 
half-moon, whose extent was seven miles from side to side, came sailing up the chan- 
nel. On the latter days of the month, this great fleet anchored in the Calais roads, 
to await the Duke of Parma, who was to join it there with thirty thousand men. 
Calais had been lost to the P2nglish some years before, or the fleet would not have 
been allowed to ride so calmly at anchor there. As it was,. Lord Howard spoiled all 
Philip's plans, and sht)wcd him that his Armada was not so "invincible" as he 
supposed. 

On the night after the Spanish had anchored in the Calais Roads, the linglish 
admiral sent eight fire-ships floating down into the midst of the Spanish vessels. To 
escape these the enemy fled towartl the open sea in great confusion, but were at- 
tacked at sunrise by gallant Drakeand his bold buccaneers, and in a fight that lasted 
all day, the Armada was broken and scattered. The English followed them as they 
fled, but a storm came up and the pursuit was given over. This tempest wrecked 
many of the Spanish vessels on the Irish Coast, and the half-savage Irish among 
whom they fell, killed fourteen thousand of the shipwrecked Spaniards. The de- 
struction of the .Armada caused the wildest rejoicing throughout Protestant Europe. 
The war with Spain continued some years, but Drake did such good service in rav- 
aging the Spanish-.Xmerican coast, and the English privateers were so vigilant that 
the Spaniards were forced to give up the attempt to invade England. 

The Earl of Essex succeeded Leicester in the favor of the queen. One day in 
a fit of anger he turned his back upon Elizabeth, in the presence of the court. She 
boxed his ears for his impertinence, and swore roundly at him, causing him to leave 
the palace in high dudgeon. He stayed away several months, and when he did come 
back, it was only to offend Elizabeth again. For the second offense she sent him to 
Ireland, wnth orders to remain thereuntil she recalled him. Hearing that his ene- 
mies, among whom he counted Sir Walter Raleigh, were trying to injure him with 
the queen, Essex came back without Elizabeth's permission. The queen then 
ordered him to remain in his own house in custody, until she decided on his punish- 
ment, though when he fell ill from anger and worry, she cried about him and refused 
to be comforted. Essex was a young, handsome, high-tempered man, and Elizabeth 



ENGLAND. 



425 




WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 



was now an old woman. When Essex recovered 
from his iUness, he made a certain request to 
Elizabeth, in regard to his business affairs. The 
queen refused it, whereupon Essex in his anger 
called her a sour-tempered crooked old woman, 
which she was. Some mischief-maker carried 
his words to Elizabeth, and she then and there 
determined on his death. Essex hastened his 
own destruction, by entering into a plot to seize 
the queen and force her to change her minis- 
ters. The plan was discovered, and Essex was 
beheaded. Elizabeth never passed a happy hour 
afterward, and died the next year, 1603, having 
named Mary Stuart's son James, King of .Scot- 
land, as her heir. 

In the reign of Elizabeth, Shakespeare, 
Spenser, and Bacon flourished. English litera- 
ture began its glorious flowering, and wealth 
and luxury increased. Liberty under law was 
greater than at an)' previous periotl, antl the 
common people became a power in the nation. 
The evils of the two preceding reigns had roused 
the nation to limiting more effectually the arbi- 
trary power of its rulers. Elizabeth was popular 
with all classes of the people, and the arts, commerce, and invention were stimulated 
by her policy, and the peace of the country. .She reigned forty-five years, the longest 
period of actual sovereignty of any English ruler, from its early days. She was the 
last of the Tudor sovereigns, and with her entled the one hundred and eighteen years 
of the domination of that line. 

James I. of England, was the sixth Scottish king who had borne that name. He 
was crowned at London, in March, 1603, at the age of thirty-seven. He was an ugly, 
shufliing Scotchman, who filled the court with Scotch favorites. He was so zealous 
in upholding the now firmly established Church of England, that he displeased both 
Puritans and Catholics, who made a plot to depose him and place his cousin Arabella 
Stuart on the throne. The plot was discovered, and the authors, among whom was 
Sir Walter Raleigh, were sentenced to death. Two Catholic priests and one English- 
man were immediately executed, and Raliegh was thrown into the Tower, where he 
remained for twelve years. 

He was finally released, because he promised the money-loving James that he 
would make a journey to Africa, where long ago he had discovered a gold mine, and 
would bring back treasure to England. He fitted out a vessel at his own expense, but 
the expedition failed. His crew, among whom was his own son, was killed by the 
Spaniards, and he was denounced to James as a pirate. To please the Spaniards, 
who had not forgotten his share in the destruction of the Armada, James sent him 
to the block on his old sentence of conspiring against him, though it was never 
proven that he had any hand in the plot. 

When James had been upon the throne two years, a horrible scheme was devised 
of ridding the country of him and his Parliament at one stroke. James Stuart, like 



426 ENGLAND. 

Henry V'lII., had often declared that he was the absolute master of the realm. The 
country had tasted of the evils of the "absolute" doctrine, and proposed to let the 
king know that they represented the will of the people, and that the king, as well as 
his subjects, must obey the laws. They were very firm with him, anil because they 
suspected him of fcvoring the Catholics, they passed some severe laws against that 
sect. The Protestants were made suspicious of the Catholics in England, and 
intolerant of them on account of the dreadful persecutions to which Protestants were 
still subjected, in nearly every State of Europe. 

The laws against the Catholics filled the English Catholics with rage. One Robert 
Catesby, secured a Spaniard, Guy Eawkes, and with Robert Kay and others, attempted 
to carry out a plot which was cleverly designed. They at tirst attempted to mine under 
the walls of Parliament House, from the cellar of the adjoining house, which they 
had leased, and secretly filled with gunpowder and other combustibles. That plan 
failing, on account of the thickness of the walls, they leased the cellar of Parliament 
House which just then became vacant, and under the guise of coal merchants stored 
thc.'ir gunpowder there, covered it with coal, and waited for Parliament to assemble. 
A large numlier of Catholics were now in the conspiracy, and many of them had 
friends and relatives in Parliament. Several of the members received mysterious 
warnings to remain away from the Parliament on the opening day. Sir Robert Cecil 
had in some waj' learned of the plot, and told James of it, but no attempt was made 
to arrest the conspirators, until the very day, and nearly the hour for its execution. 
Guy Eawkes was entrusted with the firing of the train, while the other plotters had 
arranged to raise a revolt directly after the king and Parliament had been blown u]>, 
seize the Princess Elizabeth, the ten-year-old daughter of the king, proclaim her 
queen, and set up Romanism with the aid of the king of Spain, who knew all their 
intentions. 

Fawkes was captured with the slow-match on his person. He was put to the 
torture, but he would not tell the names of the conspirators. The king had never- 
theless found who they were, and they were hunted down and executed and im- 
prisoned according to the degree of their complicity. James was a weak-minded, 
haughty man, with an insane passion for knighting all manner of people. He wrote 
long treatises about the divine right of kings to do as they pleased with the laws. 
He ako wrote much silly stuff about witchcraft, in which he was a lirm believer, and 
made himself ridiculous over his favorites. Beside being a gluttonous, self-indul- 
gent blockhead, James had something of that love of money that distinguished his 
ancestor, Henry \TI. He was always quarreling with his Parliament about money, 
and sold all manner of honors to the highest bidder, allowing his wife and mother to 
do the same. 

Sir Francis Bacon, whom many persons now believe was the author of Shakes- 
peare's plays, was the highest judge of King James' kingdon^, and was perhaps the 
most dishonest judge that ever lived. He was as shameless in his slavish flattery of 
the stupid and bigoted king as were the other base court favorites, and with all his 
devotion to learning, was a bad man. During James' reign the Puritans left England 
in great numbers, for they were persecuted and reviletl in their native land. Many 
of them went to the republic of Holland, and from there a colony of Puritans sailed 
in the ship "Mayflower" to the coast of Massachussetts, touching at England on the 
way. They founded a colony in Massachussetts, in December, 1620, which became 
the first permanent settlement in New England. 



ENGLAND. 



427 




King James caused one great work to be 
done during- his reign — the translation of the 
Bible that is still in use. He died after a 
reign of twenty-two years, unparalleled for 
tlishonesty in high places. He found England ^^, 
the leading power in Europe, both on sea and ' 
land, and he left it greatly reduced in influence 
among the nations. He loved eating, drinking, 
cock-fighting, bear-hunting, and other such 
sports much better than he did the affairs of 
State, and left the latter to his favorites, who 
used their position to acquire wealth. 

The people were little disposed to love the 
son of James, who was crowned as Charles I. in 
May, 1625. He was superior to his father in 
most things, but in one thing they agreed. Both 
believed in the tlivine right of kings, and both 
were blind to the progress of liberal ideas among 
the people. Charles I. was twenty-five when he 
was crowned. Soon after he sent his favorite 
Buckingham, a haughty wicked fellow, who was 
one of James' flatterers, to arrange a marriage '•■^^'^•■.^ ■ 

for him with the French princess, Henrietta Maria. While he was in Prance, Buck- 
ingham quarreled with Cardinal Richelieu, then the real ruler of France, and this 
quarrel afterward led to war. He succeeded in his mission, and Charles married 
Henrietta Maria. This marriage alarmed the Protestants, for Henrietta Maria was 
a Catholic, and brought with her to the court a large train of priests and Catholics, 
and the}' feared that through her influence the Protestants would be made to suffer 
persecution. 

Charles was eager to go to war with Spain. The Parliament did not approve, 
and would not grant him any money for the purpose. He then taxed the people, 
seized them unlawfully to serve as soldiers and sailors, and plundered them of their 
property. In this way he collected enough money to begin the war, though several 
of his nobles resisted him in the courts of law. The judges of these courts were men 
of the king's appointing, and of course decided in his favor, bringing forward the 
argument that the king was right, for ruling divinely, he could do no wrong. 

The king dismissed his Parliament and called together a new one. The men 
elected by the people to represent them did not fear Charles, in spite of the desper- 
ate character he had already shown. They formed a Petition of Rights which de- 
clared that it was unlawful for the king to borrow money of his subjects, or to throw 
them into jail if they refusetl to give to him. They also declared that the king could 
not press men into his service against their will, and ignored altogether the ridicu- 
lous idea that whatever the king did was right. The king was compelled to sign the 
Petition of Rights, and its provisions became law. He was now at war with France, 
as well as Spain, and only by doing as the Parliament wished could he secure the 
necessary mon^y for his campaigns. Buckingham was killed in his own house by a 
man whom he had wronged, and Charles chose in his place Wentworth, the Earl of 
Strafford, to assist him in conducting the State, and made Archbishop Laud supreme 



428 



EXGLAXD. 




Eat^Uvh Farm Laborer. 



in church affairs. The Parliament further opposed the king on the 
grants of money, and on January 20, 1629, a certain Sir John Elliott, 
who was greatly opposed to the king, brought some resolutions con- 
demning him before the I louse. When the speaker was asked to put 
these resolutions to vote he refused, and was about to leave his chair, 
and thus break up the meeting, when two of the members sei/.ed him, 
held him down in his seat, and the House voted on the resolutions 
and passed them. The king was near at hand, and when he had 
informed him of what had transpired, he came into the House and. 
made a bitter speech, in which he called the members of the House 
"vipers." He arrested Sir John Elliott and the two men who had held 
the speaker down, and put them in prison. To prevent them being 
brought to trial, he moved them about from place to place, until 
Elliott died, then he brought the other two before one of his judges, 
who condemned them to heavy fine and long imprisonment. Charles 
dismissed his second Parliament, and for twelve years called no Parlia- 
ment, and in his conduct of the government set all the laws of the 
land at tiefiance. Through Laud he cruelly punished those who 
differed from him in religion, which was of so very high church that it was 
dangerously near Romanism. He revived the detested forest laws, and tried 
to rule by the methods in vogue before the days of Edward 111., when the 
people had no share in the government. In his treatment of Dissenters he 
was so cruel that they left the country in great numbers, until he forbade 
ships to carry them. In Scotland, particularly,- he was so stern with those 
who would not worship according to the forms of the Established Church, that a 
League of the Covenant was formed, which pledged its members to resist the king 
by force of arms. When this became known. Earl Strafford and Archbishop Laud 
were sent to Scotland, "to bring the -Scotch people to their senses." The -Scotch re- 
sisted with such success that the king was at last obliged to call a Parliament, which 
he did at the urgent request of his counsellors. I wish you to remember all these 
tyrannical acts of Charles L, and the twelve years when he outraged the people 
and oppressed them in every possible way, for you will then be able to see the justice 
of the fate that rewarded his misdeeds. 

The Parliament assembled for the first time in twelve years, was "ailed the 
Short Parliament, because the king almost immediately dismissed it. As .soon as it 
was convened, John Pym arose and boldly charged the king with ruling unlawfully 
since the former Parliament was done away. Other members followed in the same 
train, and when the king demanded money he was told plainly that he could not have 
it on his own terms. Charles then dissolved the Parliament, but as he could do 
nothing without its aid, for the people were not disposed to obey him without the sup- 
port of the Parliament, he was obliged to call another. The Scotch, too, marched 
into England and defeated his troops, and he was altogether in straits. 

The first thing that the new Parliament did was to pass an act making it impos- 
sible for the king to longer collect the unlawful ta.xes. Earl Strafford was charged 
with planning with the king and queen to control the Parliament with soldiers, and 
the Parliament tried and convicted him of treason. The Earl had been faithful to 
Charles I. through all his troubles, but Charles meanly forsook his old servant in the 
hour of danger, and signed his death-warrant. Laud was next brought to trial, and 



ENGLAND. 



429 




The Whipping-post. 



in course of time his head, too, was stricken from his shoul- 
ders, for his zeal in the cause of the unworthy king. Charles 
seemed to be willing- to agree to what the Parliament demanded, 
but all the time he was secretly plotting. To gain the Irish 
to his cause, he favored an uprising in Ireland, which was 
the most <lreadful in the history of the country. More'than 
one hundred thousand Protestants were murtlered in cold 
blood. The king then went to .Scotland and plotted there. 
When he returned to London more hated than he had ever 
been in his odious life, he attempted to remove the custodian 
of the Tower, and put in his place one of his own creatures. 
His plan was to have in charge of the Tower some one who 
would do as he required, and thus he would be able to punish 
the rebellious members of Parliament. The Parliament at 
once objected, and the fearless P\-m wrote a "Remonstrance," 
which set forth in strong language the various crimes of the 
king. The "Remonstrance" was approved by the Parliament 
after a long and fierce debate. The outcry about having 
bishops in Parliament had been raised from time to time, since the early days 
of the Tudors. Now the bishops were the strongest supporters of the king, and 
the people were so hostile to them, that by the advice of the Archbishop of York, 
the bishops remained away from Parliament and declared that everything that was 
done in their absence was unlawful. The Parliament then impeached the bishops, 
that is, charged them with misbehavior in ot^ce, and packed them all off to the 
Tower to reflect upon the situation. 

Early in the session the Parliament had passed a bill which prevented the king 
from dismissing them without their own consent, and another that made it 
impossible for the king to rule without calling one. If he failed to assemble the 
Parliament every third year, the people could lawfully assemble one without his 
consent. Charles was, therefore, quite helpless against his Parliament, though he 
imagined himself able to conquer it, and especially five members who were most 
active against him. Among these five were Pym and John Hampden, who had resisted 
the unlawful taxation of the king. Charles sent his yXttorney-General to the House 
of Lords, to accuse the peers against whom he wished to proceed, while another 
messenger went to the House of Commons for the obnoxious commoners, seizing 
meanwhile the houses of the accused and sealing up all their private papers. 

The Commons sent word to the Lord Mayor of London for aid, and he sent 
them a trained band of men to protect the five accused members, who had all taken 
refuge together in a house in Colman street. They had not been long in a place of 
safety, when^^the king, accompanied by two or three hundred armed men, went down 
to the House of Commons. Leaving the guards in the hall he entered the House 
and to the Speaker's chair. The Speaker made way respectfully for him. The king 
commanded him to point out Pym and the other four members for whom he came. 
The Speaker knelt before the king and refused to obey him, begging him to remem- 
ber that he was the servant of the House, and had neither eyes nor ears but at the 
conmiand of the Commons. The king then turned to the House and called aloud 
the names of the five members. No answer was returned, and the baffled and angry 
Charles left the House, declaring that he would find and punish the traitors 



43° 



ENGLAND. 




Cromwell's Round-Heads. 



The men of London armed themselves to protect the members 
of Parliament, and seeing their temper, the king left the city and 
went down to Hampton Court. The Parliament seized the arms 
and gunpowder of the king, and Charles sent his wife over to 
Holland to pawn the crown jewels for the means to carry on tho 
war, for war was now begun, and raged for four years between the 
king and the Parliament. The king had on his side the Catholics, 
noblemen, gentry and many of the people of the Established 
Church, while the Parliament forces were made up of Presby- 
terians, Independents and the common people. The king's 
soldiers dressed in gay colors, curled their hair and perfumed 
their clothing. They were cavaliers, and were led l)y two haughty 
foreign princes, the nephews of the king. These tincly-dressed 
cavaliers were too proud to submit to drill and discipline, and the 
Parliamentary forces, therefore, had the best of them. The men 
of the Parliamentary army dressed in plain dark colors, and wore 
their hair cropped short under their high-crowned hats. The 
Cavaliers called them '"Roundheads." Oliver Cromwell, who 
afterward became so famous, led a troop of horse belonging to the Parliamentary 
forces. This troop were so perfectly drilled and so invincible in battle, that they 
won the name of "The Ironsides." 

The king gained some victories, but he was finally convinced that it was hopeless 
to prolong the struggle with his determined people, and began to treat with the Par- 
liament for peace. Some letters that he had written to the queen, who still remained 
in Holland with her daughter and a lover that s.'ie had picked up over there, fell into 
the hands of the Parliament, and betrayed the fact that the king was merely attempting 
to gain time in order to bring some foreign soldiers into the kingdom, and the war 
was renewed. The king was finally' surrounded by the Parliamentary army, and 
seeing no success in engaging it in battle, fl<-d to the protection of Earl Levin, chief 
of the Scottish men, allied with the Parliament. After nearly a year, Charles was 
delivered up to the Parliament. When the Parliament had secured the person of 
fhe king, they wanted to disband the armj'. Oliver Cromwell was a born leader of 
men, and had gained much influence over the army, altogether too much to suit the 
Parliament. The army would not be disbanded. It took the king from the Parlia- 
ment and would have seated him again on the throne, had they not discovered that 
Charles was at his old tricks, attempting to gain time to bring foreign soldiers into 
the kingdom, to put down both the Parliament and the army. 

After a time the king escaped from Hampton Court, where he had been in the 
care of the army, and fled to the Isle of Wight. There he again pretended to treat 
with the Parliament, but he was secretlj' attempting to induce the Scotch to invade 
England on his behalf. The Parliament was sadly bullied by the army and worried 
by the king. Colonel Pride and Colonel Rice, two Roundhead commanders, came 
up to London at the head of their soldiers, and imprisoned all the members of Par- 
liament who had won the displeasure of the army. Only sixteen members were left 
in the House of Lords, and about fifty in the House of Commons. Those who re- 
mained were called in derision "The Rump Parliament," and the action of the Round- 
heads was known as "Pride's Purge." 

The Commons sent a bill to the House ot Lords soon after to have the king 



ENGLAND. 431 

tried for treason. The Lords rejected the bill, whereupon the Commons declared 
itself to be the supreme power of the State, appointed a court of [52 persons, and 
brought the king up to London for trial. He was tried with as much unfairness and 
injustice as might have been expected, and was condemned to death. Charles bore 
his fate like a man, and believed to the last in the divine right of kings. His head 
was struck off in just ten days from the time that he arrived in London for trial, and 
as it fell a deep groan went up from the assembly who witnessed the sad sight. His 
last words were of repentance that he had given his best friend, the Earl of .Straf- 
ford, over to death. It was January 30, 1649, the forty-ninth year of his life, and the 
twenty-fourth of his troubled reign, that Charles Stuart fell a victim to his own 
tyranny, and thereafter began the most wonderful period of England's wonderful 
history. 

The Scotch proclaimed young Charles Stuart king as Charles II., though Parlia- 
ment had made it a crime to do so. Cromwell was absent in Ireland, taking bloody 
vengeance for that massacre of Protestants that I have already related, but as soon 
as he heard that the Scotch army was in motion for England he took his "Ironsides," 
crossed into Scotland, and won a great victory. The .Scotch crowned Charles II. 
and marched with him into England. Oliver, or "Old Noll," as he was called, fol- 
lowed them, and at Worcester overtook and totally defeated them. Charles Stuart 
fled for his life. What with dressing in the coarse clothes of a laborer, staining his 
hands and face a tan-brown, and cutting faggots with some wood-cutters who were 
loyal to him, sleeping in a hay-rick one night, and passing twenty-four hours in the 
spreading branches of an oak tree from which he saw soldiers hunting for him, he at 
last escaped to the coast. On the way he walked until his feet were blistered, and 
at a certain place was seen and recognized by a loyal Protestant lady, who pretended 
that he was her groom, and let him follow her to Brighton, where he was obliged 
to pass several anxious days in concealment. At length a ship sailed from 
England bearing Charles II., and it was many years before he saw England again. 

Oliver Cromwell and his army were by this time dissatisfied with the government, 
and the more so that the Parliament treated their demands with contempt. One 
day in April, 1653, Oliver went boldly up to the House with some of his soldiers, and 
leaving theni outside went in alone, and made a speech. In no gentle terms he told 
the Parliament some plain tacts. He reniinded it that it had already sat twelve years 
and had declared its intention of sitting three years more. He ended his address by 
saying: "Vou are no parliament." He then stamped his foot as a signal to his sol- 
diers, and they came in. Pointing to this man, that and the other, Oliver declared that 
one was a drunkard, another was something else, and so on through the entire House. 
Then, as arbitrarily as Charles Stuart could have done, he ordered the House cleared, 
walked the Speaker out of his chair, and told one of his companions to "take away 
that bauble," pointing to the mace that always lay on the Speaker's desk when the 
House was in session. When the soldiers had cleared the House, Oliver coolly locked 
the door, put the key in his pocket, and walked sturdily away, as though he had done 
an extremely satisfactory day's work. 

Pym slept in his peaceful and honored grave, and John Hampden, too, had died 
on the field of battle, fighting for the liberties of England. If they had been alive, 
"Old Noll" could not so readily have accomplished his design. However, the Old 
Parliament, or " The Long Parliament " as it is known, was abolished, and Oliver 
proceeded to call a new one. It was made up of whining, canting round-heads, like 



43- 



EXCiLAXn. 



Praise God Barebones, who sermonized all the time and accomplished nothing in the 
waj- of business, for they were too ignorant to do so, and Oliver cleared that Parlia- 
ment off too. The Council of State, composed of Cromwell's friends, appointed him 

11^ 









The Expcutlmi of Charles 1., KIur of KiiKlauil-Scenc i.ci the SeuHold 

Lord Protector of England, December i6, 1653, and for the next nine years England 
was a Republic. 

Never was there a man more fitted by nature to rule, than was Oliver Cromwell. 



ENGLAND. 433 

His gen ius for State-craft was wonderful, his patriotism a deep and abiding passion> 
and in the service of his country, he never spared himself or others when there was 
duty to be performed. England was distracted at home, and in .ontempt abroad, 
when he took charge of the government. He restored order in the country, and 
punished the foreign enemies who had taken advantage of the state of affairs, to 
injure England's commerce. There was a valiant Dutch admiral, named Van fromp, 
who sailed about the English Channel with a broom fastened to the mast of his flag- 
ship, in token that he had swept the seas of the English. He crowed a little too 
loud, and was somewhat too eager for the contract to whip the English navy, as 
Admiral Blake convinced him. 

In a battle lasting all day, Blake soundly chastised Van Tromp, and drove him 
and his fleet to the coast of Holland. There he fought another battle, in which Van 
Tromp was killed, and the naval force of the warlike bantam-republic thoroughly 
humbled. This accomplished, Blake sailed to the Mediterranean, which for a century 
had been almost closed to English vessels, and for three hundred years had been 
unlucky waters for the English. Casting anchor before Leghorn, he made the Duke 
of Tuscany pay a large sum of money for injuries done by his subjects, to English 
seamen and merchants. Crossing over to the African coast, Blake gave the Turkish 
rulers of Tunis and Morocco the choice of fighting or giving up every Englishman 
they held as slaves. It had long been the habit of Turkish pirates to seize English 
ships, and sell the crew into slavery, and the Dey of Tunis was not at all disposed 
either to give up his captives, or make any promises for the future. To convince 
him that he was not to be trifled with, Blake battered down with his shot and shell, 
the two castles commanding the harbor of Tunis, and the haughty Dey became the 
most humble Dey that ever was seen. 

England had a score to settle with the Spaniards, and Blake was the man to pay 
it off, with all the accumulated interest. The Spaniards had a cruel pleasure in 
taking English ships and throwing the sailors into prison, and there allowing them to 
starve or die of prison-fever, for their jails were filthy and unwholesome places. The 
English had often protested against this treatment of their seamen, and now Blake 
made an unanswerable argument against the practice, and o'ne that stopped it. He 
sailed into the harbor of Cadiz, burned all the shipping, captured two treasure-ships, 
each carrying a million dollars worth of treasure and leisurely made his way to the 
Canary' Islands. Off the Canaries, he fell in with si.xteen Spanish treasure-ships, and 
burned them every one. 

The Admiral then sailed with his prizes, for England, but he died as the anchor 
of his vessel was dropped in Plymouth harbor, the ringing of the joy-bells and the 
shouts of welcome of his countrymen, being the last sounds that he heard on earth. 
He was buried in Westminster Abbey, amid the grief of the whole nation. In him 
Oliver lost a true and valued friend and helper. 

Oliver sent an English force to assist the French in their war against Spain. It 
did such good service that England received the port of Dunkirk as the price of 
victory. In the meantime Cromwell had so effectually protected the Protestant 
.States of Europe, that the Catholic powers were compelled to let them alone. At 
home he was as successful as abroad. He discovered every plot against his life, 
brought the country out of the distresses incurred by civil war, and ruled 
with firmness and justice. England never stood so high among the nations of the 
world as it did during the days of Cromwell. Oliver's stout heart must have often 



434 



EXGLAM). 



-<^ 




failed him in the nine years, that, sad and soli- 
tary, envied by all and lovetl by few, he worked 
for the good of Enj^land. Always in danger of 
assassination, and the object of bitter hatred and 
the plots of his enemies, he died peacefully in 
his bed in the sixtieth year of his age. His son 
Richard tried very hard for a year to perform 
the duties of Lord Protector, but he was unequal 
to the task, and resigned it, winning the name 
of "Tumble-Down Dick." Charles II. had been 
leading a merry life in France all this time, 
and the royalists who had gaineil the power in 
Parliament, now calleil him back to England. 

Of course, Charles II. came, and accepted 
with a great show of condescension, the immense 
sums of money that the accommodating Parlia- 
ment voted him. I le at once proceeded to spend 
this money in the most shameless way. 

This worthy scion of the .Stuarts had all the 
vices and none of the virtues of his ancestors. 
Me liked to be called "The Merry Monarch," 
and if wickedness in every form, bloodshed antl 
debauchery were merry, Charles II. was cer- 
tainly exceedingly so. I le desecrated the graves 
of the statesmen who were concerned in the trial 
and execution of his father, executed ten mem- 
bers of the Long Parliament, and tore from 
their tombs the bodies of Blake and Cromwell, whose labors for the glory of 
England did not earn for their poor bones a quiet resting place. He was a great 
coward, this Charles II., and gave credence to all sorts of silly information about 
plots against his life. J le butchered his people against law and evidence, and was 
not only a tyrant, but was a mean tyrant. The king was unmarried when he came to 
the throne, and he in course of time took a Portuguese princess as his bride. He 
squandered her fortune on the actresses and dancers with which he filled his court, 
and sold Dunkirk, that Cromwell had won by the valor of English arms, to get money 
for his sinful pleasures. 

When the king could wring money from Parliament on no other pretext, he made 
war on the Dutch and spent the money appropriateil for that purpose upon his own 
merry self. The Dutch devastated the English coast, and even appeared in the 
Thames, anil England was obliged to settle with them by a treaty. The Great Fire 
and the Great Plague devastated London during the reign of Charles II., and the 
persecution of the Scotch covenanters was carried on with much cruelty. The king 
was a Catholic, and received a pension from the king of France for pledging him- 
self to restore the Catholic faith in England. There is neither pleasure nor profit 
in contemplating the follies and crimes of Charles II., and there is onl}'^ one note- 
worthy thing recorded of his Parliament. Perhaps you have heard of writs of ha- 
beas corpus, but it may be that you do not know that the Parliament of Charles II. 
passeil the Habeas Corpus Law. which is still the safeguard of justice and personal 



-^ 



Tilt' Buttle of Marstou Moor BtMvoi'n ihc Ko^'ullKt^ iiiul IkOUnd-heuUti. 



ENGLAND. 



435 



liberty. By the habeas corpus 
(possession of the person) law, no 
one could Ix^ sent to prison bt;yoncl 
the sea; no judge dared refuse a 
writ commantlintr the jailer to 
produce the prisoner in court. 
Every prisoner indicted for an 
offense at one term of court must 
be brought in at any other imme- 
diately following, and no person 
could be again arrested for the 
same offense, when a court had set 
him free. 

Charles II. fell in a fit and died 
in 1685, and his brother James, 
Duke of York, was crowned king 
as James II. Though James was 
known to be a strong Catholic, he 
had the reputation of a man who 
always kept his word, and when he 
promised to protect the liberties of 
England, and the Church and 
.State, the Parliament liclieved 
him, and voted him a large suni of 
money. Charles had several sons, 
though none; of them were the 
children of his lawful wif(\ One 
of these illegitimate sons thought 
that he had a better right to his father's throne than James II. had. Charles II. had 
made him Duke of Monmouth, and as he was handsome and brave he had many 
friends in England who would have been glad to s(m; him made king. He received 
aid from Holland and attempted, with the army that the Dutch sent him, to seize the 
crown. He was defeated, made prisoner and behea<led. 

James soon threw off the mask of gentleness and tolerance, and tried to force 
Romanism into every office of the Church and .State. He sent to the I'ope for a 
papal representative at the court, and behaved in such a threatening manner toward 
the civil and religious liberty of the country that the nation, too, was alarmed. His 
daughter Mary had married William, Prince of Orange, an able and liberal-minded 
Dutch Protestant Prince, and the English invited him t(j come over and be their 
king. James II. was deposed and took refuge in Prance, and \Villiam was crowned 
king, and his wife queen of England, in i68q. 

The English did not like William as they had sujjposed they should. He was 
immoral in his private life, and filled the court with Dutchmen. He treated the 
Irish with great severity, and persecuted the covenanters as relentlessly as James I. 
had done. He finally conquered the Irish, and the majority of that nation hate 
William's memory quite heartily yet. There was a long war with P ranee on account 
of the deposed James, and it extended to both continents. Louis XIV., th<; Erench 
king, finally acknowledged William as king of England, and agreed to withdraw his 




lcJ/aM<:^..'''<^i/t</£f/ 



OI.IVKl: < KOMWKI.I,. 



436 ENGLAND. 

support from James II. Marj' died in 1694, and William was left sole sovereign. In 
1697, Sir John Fenwick was executed on a bill of attainder, that is the Parliament 
declared him guilty of treason without any form of trial. Ever since England had 
possessed a Parliament, it had executed people on bills of attainder, and through 
them many innocent persons who had incurred the hate of the king and Parliament 
were put to death. I only mention the case of Sir John Fenwick, because he was the 
last man ever executed in England by the order of the Parliament, without a trial. 

When the war with France was over, the parliament desired William to send his 
Dutch soldiers home, but he soon had need of them, for James II. died, and Louis 
XIV. declared James Francis Edward, son of the deposed king, the lawful monarch 
of England. Before any settlement could be reached, WMlliam was thrown from his 
horse and fatally injured. He died March 8, 1702, and .\nne, the youngest daughter 
of James, wife of Prince George of Denmark, a Protestant, was crowned at the age 
of thirty-eight. 

Anne had a friend, the Duchess of Marlborough, whose husband had long 
desired to place the princess on the throne. Even while her father was king, Marl- 
borough was the earnest supporter of the Protestant princess, who was cordially dis- 
liked by James. He now became her minister, and as he was the most brilliant 
soldier and statesman in Europe, he did not long hesitate to declare the war against 
France. The Dutch and the Germans joined England against France. For many 
years after the accession of Queen Anne, England's history is a tale of battles on 
foreign soil, but as these had no effect on her after-career, and the victories and de- 
feats were alike useless to the English people, I will not relate them. Marlborough 
gained much fame in these foreign campaigns, and led the allied armies against 
France. 

It was during this period of foreign war, that .Sir George Rooke, and Sir Clouds- 
ley Shovel were sent with some English ships to watch the movements of a French 
fleet at Brest. They decided to take possession of Gibraltar, then the property 
of Spain, and with eight hundred men attacked this strong fortress and captured it. 
England still holds Gibraltar, and esteems it more valuable to her in case of war, 
than any of her foreign naval stations. Gibraltar is said to be the strongest fortress 
in the world, and with its possession, England became the virtual owner of the Medi- 
terranean sea, as Gibraltar commands the entrance. Perhaps you have heard people 
talk of tariff. Well, in the old days when the Moors were in possession of Spain, 
and up to the days of Drake, pirate vessels used to \\v. under the shelter of Gibral- 
tar, and would dart out on vessels passing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, through the Strait, and seize them. Point Tarifa, on the southern coast 
of Seville, was the place where most of these pirates lurked, and as they usually 
released the vessels they captured on the payment of ransom, it became the custom 
of seamen to "pay tariff," as they called it, for the privilege of passing unmolested 
through the Straits of Gibraltar. 

I shall tell you notliing about the plots and quarrels by which the Whigs, the 
remainder of the old Republican party in England was displaced, and the Tories or 
aristocrats gained power, for I do not think it would interest you. Neither shall I 
detail to you the movements of the queen's fleets and armies, for you are no doubt 
weary of England's wars. I shall only relate that good Queen Anne, through her 
ministers, succeeded in uniting Scotland and England in one Parliament, and made 
peace with France in such a way that any power in Europe that went to war was 



ENGLAND. 



437 



answerable to all the other powers, in case of disregard of the 

treaty. To bar out forever the Catholic successors of Kiny ypf^Mr-f^-^ 



James II., the crown was decided hereditary in the German 4s\ij,yV', 



house of Brunswick, the descendants of Henry III., through 
Henry the Lion, a German prince, who married a daughter of V 



t<\|i€' 




Pimif>liintut of liruuliaid. 



that English monarch. 

Queen Anne died after a twelve years reign, worn out by 
the incessant quarrels of the Whigs and Tories. The nonsense 
about "divine right" and "absolute kingship," went out with 
the Stuarts, and from the accession of William of Orange Eng- 
land was governed by its Parliament, much as it is at the present 
time, and its kings and queens have occupied nearly the same 
position in the government that our presidents have had. 
George I., of Brunswick, great-grandson of James I., was made 
king at Anne's death in 1714. He was not a favorite with the 
English people, and thought more of his German subjects than 
those of his new realm. Sir Robert W'al])ole gained great 
favor with the king, and the Whigs recovered power. The 
Stuart pretender to the throne gave much trouble, and escaped punishment, while 
the deluded people who were induced to take up arms in his cause were many of 
them exiled to America, and their officers were executed. 

George I. died in 1727, and his son George II. was crowned king. He had never 
been a favorite with his father, and the people were disposed to like him on that ac- 
count. His mother had been unjustly imprisoned for a long time, and this had been 
the cause of dissension between father and son. He learned to speak English, 
which his father wouUl never do, and was a brave and skillful soldier. He found 
England at war with Spain, but he made peace in 1728. For twelve years Robert 
Walpole managed his affairs. There was some trouble with taxation in that time, 
but in the main affairs went smoothly with France and Spain, until trouble arose 
because the bold English seamen would persist in carrying cargoes of merchandise 
to the Spanish colonies across the Atlantic. In consequence of this, which was 
against the Spainish laws, they were often seized by the Spanish authorities, and 
treated with great cruelty. The English were so indignant at this treatment of their 
Jack-tars, that they wanted Parliament to declare war forthwith. 

Walpole had seen enough of foreign wars to know that England usually lost 
more than she gained by them. He opposed the war, and when Admiral Vernon 
declared that if Parliament would grant him six ships, he would engage to demol- 
ish Porto Bello, the strongest port on the coast of South America, he granted him 
the vessels. Perhaps he hoped that Vernon would fail, and the war sentiment thus 
be dampened. The gallant admiral sailed away with his six ships in the summer of 
1739, and actually destroyed Porto Bello, beat the Spaniards soundly, and captured 
their brass guns, losing in the engagement eight men, and having only twelve 
wounded. Vernon had trouble with the Admiral sent out to aid him, and gained no 
more victories, though the English captured several Spanish treasure-ships in 1744. 

In 1745 England engaged in the War of the Austrian succession. I have told 
you elsewhere how Charles of Bavaria wanted to rob Maria Theresa, the Empress 
of Germany, of her Austrian States, and how Frederick the Great, and the King of 
Spain, were arrayed against her. England went to her aid, and after many defeats. 



438 



ENGLAND. 




^ 



Seainnn and Powder- Mankev 181',* 



return to ItcUicc. 



the persecuted empress regained some of her territorj-. It was 
while the English were engaged in this war that Charles Stuart, 
son of the Pretender, sold some of his jewels, and with the 
money bought a cargo of arms and ammunition. These he put 
on board a French man-of-war, and after he had seen the vessel 
put out to sea, embarked with a few friends on another ship for 
Scotland. Many of the Scotch were bitterl}- opposed to the 
union with England, and he hoped to rouse them against the 
"upstart German princess," who now ruled their ancient king- 
dom. 

The "Chevalier," as Charles was called, sailed on to .Scot- 
land with neither arms nor monej', for an English man-of-war 
had so crippled the French vessel carrying his supplies, that it 
was obliged to put back to port. When Charles had anchored 
on the west coast of Scotland, he sent for Cameron of Lochiel, 
a chief whose father and grandfather had been true to the Stuart 
cause, and whom he knew to be loj^al to him. Lochiel knew that 
the case of the Chevalier was hopeless, and advised him to 
It is said that an old Highland piper who loved the Stuarts with 
his whole heart, accompanied Lochiel in the interview with Charles. When he saw 
that the chief of his clan was refusing to engage with Charles, he paced back and 
forth on the deck, his hand on his dagger, and his face w'orking with emotion. 
Charles noticed his agitation and cried out. "Piper will you draw the sword forme?" 
"I will, I will," cried the Highlander. "If every other man in Scotland forsake 
you, I will draw sword and fight for you, aye, and die for you, too, if need be." 

Rebuked by his piper's loyalty, the noble Lochiel solemnly said: "Come weal, 
come woe, I follow my Prince." 

Lochiel antl many other brave Scottish chieftains and clansmen did follow Charles 
the Chevalier, through many a long march and bloody battle. At Dunbar, Carlisle, 
and Clifton moor they fought for their prince, and in victory or defeat never wavered 
in his cause. Perhaps you have read how before the battle of Culloden in y\pril, 1746, 
a bard warned Lochiel of disaster, and told him to beware of Culloden, that death 
and defeat were before him. It is said that the chief scorned his warning, and 
marched on to his doom. 

Culloden forever destroyed the hopes of the Chevalier. The Scotch were 
defeated and scattered, and the English pursued those who had espoused his cause 
without mercy, and laid the country waste with the same barbarity that characterized 
the revenge that Williajn the Conqueror took upon the people of Northumb(>rland 
when they revolted. The Prince who led the English gained the name "The 
Butcher," for he could not be induced to show merry to the vanquished Scots. The 
clans were disarmed, and the Scots were forbidden under heavy penalty from wearing 
the picturesque Highland costume. The Chevalier escaped in disguise to France, 
and thus ended the pretensions of the Stuarts to the throne of Scotland. Eight 
years after the defeat of the Scotch, a war arose between France and England, 
concerning the respective boundaries of their American possessions. This is known 
to us as "The French and Indian War," and while it raged in America, England, 
under the ministry of William Pitt, sent soldiers into Germany to retrieve the loss of 
Hanover, which occurred in 1757, after the defeat of the Duke of Cumberland at 



ENGLAND. 



439 




( i.fliimi'ot Englislimau in flrst part iif SVIII. Centiiry/ 



Kolin. The French lost a great portion of their Ameri- 
can territory and the West Indies. Sometime before, 
the French had made their influence supreme in India. 
There, too, they lost their supremacy. Sir Robert Clive 
captured Calcutta in 1757, and established English power 
in India. George II., died in 1760, and was succeeded by 
his grandson as George III. Assisted by the Parliament, 
the n(;w king at once began the course which led to the 
War of the Revolution in America. During the reign of 
this George, Warren Hastings was the Englisli governor 
of Inilia. Another William Pitt, the son of the minister 
by that name, was the minister to George III. He 
restored the country to prosperity, and had not the 
French Revolution shaken Europe and the whole world 
out of its calm he might have made lasting peace with 
Prance. 

W^e have seen how Napoleon arose, continued his 
marvelous career, and how it was the English who 
inflicted upon him his first and .final defeat. Napoleon 
made peace with England in 1S02, but broke it the next 
year. In 1805 gallant Lord Nelson, in his staunch ship "Victory," at the head of 
the English navy, defeated the P'rench and Spanish navy off Cape Trafalgar, and 
put an end for a time to any designs Napoleon might have conceived of invading 
England. England induced Austria and Russia to resist Napoleon, but they were 
defeated at Austerlitz in 1S05. In 1S07 the Danes were about .to yield up their 
navy to Napoleon, when by a bold stroke England seized it, and thus again frustrated 
the French emperor. 

In 1808 Sir Arthur Wellesley was sent to the Spanish peninsula to fight Na- 
poleon, who had become so mighty by this time that he was crowning his brothers 
and friends as kings of various European States, and was trying to conquer Spain 
and Portugal. Wellesley met with some defeats, but 
gained many important victories, and pressed slowly 
forward to Prance with his army, entering Napoleon's 
empire in 1S13. The king of England had now been 
insane for three years, and his son George was regent. 
On account of her many naval successes England had 
grown so haughty on the ocean, that she seized the 
seamen of other nations and made them serve in her 
navy, and committed so many objectionable acts, 
especially directed toward her North American neigh- 
bors, that the P'nited States declared war upon Great 
Britain — the war of 1S12 — and England was obliged to 
face two powerful enemies at the same time. 

Wellington held Napoleon in check in the .South, 
and after the return of the Prench emperor from his 
Russian campaign, whose outline I have sketched in 
another place, came the memorable defeat of the 
French, the banishment of the modern Ca;sar, his 




Sir Arthur Welk'sley, Duke of ■Wclllugtun. 



440 



ENGLAND. 



return, and the battle of 
Waterloo, which disposed of 
him effectually. George III. 
reigned sixty-two years, and 
in 1820 was succeeded by the 
last, weakest and worst of 
"The Four Georges." This 
monarch reigned ten years, 
and in his time the people of 
Ireland, under the leadership 
of Daniel O'Connell, began a 
movement for freetiom from 
England's Parliament, that 
untlcr the name of "Home 
Rule" is still being agitated. 
The entire reign of George 
I\'. was a contest between 
Whigs and Tories, which pos- 
sesses little interest for the 
readers of history. He died 
in 1830, and William, Duke of 
Clarence, his only son, was 
crowned king. England was 
now th(- greatest commercial 
nation in the world. The 
introduction of labor-saving 
machinery, and the increase 
of the population had reduced 
to abject poverty large masses 
of the jjeople, and as the 
introduction of machinery has 
continued up to the present 
time, the condition of the 
wage-earners in England has steadily become worse. Although in the arts and 
sciences, as well as in literature, England leads the world, and has done so since the 
beginning of the seventeenth century, a revolutionary spirit has been slowly fer- 
menting among the common people since the early part of the present century. 
William II. was much disturbed by this tendency of his subjects, in the four years of 
his reign, and constantly worried by the clamor of the Irish for what they considered 
their rights, and the agitation of various political questions. 

William helped seat little Queen Isabella on the Spanish throne, by sending her 
English soldiers to fight her uncle, Don Carlos. By conquest, which we know is 
only another name for robbery, the English had seized nearly all India before the 
accession of William. I told you how Lord Clive drove the French out of that coun- 
try, and established the English supremacy. The English had begun to trade largelj- 
in opium with the Chinese. The Chinese government saw what a debasing effect 
the use of this evil drug was having on the people, and tried to prevent the English 
from bringing it into the Empire. Nevertheless the English traders continued the 




^^W'<7<?<}4<^/'/^^iMf^W (j^/^?i»ue. 



GEORGE III. 



ENGLAND. 



441 




Xiibli-maii time uf XVIII. ( ciitui}. 



traffic in spite of the Chinese laws, and smuggled large 
quantities of opium into Chinese ports, in British men-of- 
war, protecting themselves from the Chinese officers 
with the guns of their vessels. 

The Chinese government was so determined to pro- 
tect its Pagan subjects from the curse which the Christian 
English were attempting to fasten upon them, that in 
1S39 the Mandarin of Canton, with the help of the 
Chinese army and navy, seized $20,000,000 worth of 
opium and burned it. The British seemed to care more 
tor the yellow gold which they realized from the opium 
trade than they did for the souls of the Chinese, their 
honor as a Christian nation, and the respect of interna- 
tional law. They therefore, to their lasting shame, mad' 
war upon China. This war lasted the remainder of the 
reign of William II., who died in 1837, and was followed 
on the throne by his niece, Victoria, daughter of the 
Duke of Kent. The first important eveiit of the reign 
of Victoria was a bloody, and for a time successful 
insurrection in India, in 1841, which was most barbarously avenged by the British 
army sent out for the purpose in TS42. In 1841 a treaty was made with Egypt, 
long subject to the Turks, which made that country more independent than it 
had been for ages. The trouble in Ireland continued. There had been a foolish 
law in force in Great Britain for many years that forbade the importation of wheat 
into the British Isles, and this law resulted in a dreadful famine in Ireland in 1845. 
when the crops in that country failed. The laws were finally repealed, but Ireland, 
suffering under the worst sort of governmental mismanagement, has remained dis- 
turbed to the present time. 

Queen Victoria married her cousin Albert early in her reign, and in 1S51 the 
Prince Consort, as he was called, opened the first World's E.xposition at London. 
In the same year Russia invaded Turkey, as a step forward in conquest, and England 
and France, for their own interests in the East, made a declaration of war against 
Russia two years later. Nicholas of Russia was in the habit of calling Turkey "the 
sick man," and thought perhaps that it was time that the patient died, and his effects 
were divided. He wanted the largest share himself, of course, and thought that with 
some of the Turkish territory held out as a bribe to England, he would be able to do 
as he pleased with the rest. Austria and Prussia were too weak to hinder the Czar, and 
Egypt was the price offered to England for her favor. England, as I told you, had 
made a treaty with Turkey some years before, and now saw the advantage of hold- 
ing to that agreement. With a mighty show of indignation, therefore, the English 
government refused the offer of the Czar, and sent war fleets to the Black Sea and 
the Baltic, and an army to the Crimea. On this peninsula of Crimea was a strong- 
fort and walled town, Sebastopol, in which 60,000 Russians were shut up. The Eng- 
lish, French and Turks, allied themselves to keep them there, or else by siege starve 
them into surrender. .So they surrounded the place and resolutely laid siege to it. 
There were plenty of Russians who were not shut up in Sebastopol, and these har- 
assed the camps of the besiegers until they were also nearly besieged. 

On October 25, iSs4, some one blundered in delivering an order to Lord Cardi- 



442 



ENGLAND. 



gan, and he led six hundred brave cavalrymen against a large Russian army at Bala- 
klava, just south of Sebastopol, and in a single charge lost half of his men. This 
was the famous "Charge of the Light Brigade," which was made the subject of a 
poem which has thrilled many a soldier-heart. Soon after this the besiegers were 
attacked at Inkerman, and only saved from utter destruction by the timely arrival of 
abodyof French reinforcements. TheEnglish ministrj' was bitterly reproached by the 
newspapers, and the people, for sending an army to Sebastopol, and then withholding 
the supplies and reinforcements necessary to its success. Sickness broke out in the 
far-away camp, and Florence Nightingale and many oth(;r noble-hearted English 
w^omen left their homes and went to the Crimea to nurse the sick and wounded sol- 
diers. In the autumn of 1S55, after a year of siege, Sebastopol fell, but the victory Avas 
dearly bought. Blood and treasure had been freely poured out, yet they were not 




ItoiiibarclniL'Dt of Canton by the EngtUh, 

grudged, for Russia had been checked. The Christian subjects of the Sultan were 
insured protection by all Europe. By the terms of the treaty of peace, Russian and 
Turkish ships of war were also banished from the Black Sea, and the Danube river- 
provinces were declared free from Russia. 

In 1S57 the Chinese authorities seized an English smuggling vessel, which by the 
terms of the treaty that China had concluded with England, was a defiant law-breaker. 
The vessel was laden with opium, and the seizure was perfectly lawful. That made 
no difference with the English Governor of Hong Kong. The English had never 
respected Chinese law, except when it suited their convenience, and the existence of 
a treaty, was not a serious obstacle to the Governor of 1 IfMig Kong. He sailed into 
the harbor of Canton with his men-of-war, and poured shot and shell upon the city, 
until it was in a state of ruin, and thus began another unrighteous war with China. 



E\GLAM). 



443 



In the meantime England was having trouble in India. The East India Com- 
pany, to whom the Government had made a grant of Calcutta nearly two hundred 
years before, built a fort which the Government obligingly filled with soldiers for 




QUEEN VICTORIA. 

them. A little later the company bought thirty-seven more Indian towns, then 
finding it more profitable to rob than to buy, drove out the native princes on one 
pretext or another, and seized their provinces. By a system of robbery, and a series 



4W 



ENGLAND. 




.hi H Watt Discovers the Power of Stt 



of petty but bloody wars, 
England had become the 
conqueror and possessor of 
nearly all I lindostan, at the 
beginning of the year 1S54. 
You must remember that 
the people whom they con- 
quered were not savages, 
but a highly civilized, intel- 
ligent and industrious Aryan 
race, who for a thousand 
years at least, had been a 
manufacturing and com- 
mercial people, and had 
built great cities. They 
were Pagans, it is true, and 
it may be that the Chris- 
tianizing that they have 
been forced to accept in its 
influence and teaching, will 
make them one of the 

worUl's great nations, as slavery is not the manifest destiny of the Aryan. The 

India Company had trained a large body of native soldiers to preserve order 

in the country. These natives, Sepoys as they were called, were faithful fellows who 

loved their English officers and obeyed 

them willingly. They were proud of 

their trust and of certain favors shown 

them by the Government. In 1S2S 

England appointed Lord Bentinck 

Governor-General of India. His bad 

management of affairs caused the 

Sepoys to lose their respect for their 

officers, and become discontented and 

hard to manage. The Government 

recalled Bentinck, and sent Lord Dal- 

housie to India in hisstead. Dalhousie 

was determined to ''keep the natives 

down," and further irritated the Sepoys 

by depriving them of all their privi- 
leges. He was haughty and stern, and 

made the English rule l)itterly oppres- 
sive. At length in 1850, Dalhousie 

seized on the dominions of the King of 

Oude, and annexed them to England's 

possessions. Every native chief and 

prince saw in the act a menace to his 

own dominions. The Sepoys were 

soon after furnished with a new kind ukhard Arkwri^ht, ihi imem^i oi ilc ■ .-j.mi.iug jeuuy.- 




ENGLAND. 



445 




of cartridge, which when used was greased with 
mutton-tat. The deposed king of Oude and his 
friends made the Sepoys believe that the fat 
used on the cartridges was that of swine and 
cows, polluted and unclean things to a Hindoo. 
When a regiment of the Sepoys refused to use 
the cartridges, Dalhousie scorned to explain 
that they were greased with niutton-f.it, and 
might be usetl by Hindoos without pjllation, 
but imprisoned one hundred of the them. 
This was the beginning of dreadful days for the 
English in India. The Sepoys mutinied in a 
body, and received large reinforcements. Be- 
ginning with their officers, they murdered every 
European upon whom they could seize, and then 
laid siege to Cawnpore. When they took the 
city they massacreti the whole European popu- 
lation, and triumphantly pressed on to Lucknow, 
the capital of the kingilom of Oude. 

There was but a small garrison at Lucknow. 
but knowing what tate woukl await them should 
the place be captured, they resolved to hold 
it to the last extremity. They had learned that 
Sir Colin Campbell would l)e able to relieve 
them if they could hold the place for fifteen days. Amid the greatest horrors of 
famine, heat, thirst, and siege, with disease and death, thinning their ranks every day, 
the brave little force maiotained the defense for eighty-seven days, until the reinforce- 
ments sent to their relief had fought their way to them. The able Scotch veteran. 
Sir Colin Campbell, put down the mutiny after two years of struggle. All of Lidia 
thereupon became the property of England in 1858, and Victoria assumed the crown 
and title of Empress of Intlia. The war with China had been carried briskly forward. 
In i860 Pekin was captured, and the Chinese agreed to peace. Since that time China 
has had free commercial intercourse with every nation, and out of the great wrong 
England did the Empire, has been brought forth gootl fruit as well as evil. 

When the war between the North and .South liroke out in America, the English 
aided the South with money, ships and supplies. The privateers fitted out by Eng- 
land did so much damage to the commerce of the United States that a war with 
Great Britain came near being the result. At one time during the struggle between 
the Union and the Confederate States, England ordered an army into Canada, to 
invade the United States from the North. The occasion of this action was because 
the United States government had taken from an English vessel two rebel commis- 
sioners who were going to Europe to solicit aid for the Confederates. England was 
so anxious to attack America that she did not ask an explanation of the act from 
the United States, but the government of our country disavowed the act, restored 
the commissioners to an English vessel, and the British had then not the least 
shadow of an excuse to fight the United .States. The failure of the Confederates 
taught Englaad a lesson not to interfere in quarrels where her own interests were not 



WILLIAM E GLADSTOS'E. 



446 EX'GLAXD. 

concerned, and when the triple alliance between Austria, Germany and Italy was 
formed, England held aloof from it. 

At the present time Home Rule in Ireland, the English occupation of Egypt, 
and the labor and tariff issues are the most important features in English politics. 
With Gibraltar in English possession, and Egypt filled with English soldiers, che 
Mediterranean Sea is to all purposes an English lake. The English control also the 
Suez Canal, which the Erench built to connect the waters of. the Red Sea and the 
Mediterranean, and this, together with conflicting interests in Egypt, has created a 
rather hostile feeling between the two countries. Russia has long looked with 
covetous eyes on England's possessions in India, and little by little has attempted to 
advance its frontier. Both France and Russia, therefore, are carefully watched, and 
Egypt has proven a little refractory of late, which may be due to intrigues with 
cither or both countries, favored by Turkey. England's relations with the United 
States have been in the main pleasant for several years, though there have been at 
times complications arising over the rights of British sealers to fish in American 
waters. 

At home England has grown more liberal in sentiment with every passing year, 
and there has been recently much talk by the English press of abolishing altogether 
the House of Lords of the Parliament. Victoria's reign of fifty-si.K years has been 
eventful for the country, and she is conceded the rnost able sovereign that the country 
has had since the days of Elizabeth. The Prince of Wales is the ne.\t in the line of 
the succession, but as he is already well along in years, and has lived a dissipated life, 
there is little probability of his ever wearing the crown. By the death of his eldest 
son, Albert X'ictor, his second son, Prince George, an able and popular prince, has 
become the heir apparent to the crown. He is a great favorite with the people, who 
are not well disposed toward his father on account of the many scandals that have 
attached to him, and as a sovereign, may be able to stem the tide that is rapidly 
bearing England toward Democracy. 



.i- -LJ :L^ 






EFhWMl Y 






.:X^: 







i:iF=T?=n:^ i-Hiih-t HduirdJ— iin-r-FTT 



^ A o ic.r'C'C'F^-f' 



HE GERMANS were probably the last of 
the Aryan races to enter Europe, and they 
came from Asia across the great table-land 
which we call Russia, and made their homes 
upon the shores of the Baltic Sea, in Scandinavia. It was natural, after awhile, 
that they should move southward, and they gradually drove before them the 
Celtic tribes that they found in Germany, and settled in its forests, and along the 
shores of its great rivers. 

It is not until the fnurth century before Christ, when Greek civilization was old, 
that we first hear of the Germans. When the Romans became acquainted with 
them, they were divided into Franks, or Freemen; .Saxons, so-called from a peculiar 
sword, seax, which they wore; Lombards, or "long beards;" and several smaller tribes, 
such as Thuringians, Bavarians and Burgundians. The Romans called them "Gcr-' 
mans," because they were such lusty shouters in battle, for that is the meaning of 
the word, and the Germans called themselves then, as they do now, "Deutsch," 
because they declared that a cerlain Tuisco, whose name was probably corrupted into 
"Deutsch," w'as the divine founder of their nation. 

The Germans attempted to conquer those Gaulish races settled upon the southern 
side of the Alps, and penetrated into the heart of Italy. Two centuries after we 
first hear of them, Rome had been engaged twelve years in defending from them its 
northern provinces. 

When Caesar was made Consul, Ariovistus was at the head of a confederation of 
120,000 Germans firmly fastened upon Gaul. Ca;sar drove all of the barbarians 
hostile to Rome that he could not conquer, across the river Rhine. Among the tribes 
that he subdued and allowed to remain in Gaul were the Belgians, and a few other 
then insignificant peoples, and those were long the allies of Rome, but the Rhine 
continued the boundary of Roman Gaul for ages. 

Notwithstanding that the German tribes remained free of Roman power, Roman 
civilization gradually spread among them, although they preserved their own national 
characteristics. They remained for centuries so passionately attached to the idea of 
freedom that they could not be united into one government, and only joined forces 
to repel foreign invaders. They had their nobles, freemen and slaves, like most 
primitive nations, and family life was peculiarly sacred among them. They were 
constant, faithful and loyal, pure-minded and warm-hearted. 



448 



GERMANY. 



mM 



The religion of the early 
Germans and Scandinavians 
was very similar, and in 
telling you about the North- 
men I have described their 
poetic faich, and you have, 
no doubt, noticed how su- 
perior it was to the Dru- 
idism of the Celts, with its 
bloodysacrificesand strange 
ceremonies. 

W'e have followed the 
fortunes of the Vandals, 
Goths and Franks, and 
learned what intluence civ- 
ilization and Christianity 
had upon them, but the 
Germans across the Rhine 
were still heathens up to 
the time of Charlemagne. 
He subjected the other 
principal German tribes, 
and then made successful 
war upon the Saxons. Char- 
lemagne also subdued the 
Sclavs, who had followed 
upon the heels of the Ger- 
mans in their southern mi- 
gralicjn, and laid the foun- 
dation of the Austrian Em- 
pire by driving out the Huns 
(who had settled in that portion of Southern Gaul, and had established a kingdom 
between the Ems River and the Raab) and placing Bavarian colonists in their stead. 
Charlemagne's dominion included all of the Germans except the Angles, Saxons, 
and the Northmen of Scandinavia, and these long remained free. 

When Charlemagne died, his empire was divided, as I have told you in the story 
of France. In Northwestern Europe a new language made up of Roman and 
German elements had gradually grown up. In Eastern Gaul the native German, a 
noble tongue that had for centuries been used in poetry and song, though not as a 
written language, remained the speech of the peciple. Thus the different languages 
spoken in the East and West of Gaul, formed a natural barrier between the people 
of the two sections. The Lombards, too, had made the Italian language of German 
and other elements, and the Visigoths developed the Spanish and Portuguese, from 
a Germanic, Celtic, Latin, and Arab mixture. 

The first Emperor of the Germans was Lewis, son of Louis the Dcbonnaire, 
and after him his two sons, Carloman and Lewis, who had brief reigns, then the 
youngest of his sons, Charles the Fat, united the kingdoms of France, Germany 
and Italy into one empire. He was a weak ruler, who could make no head-way 




ArnillllUHin Ihe TeiitMnberg Kurest l>(;fen(lnK Hi'* K<>innii LetrloiiB riidiT Varus. 



GERMANY. 449 

against the disorders assailing his vast empire. In the East the Sclavs founded a 
kingdom, and on the North Northmen and Danes harrassed Germany and France, 
while the empire itself was so badly governed that the great lords in their strong- 
holds, surrounded by desperate and half-savage men, became robber-chiefs of the 
worst kind. At last the German nobles who had the welfare of the Fatherland at 
heart, deposed Charles, and placed upon the throne a certain Arnulf, of the province 
of Carinthia, in Sou lern Germany. 

Arnulf seems to have been filled with the mighty spirit of Charlemagne. He 
scourged the Northmen out of Germany, conquered the Sclavic kingdom, and 
regained Bohemia, but he died in the year 88g, and left his kingdom to his little son 
Lewis. 

The regent who conducted the affairs of the empire of "Lewis the Child," as he 
is called in history, was the cruel Bishop Hatto of Mayence. There was a famine in 
Europe during his regency, for famine often occurred in those early days, before 
commerce was sufficient with foreign countries to supply the needs of the people in 
time of scarcity. In Germany there was great distress, and the poor died by 
thousands. 

A legend relates that the wicked Hatto enticed into a great barn a multitude of 
the poor who had come to him to beg bread, and then mocking at their suffering he 
called them "vermin, who were fit for nothing but to consume corn," and setting the 
barn on fire, burned them all to death. After awhile, unnumbered rats and mice 
sprang up, and gathering in a great army, pursued the bishop. In vain Hatto sprang 
into the Rhine and swam to his tower on an island in the stream, opposite Bingen. 
The rats and mice followed him into his strong fortress, assailed him by the 
thousands, and devoured him there. 

"Tliey have whetted their teeth against the stones, 
And now they gnaw the bishop's bones. 
They gn.awed tlie flesh from every Unib, 
For they were sent to do judgment on liini." 

History says that Hatto was not so cruel as the legends make him out, but that 
he was obliged to be severe in dealing with the unruly people, in order to uphold the 
king's authority, and but for him Germany would have been wrecked. 

Arnulf had received help in his wars against the Sclavs, from a Finnish tribe, 
called Magyars, and during the reign of Lewis the Child, these Magyars, who had 
many of the characteristics of the Huns, terrorized all Germany, and overran the 
kingdom to the borders of Saxony and Lorraine. Alsace, one of the provinces 
lying between France and Germany, was gained by Conrad I., the Emperor who 
followed Lewis the Child upon the German throne, in the year gii, but Lorraine 
became French territory about the same time. Conrad I. was a noble, gentle, 
patriotic man. antl when he died, after a reign of seven years, in order that Germany 
might not be torn with civil strife, he bequeathed the crown to Henry, Duke of 
Saxony, his life-long enemy. 

As soon as Conrad was dead, the electors, who were the nobles of Germany that 
formed the State Council, according to Conrad's wish, elected Henry to be their 
king, and sent a messenger to tell him of his new dignity. Henry was greatly 
surprised when he heard of Conrad's death and the decision of the Council. He 
was hunting in the Hartz Mountains when the messengers found him, and as he had 
his falcon on his wrist, he»was afterward called Henry the Fowler. This name was ap- 



450 



GERMANY. 




Gfrimin Duke and Lni1l(>»(. 



propriate because Henry was fond of bird-catching 
which was a favorite sport in those days, to which 
tame hawks were trained. 

Henry the Fowler was not a mere sportsman. 
He was, as I have told you, a Saxon, and he had all 
of the best characteristics of that noble people. He 
was firm, patient, and brave, and was moreover so 
handsome and winning that the warm-hearted Ger- 
mans forgot that he and Conrad I., had been enemies, 
and loved him and his fair wife Bertha with all fealty. 
The Hungarians had hjng troubled Germany, and as 
their strength consisted in cavalry, Henry determined 
to train soldiers to fight them in their own manner. 
By a lucky accident he gained possession of the per- 
son of one of their most powerful chiefs, and suc- 
ceeded in securing from him, as a contlition of iiis 
release, a promise of peace for nine years, by paying 
tribute of a certain sum of money each year. There 
were some of the Germans who were very angry on account of this tribute, 
but Henry the Fowler had a purpose in it. He set himself earnestly to work to 
strengthen Germany. Along the frontier he built strong forts which were filled with 
garrisons and provisions in this way: Every ninth man was required by the king to 
live in the fortress, or burgh, as the Germans called it, and to train himself to arms, 
while the other eight tilled the soil, and deposited in the burgh one-third of the pro- 
duct of their labor for the support of the garrison, and for use in time of war. 

Realizing what a protection these burghs were, the people built houses close to 
them, and formed ttnvns, around which they erected strong walls. The dwellers in 
these towns were called burghers. When Henry had conquered the Wends, a tribe 
to the northeast of Germany, and had seized on Lorraine, that old, old, bone of con- 
tention with France, he defied the Hungarians, who sent to him for the usual tribute 
by offering them a dead dog instead, to show them in what contempt he held them. 
The Hungarians at once poured down upon Germany, but the strong burghs success- 
fully resisted them, and Henry's cavalry, in a great battle near Merseburg, killed 
thirty thousand of the invaders, and drove the others back to the borders of their 
own country. 

It is said that Henry the Fowler instituted knighthood, and was himself the ex- 
ample of what it should be, and he is credited, too, with originating the feudal sys- 
tem, though we have already seen that feudalism grew up out of the mutual 
dependence of the common people and the nobles. 

Germany prospered under Henry for twelve years, though of course not without 
frequent wars among the fierce German nobles. When Henry died, his son Otto 
was chosen as ruler. In the nineteenth year of Otto's reign the Hungarians invaded 
Germany in a great horde, making horrid threats of what they meant to do, and in- 
flicting barbarous cruelties on the poor defenseless villages through which they 
passed. The)' were almost savages, and had no experience in besieging walled 
towns. They were much dismayed when they arrived before Augsburg, to find that 
not only a wall (then recently r<"built from the ruins of an old Roman wall) but a 
deep, wide ditch also surrounded the place. In vain the chiefs tried to force their 



("xERMAXY. 



451 




Italian sohulars and Gi-rman Hurt 



followers, under the lash, to swim or wade the tlitch. 
They were thrown intu confusion, and as they imag- 
ined that the citizens, like themselves, had no means 
of crossing the moat, they were expecting no attack, 
when to their surprise a draw-bridge was let down. 
The (lermans poured out upon them, and in the 
battle that followed a hundred thousand of the Hun- 
garians were killed, if we are to believe the old 
chroniclers, but it is not always safe to trust them 
when it comes to figures. At all events the Germans 
gained a great victory, ami the Ilungarians there- 
after made no more raids into Germany. 

Otto I., had a taste for magnificence, and lived 
in a luxury before unknown in Germany, and his 
bishops and nobles imitated him. I lis son. Otto II., 
married a Greek princess, who introduced even 
greater luxury, as well as a taste for art and good 
books. Otto I., was called "Otto the Great, 'because 
he brought Denmark under tribute, subduetl the 
Lombards in Italy, and was crowned with their diadem, in which was 
wrought a nail, said to have been taken from the cross of Christ, and was 
therefore calleil the "Iron Crown." He was also crowned with the golden crown of 
Rome, thus laying the foundation of great trouble, both in Germany and Italy. 
Otto the Great reigned thirty-seven years, and was succeeded by Otto II., who 
reigned but nine years, and who, when he died, left his throne to his baby son. Otto 
III. Otto III., grew up to be a very remarkable man, but he was poisoned by a wo- 
man whom the Germans had deeply wronged, when he was two-and-twenty, and was 
succeeded in 1003 by his cousin Henry, called The Saint, on account of his piety, who 
was the last Saxon king of Germany. 

You have noticed that the German kings were not hereditary, but were elected 
to the crown, usually front some one great family. Henry the .Saint was the first of 
the German kings to take the title of the Emperor of the Romans, and the next 
German sovereign, Conrad I., and many who came after bore the same title. This 
Conrad I., hated the feudal system that made the common people of Germany slaves 
to the great lords, and would have done away with it if it had been possible. He 
was of the race of Salic Franks, and during his own lifetime made his son Henry the 
king of Burgundy, that kingdom that Clovis had coveted, and which had been the 
cause of many wars since the days of Charlemagne. 

The Holy Roman Empire gave much trouble to Henry III., king of Germany, 
who succeeded to his father's crown after he had been for several years ruler in Bur- 
gundy. The popes in those days, though claiming to hold power direct from God, 
were vain, ambitious, quarrelsome fellows, who had as many vices, often more than 
ordinary people, and seemed to take delight in stirring up Europe. When Henry 
III., died he left his kingdom to his little son, Henry I"V., a boy of six. 

It is a sad thing for a child to be orphaned at such an early age, but much more 
sad \^hen that child is the destined king of a great country. Little Henry IV., had a 
beautiful and loving mother, but she was not fitted to rule Germany until her son 
became of age, and the regency was a heavy burden for such a gentle creature as 



452 GERMANY. 

was the Empress Agnes, the widow of Henry III., who had been left in charge of tlie 
empire and the young ruler. 

When her turbulent nobles quarreled and fought with each other, she did not 
reduce them to submission but tried to persuade them to agree together, and they 
only ridiculed her and were more unruly than ever. In those days the bishops and 
archbishops in Germany, lived like princes, ruling over certain cities with royal 
power, and only pr.ying tribute and homage to the king, like the great dukes and 
vassals of the crown. 

Two of these archbishops. Anno and Siegfried, determined to steal little Henry 
and bring him up together, so that they might make him the instrument by which 
they might add to their already great power and wealth. Accordingly they went to 
visit Agnes and her little son who were spending :he Easter season at a castle upon 
an island in the river Rhine. The Empress entertained her guests hospitably, and 
after they had dined in magnihcent state in th-^. great hall, the bishops proposed a 
stroll in the open air with the empress and her attendants and little Henry. They 
contrived to separate the young king from the rest of the party, and lured him on 
board their beautiful boat, which he had 'viewed with delight from the shore. 

So absorbed was the lad in the examination of the wonders of the fairy-like 
craft, that he did not notice that the rope that moored it had been cut. the sail spread, 
and the rowers were dipping their oars into the water, until he saw his motiier run- 
ning up and down on shore, shrieking and wringing her hands, and heard the 
attendants shout at the archbishops, and command them to put back to the shore at 
once. Then indeed he observed that the vessel was in mid-stream and sailing 
swiftly away from the island. 

The poor lad had no doubt heard of little princes who had been cruelly mur- 
dered, and thinking, p(;rhaps, that this was to be his own fate, sprang into the water, 
with some wild idea of swimming back to his frantic mother. He was promptly 
rescued by one of the rowers, and carried up to the city of Cologne by the archbishops 
where he was compelled to divide his time between them. 

The German dukes made a great out-cry about the conduct of the two arch- 
bishops, but they were pacified by the bribes that the wily plotters, who remained 
in possession of the king's person, compelled the young king to bestov.' upon them. 
Poor Henry had a hard time of it between the two stern archbishops. If they had 
ever been young themselves, they seemed to have forgotten it, and behaved as though 
they had an idea that a boy should do nothing but study long, tedious lessons, and 
mumble Latin prayers. They would not allow him to have any companions of his 
own age, and it is no wonder that Henry grew to hate them both after awhile. 

When the archbishops became convinced that their scheme of getting wealth 
and honors from Henry when he was grown up, would fail if they continued their 
severe course with him, they took Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen into their 
partnership. 

Adalbert was as jolly a priest as ever fattened upon other people's substance. He 
ate prodigiously, drank more, laughed, danced, cracked jokes, spent money like 
water, as is often the custom of people who spend what others earn, and Henry, who 
was now transferred to his k..^ping, led an exceedingly merry life for some years, 
gathering about him a train of wild young blades like himself, who spent with him 
the income of his kingdom, and flattered and spoiled him. 

When Henr)- was about sixteen years old. Archbishop Anno wanted him to come 



GERMANY. 



453 



back to him, for Adalbert had gained too much influence over tlie king to suit tlie 
other two churchmen, but Henry flatly refused to leave Adalbert. Anno ,»^as not to 
be balked in destroying Adalbert's influence, so he called a parliament of the German 




nobles who offered Henry his choice of giving up Adalbert or his kingdom. As 
Adalbert had no use for him without his realm, he was obliged to yield. Anno then 
compelled him to marry a homely girl, whom he hated and treated with brutal 



454 GERMANY. 

unkindness. After a time two sons were born to Henry and his wife. Bertiia of Susa. 
Tliese growing up in a loveless home, became as undutiful to their father, as he was 
unkind to his unhappy wife. As soon as Henrj- thought he was secure enough in his king- 
dom to punish the lords who had forced him to his marriage, and to revenge himself 
upon Anno, he attempted to do so. They carried their grievances to the Pope, 
who summoned Henry to come to Rome and answer to the charges they preferred 
against him. Now, the Pope was a low-born fellow, mightily puffed up with pride on 
account of the high station that he had achieved. Henry was the son of a king, and 
the descendant of a great and ancient family. He scorned to obey a Pope who was 
the son of a vulgar carpenter. He went even further, he called his bishops together, 
and caused them to declare that the Pope was no Pope at all, and they named another 
man to the office. 

When the Pope heard of these proceedings, he cursed Henry from the crown of 
his head to the sole of his feet, sleepmg or waking, in every act and everj' thought — 
Christian, wasn't it — and in turn declared that Henry was no longer king. He paid 
no attention to this curse at first, but it had a dire effect in his kingdom. His great 
nobles and bishops now had a prete.xt for deserting him, and they did so, and at last 
he found that of all those who had flattered and fawned upon him, only one knight 
remained true. His despised and neglected wife, Bertha, supported her husband 
nobly in his hour of trial. She offered to go with him to Rome to make his peace 
with the Pope, for his nobles had set up his brother-in-law, Rudolf, as king, and his 
case was well-nigh desperate. . 

Accortlingly in the dead of the bitter winter of the year 1076, a winter so cold 
that no man then living could remember another of like severity, Henrj- set off for 
Rome, with Bertha, her infant son and a single attendant. Over the deep snows 
of the St. Bernard pass, across Lake Geneva, then frozen completely over, the little 
part}' traveled, the brave queen enduring all the hardships uncomplainingly, and 
cheering her* husband when he was wear}' and disheartened. They tinaily arrived 
safely at the castle of Canossa, where the Pope was then staj'ing. 

The Pope, Gregory YH., refused at first to see Henry, and commanded him to 
do penance, as though being obliged to humble himself thus far was not enough. 
Gregory obliged the king to lay aside his royal robes and ordered him to stand bare- 
footed and bare-headed, clad onl)' in a white linen garment, waiting, fasting and 
praj'ing, at the outer gate of the castle until he should admit him. The ground was 
covered with snow, and the winds blew cold and piercing, but Henry did as he was 
required, and for three whole days without touching a morsel of food, he paced back 
and forth to keep from freezing, and on the fourth day the Pope commanded him to 
enter his presence. 

Henry had shown himself properly obedient, but the Pope would not forgive 
him but only suspended the curse until he should have a formal trial. The haughty 
Pope had rather overdone the matter now. The Germans justly thought that in 
treating their king with such indignity, Gregory had purposed to insult the whole 
nation. Henry was the king of the Lombards, too, and although they did not love 
him overmuch, they loved the Pope less, and took the part of their sovereign, urging 
iiim to avenge the insults he had received. When he returned to Germany, many of 
his lords rallied about him seeing a chance of their favorite sport, war. The Pope 
now cursed Henry with the bitterest curse that he could think of, and sent his rival 
Rudolf, a golden crown. Henry again crossed the Alps, this time with an army, took 



456 GER.MAXY. 

Rome, drove out the Pope and set up a new one, who crowned him emperor of the 
Romans in 1084. 

Alas for the unhappy Henry I\M In his own household his two sons were his 
bitter foes. Conrad rebelled in Italy, but died shortly after. Henry, the emperor's 
best beloved child, was determined to seize his father's throne during his father's 
life. The emperor had reigned nearly fifty years, and was so hale that he might live 
many years longer. In vain Henry pleaded with his son to spare him the pain of 
punishing him as a traitor. The younger Henry marched against his father with an 
army. The Emperor's troops deserted him, and he fled alone and on foot to take 
refuge with a faithful knight whom he knew he could trust. There he was found by 
messengers from his son, who commanded him to deliver the crown and jewels to 
them to carry to their master. It is said that the white-haired emperor, dressed 
himself in his robes of state, put on his glittering ornaments, and with majestic step 
appeared before the messengers, and in a dignified speech upbraided them with their 
treason. He told them that the crown and jewels he wore had been borne by tlie 
great Charlemagne, the annointed and appointed of Gotl as the ruler of the world, 
and cursed the hand that would pluck them by force from the person of a consecrated 
king. 

The messengers jeered at the old man, tore the jewels from him, and dragged 
him to a gloomy prison at Bingen. There he was treated with great cruelty, and 
was so scantily fed, that to keep himself from starvation he sold one by one all of the 
articles of clothing that he could spare, and even parted with liis only pair of boots 
for money to buy bread. 

Bertha, poor, faithful, unloved wife, was dead long ago, and the memory of how 
he had requited her affection must have been a sharp thorn in the pillow of the 
unhappy captive king. After weary months of imj^risonment llcnry I\'. escaped, 
and clad in a beggarly dress made his way to Liege, bearing with him his signet 
ring, which no stress of poverty could make him yield, and the good sword witii 
which he had been girded knight. The kind bishop of that city received the poor 
emperor, now no longer sovereign, for his son had made him sign a relinquishment 
of his rights the year before. With him Henry lived a few months, a weary and 
broken-hearted man who longed for nothing but the death that would bring him 
forgetfulness of his sorrows. It came at last, and his parting words were of forgive- 
ness for his unnatural son, and his last act was to place in the hands of a messenger 
his sword and signet ring, that they might be carried to Henry V. in token of pardon. 
Thus the death of Henry IV. was more noble than his life, and we can not but ijity 
the man whose early training bore such bitter fruit. 

Though Henry V. was soon engaged in a quarrel with the Pope, he left his 
father's body without Christian burial for five years, until the curse was removed 
from it. I*"or sixteen years he quarreled with his nobles and the Pope, and then died 
a disappointed man, and no one pitied him or wept for him, for the people remem- 
bered how Henry IV. had suffered. Henry V. left no children, and his wife Matilda, 
daughter of the English sovereign, married Geoffery of Anjou, and became the 
mother of the Plantagenet kings of England. 

I told you that when Henry IV. crossed the Alps in mid-winter with his wife and 
child, a single knight went with him. The name of this faithful knight was Frederick 
of Buren, and he received for his fidelity the daughter of the emperor in marriage. 
In after-days this I'rederick built himself a castle on the top of a hill in .Suabia. near 



GERMANY. 



457 




Fiuiii), .If (; Tin. ill Kniflit, 



in Germany, so Conrad and 



the river Rems. The hill was called the Hohenstaufen, 
and about the castle there grew up a town that received 
the name of Waiblinger. Frederick was Duke of 
Suabia, and on account of his castle and village, he 
was called Frederick Hohenstaufen, the Waiblinger. 
The Italians called Waiblinger "Ghibelline," as they 
called Welf "Guelph," and that was the origin of the 
words that became the battle-cry on many a bloody 
field. After the death of Henry V., Lothaire, Uuke of 
Saxony, was chosen king, though Frederick of Hohen- 
staufen, and his son Conrad, being connectetl with the 
former royal house, bitterly opposed him. There was 
at this time a Duke of Bavaria called I lenry the Proud, 
a descendant of that Count Welf, or Guelph, as we 
shall henceforth call him, whose daughter Judith mar- 
ried Louis the Debonnaire, of France, and who was 
the mother of Charles the Bald. This Henry sup- 
ported the claims of Lothaire, who in return gave him 
so much land that he was the most powerful knight 
Frederick (jhibelline submitted after a time. 

When Lothaire died in 113S, A. D., Henry the Proud wanted to be crowned 
emperor, but the German princes chose Conrad Hohenstaufen, who was now the 
head of the family, his father being dead. Henry the Proud at once took up arms 
to fight the new emperor, but he soon died, and the Guelphs were led by his son, 
Henry the Lion. So much blood has been shed for that glittering bauble, a kingly 
crown, that it is no wonder that the head is uneasy that wears it. The Guelphs and 
Ghibellines fought fiercely over it. At one time during the long struggle the town 
of Weinsberg was besieged by Conrad III. The people held out so long, antl de- 
fended the place so gallantly, that the Suabian Conrad swore that when it fell he 
would put the whole garrison to death. 

At last there was no more food in the town, and it was obliged to surrender. 
Conrad III. told those who came to him to treat for the capitulation, and told them 
with a mighty German oath, that only the women, carrying their choicest valuables, 
would be allowed to leave the town, and left to the imagination what woukl be the 
fate of the men, for those were merciless days. Soon the gates were opened. The 
first woman to come forth was the Countess Ida of Guelph, and behind her were all 
of the women of Weinsberg, each carrying pick-a-back, father, husband, or lover, as 
their choicest valuables. Very laughable it must have been to see the brawny, red- 
faced, bearded soldiers thus borne, and the hearts of the poor fellows in the town 
who had no female friends or relatives must have been heavy enough at the pros- 
pect that Conrad had held out to them. It was no joke to the men and women of 
Weinsberg, for Conrad might withdraw his promise, when he saw the choice of "val- 
uables" that had been made, but he was both amused and touched by the fidelity of 
the women, and they were permitted to carry their "valuables" away in triumph. He 
spared the town, too, greatly to his credit. 

In the story of France, I told you about the first crusade, "and that it ended 
with the crowning of Godfrey as king of Jerusalem. In the year iioo Godfrey died, 
and his brother, Count Baldwin of Flanders, became king. The Moslems harassed 



458 GERMANY. 

the Christians in Jerusalem, and took their fortresses in Palestine from them one by 
one. At length a pious abbot of Burgundy stirred up the Christians of Europe to a 
second crusade. Conrad III. did not desire to go, but his great nobles were, for the 
time, at peace. Since they must fight, and were never happy unless laying about 
them with sword and lance, he concluded that it would be much better for them to 
fight Turks than Christians, so he gathered the most turbulent and warlike spirits, 
and with seventy' thousand men joined the French king, Eouis VII., in an expedition 
to the Holy Land. 

There were 900,000 men in the great army, but the treacherous Greek emperor 
led the German host into a waterless desert, where the Turks fell upon them, and 
killed nearly a tenth of them in a single battle. The army thinned by disease, 
starvation and the swords of the Moslems, was defeated before Damascus, and but a 
feeble remnant of the great host returned to Europe. Nevertheless Germany gained 
by this crusade, for many of its quarrelsome lords, who left their country for their 
country's good, were killed or died in Asia, and those who returned had learned 
much by contact with foreign civilization. Conrad III. won great fame as a soldier, 
but his fame could not restore his health, shattered by hard-ship, and he died the 
year after his return, his nephew, Frederick Barbarossa being elected to succeed 
him. 

This Frederick Redbeard (Barbarrossa) was a hero like Charlemagne, and his 
deeds have been the subject of song and story. The fight between the Guelphs and 
Ghibellines went fiercely on, and Frederick was anxious to end it. Conrad III. had 
wrested from his enemy Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria, his two provinces, 
Bavaria and Saxony. Barbarossa gave them back to Henry, and made the haughty 
Duke his intimate friend. 

The claims of the German emperors over Italy was distasteful enough to many 
of the Lombards, and especially to the rich Lombard cities. They saw no reason 
why a foreign king should be forever mixing in their affairs, and Milan, to protect 
what she considered her rights, trained a large body of citizens as soldiers. When 
Milan thought itself strong enough to successfully resist the emperor, the citizens 
refused to send him the usual tribute of money and men, and he marched against 
them with a large army. After destroying two cities that had joined Milan in the 
revolt, peace was brought about through the interference of the Pope, but he and 
the emperor fell to quarreling over some property (the Pope looked sharp after 
worldly goods) and almost came to blows. Soon the beligerent Pope died, and two 
Popes were elected, as if one was not a great plenty. The em[jeror was friendly to 
one of these, and the former Pope's friends to the other, and the two "X'ice Regents 
of Christ" cursed each other with all the solemnity with which they could invest 
such a wicked proceeding, and each cursed all the followers of the other, so the? 
whole of Christian Europe rested under the curse of one Pope or the other, but 
because neither party was none the worse off on account of it, each thought that the 
other had not the power from on high to do the cursing properly, as though the 
Creator of the Universe would grant to any living creature such an unholy power 
over another. 

When Barbarossa considered that it would be safe to leave his new Pope and the 
Italian cities, he returned to Germany, for the German dukes took advantage of his 
absence to stir up trouble, and no sooner hatl he settled home affairs than he was 
obliged to go back to Italy, for Milan had again revolted. 



GERMANY. 



45y 



The emperor besieged the unruly city for three years and a half, captured and 
totally destroyed it thereby striking such terror to the other Lombard cities, that 
they humbly submitted. The Pope that the emperor favored was now dead, and he 







set up another. The opposition Pope had taken refuge in France, and Barbarossa 
thought that he would make no more trouble, but he did. When Frederick, like an 
imperial pendulum, had swung back into Germany, the troublesome Pope came over 



46o 



GERMANY. 




liointiu i'uiitiff and r;rrmjin Kniperur. 



from France, stirred up revolt anew, and Frederick was 
obliged again to swing back into Italy. So matters 
went on for several years, when the emperor had suc- 
ceeded in restoring peace in Italy, trouble invariably 
broke out in Germany, and by the time he had brought 
Germany into O'-der, Italy was in a turmoil. To do 
Frederick credit, ne was a just, chivalrous and generous 
enemy, and treated the Lombard cities with great 
leniency, when he at last subdued them. 

In one of these campaigns in Italy, Henry tl' ■; Lion, 
whom Barbarossa had striven to bind closely to his 
interests, accompanied the emperor with a large Guelph 
or Bavarian army. Some time before Barbarossa had 
received by will, certain lands from Duke Guelph VI., 
one of those who had been carried pick-a-back, from 
Weinsberg, in the days of Conrad III. This duke 
Guelph, was the uncle of Henry the Lion, and was a 
jolly improvident fellow, who cared more for eating, 
drinking and gay company than he did for anything 
else. He was stone blind, and to enliven the weary 
time, he gathered about him the gayest knights of Suabia and Bavaria, who 
were so extremely merry at his expense, that after a time he was compelled to ask 
his nephew, Henry for money. 

Now, Henry had conquered the Slavonic provinces of Pomerania and Mecklen- 
burg, had subdued the Frieslanders upon the Baltic, and a part of Holstein, and 
possessed great wealth, dug from the mines of the Hartz mountains, and wrung by 
the most cruel oppression from the people. He had founded Munich, Lubeck and 
Ratzburg, three flourishing cities, and he considered himself one of the greatest 
princes of Germany, antl he certainl> was, if we are to measure him by his posses- 
sions — not often a safe standard of greatness. He was proud of his success, and in 
front of his fortress in his principal city, Brunswick, he had caused the huge brazen 
statue of a lion to be erected. With all his wealth, however, he was extremely angry 
because his blind old uncle did not hoard his possessions in order that he might 
inherit them, and when the jolly duke applied to him for money to continue his 
course of pleasure, he refused it, and Guelph asked Frederick to accommodate him. 
The emperor loaned the duke all of the money he required, and at the hitter's death 
recei ed his lands in payment, greatly to Henry's rage. 

Soon after Guelph's death, Henry was summoned by the emperor to aid him in 
Italy. The Lombard cities had formed a league, and their armies were approaching 
I'rederick, where he lay ill at Lake Como. This was Henry's opportunity; he 
went to the emperor and made son -i very insolent demands, threatening to desert 
him if he refused. For the future safety of his empire, Frederick dared not yield to 
the ungrateful Henry. He reminded him of his obligation to his sovereign and to 
his country, and did not scruple to kneel to him. and implore him not to disgrace the 
cause that they both represented, but Henry the Lion, showed himself to be really 
the King of Beasts, but neither a chivalrous knight nor a true subject, He deserted 
Frederick in his hour of peril, taking all of his troops, and the imperial army thus 
weakened, was totally cut to pieces, Barbarossa and his brave Burgundian wife, Bea- 



GERMANY. 



461 



trice, barely escaping with their lives. The treachery of the Bavarian duke 
caused such anger among the German princes, that they met at Worms, 
and with the sanction of the emperor, called Henry to appear before 
them. Henry refused to come, and the emperor therefore took Bavaria from 
him, and bestowed it upon Otto of Wittenbach, and divided Saxony among 
several powerful friends of the Hohenstaufen family. He also declared Henry 




Emperor Frederick Asking Henry the Lion's Aid Against the Milanese. 



an outlaw, and forbade anybody to give him aid or comfort. Henry organized 
his Guelph friends into an army, and made war upon the emperor, but when he 
had been deprived of all his territory but that which was hereditary in the Guelph 
family — Brunswick and Lunenburg — became to Frederick in the year 1 181, and, 
throwing himself at the ft;et of the emperor, begged his pardon. The generous 



462 GERMANY. 

F"rederick granted it freely, but could not restore his lands. Henry then went away 
to England, to the court of his father-in-law, Henry III., and while there a little son 
was born to him, who beside being the heir to the duchy of Brunswick, became the 
ancestor of a line of English sovereigns, of whom the present queen, \'ictoria, is the 
most illustrious. 

Frederick Barbarossa was an old man when the trouble with Henry the Lion 
was finally settled, and his warlike fame had gone throughout Europe. In iiSi the 
situation of the Christians of Palestine was that of a conquered people. 

One of the Christian knights had seized the mother of the noble and gallant 
Saladin, had killed her attendants, and robbed her of all her jewels and money, not- 
withstanding that there was a treaty of peace between them and the Turks. Justly 
angry at this outrage, Saladin marched against the Christians, took their strongholds 
one by one, and at last captured Jerusalem. He treated the Christians with far more 
gentleness than they had treated the Moslems, but he destroyed the furniture of 
their churches, and tore down their crosses. 

All Europe was in a blaze of excitement, and the three warriors of the greatest 
renown in the world — Frederick Barbarossa, of Germany, Richard the Lion-hearted 
of England, and Philip Augustus of France — joined forces in a crusade. The Eng- 
lish and I' rench forces went by sea, while the German forces marched across South- 
eastern Europe into Asia. In a great battle the Germans defeated the Sultan of 
Iconium. and soon after in the year 1 190, Frederick was drowned in crossing the river 
Cydnu'^. 

The news of the death of the gallant old emperor was for a long time not cred- 
ited by the German people. Through all of his battles and campaigns he had seemed 
to bear a charmed life, and had come safely through so many dangers, that his sub- 
jects could not believe that he was dead. In the course of time a legend grew up 
about P'rcderick, and the people in relating his great deeds declared that he was not 
dead, but that he and several of his knights were sitting armed from head to feet in 
the hollow center of Kyffhauser mountain, in Thuringia, sleeping under an enchanted 
spell. Frederick himself, tiiey say, is seated at a stone table, and his beard has be- 
come so long that it has split the slab, as ivy sometimes splits nocks, and has grown 
through the rift. Around the mountain the ravens are flying, but in an hour of peril 
to Germany they will cease circling about in the sky that bends above Kyffhauser, 
the red-bearded king, and all of his knights will arise, strike great blows as of old, 
and all will be well. Germany has been in many and dire perils since the days when 
Barbiirossa disappeared from the sight of men, and though he has never come forth 
as the legend promised, there have been other strong hands to strike, other brave 
hearts to do and dare, and it is through these that the nation stands to-day, glorious, 
free, united. 

The I'Lmperor who now came to the German throne, Henry VI., was as unlike 
his great father, P'rederick, as can be imagined. He was a cruel, revengeful tyrant. 
He married Constance, daughter of the king of Sicily, and was bitterly angry with 
Richard the Lion-hearted of England, who supported Tancred on the throne of that 
rich little kingdom. It was on this account that he threw Richard into prison upon 
his return to Europe, and with the money the English paid for the release of their 
king, made a fearful war upon Naples and Sicily. 

Bj' way of convincing his Italian subjects that they ought to love him, he pun- 
ished his real and supposed enemies most barbarously, hanging, burning alive, 



GERMANY. 



463 



torturing and murdering in various fiendish ways, all who might trouble him with 
pretensions to the crown of Naples and Sicily. He vexed the world seven years with 
his atrocities, then died leaving his little son Frederick in care of the Pope. 

The Guelphs and Ghibellines both set up a king, leaving the infant Frederick 
altogether out of the question, and for the next ten years Germany was a great 
battle-ground where such dreadful deeds were done that I shrink from relating them. 
Finally the Ghibelline claimant. Otto IV., was crowned emperor at Rome, 1208, the 
Pope who was the guardian of little Frederick performing the ceremony. A German 
emperor who had no quarrel with a Pope is a novelty in history. Otto IV. opposed 
some of the presumptions of the Pope, and they quarreled a long time. At length 
the Pope brought forward young Frederick, who upto this time had borne the title 
only of the king of Sicily, and sent him to Germany to claim the crown of the empire, 




Death of Frederiok Barbaropsa. 



deposing Otto IV. at the same time. Frederick I. was crowned emperor in 1215 at 
the age of twenty. 

The new emperor was a handsome, graceful, well-etlucated man with many of 
the great qualities of Barbarossa, without his superstition. He greatly admired the 
wonderful civilization of the East, and did not view the Saracens in the same light 
as did many of the bigoted people of the times. He may even have justly regarded 
the ambition of the Pope as far more dangerous to Christendom than were the 
Saracens. 

The Italians, as usual, were constantly rebelling and when Frederick II. had 
brought them into reasonable order, the Pope who feared that the emperor might 
be a check upon his own plans, commanded him to go on a crusade, his favorite 



404 GERMANY. 

method of getting rid of inconvenient princes. Frederick with some reluctance 
agreed to go, but after he started a fever broke out in the army which carried his 
soldiers off by the thousands. The emperor himself became ill and put back to Italy 
in order that he might regain his health. The Pope was disappointed and angry, 
when he learned that Frederick had returnetl. In vain the emperor sent to the 
Pope some bishops who had been with him, to assure the Holy Father that he was 
really ill. the Pope excommunicated him with the ever-ready curse. 

The ne.xt year. ij:;S, Frederick started again to the Holy Land, but the Pope 
would not take otT the curse, and did everything that he could to make the expedition 
a failure. Nevertheless Frederick II. went forward, and first by fighting and then 
by treaty, released Palestine from the Saracens, who esteemed the emperor so highly 
that many of them joined his army and returned to Europe with him. 

The Catholic knights in Jerusalem treated Frederick with contempt and insult, 
and the Pope even went so far as to lay Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher under 
ban because Frederick hatl dolivereil them. He tried to rouse all Europe against 
him, and incited the Lombard cities to again make war upon the empire. It was not 
until Frederick returned antl vanquislunl the Pope at every point that he finally 
subsided, made peace and took the curse off the emperor, who seems never to have 
been greatly inconvenienced by it. H"rederick II. was absent from Germany fifteen 
years, and his son Henry, who was regent for the empire all that time, had been so 
surrountled in his youth with evil influences, that his naturally had disposition hat! 
developed into the mean, cruel, crafty nature of his grandfather, Henry \'I. He 
rebelled against his father, and tried to poison him. secretly encouraged in the plot 
by the Pope, but Frederick quelled the rebellion, escaped the poison and placed his 
son in prison where he died after seven miserable years. Then he laid his hand 
heavily upon his quarrelsome nobles ami made them agree to live in peace with each 
other. This done, he went into Italy, and after some severe fighting, seated his son 
Enzio upon the throne of Sardinia, so angering the Pope that he again excommu- 
nicateil him. F"rederick was so accustomed to being under a curse that he did not 
greatly mind it, though he answered the Pope's charges with spirit. 

After doing all the harm that he possibly could in the world for more than fifty 
years, the old Pope died, and a new one. Innocent l\'.. was installed, but he took up 
the quarrel with Frederick, who drove him from Rome. So unreasonable had the 
Popes been in their treatment of Frederick, that the sovereigns of Europe were 
alarmed, seeing what power the Pope had for making trouble. The fugitive Pope 
wanted to take refuge in France, but the French king intimated that he had no room 
for such a guest. James 1., of Arragon, would not allow him to enter Spain, and 
Henry HI., of England, had suffered so much from the Pope, that he would not have 
him at any price. Nevertheless, the Pope called a council of the church, and the 
council ordered the German princes to elect a new emperor. 

Frederick only laughed at the wrath of the Pope, and swore that he would hold 
the seven crowns that he had won in spite of the Pope or the devil. The German 
princes would not elect another king, so Innocent I\'. sent to different kings of the 
European States, and offered them the crown of Germany. Several of them coveted 
it. but they knew that to accept, would be to imply that the Pope had a right to give 
away crowns at his pleasure, and they one and all refused. The Guelphs and 
Ghibellines broke out at intervals in Germany, just as measles and other kindred 
diseases often break out in communities, and with as little apparent cause. Between 



GERMAXY. 



4^J5 



them and the Pope the people suffered grievously. In the midst of it all Frederick, 
died, and his son succeeded him in a four years' reign in which he did nothing to 
straighten matters out. Then Conradin, the last of the Hohenstaufen princes, fell a 
victim to the cruel Count Charles of Anjou, who captured and beheaded him. 

With the cheerful generosity of people who give away what is not their own, the 




]>-aTh 'jf the La^t of the Hoh^'Iifftaufeos, 



Pope had given to Count Charles, after Frederick's death, the province of Anjou. 
Enzio, king of Sardinia, was deprived of his throne and placed in prison. At one 
time he came near escaping hidden in an empty wine-barrel, which was being borne 
out of the prison by two of his friends, but a tress of his long golden hair falling 
through the bung-hole discovered him to his jailer, and he was carried back and 



466 



GERMAXY. 







l)<i:iilnii'!iii \tniik nntl N'lm. 



enclosed in an iron cage like a wild beast, and it was in this livint,r 
death that the last of the Hohenstaufens languished for many 
long years. 

In the year i 256 Richard of Cornwall. England, and Alfonso the 
Wise of Spain, each bribed the electors to make them king of Ger- 
many, and for the next fifteen years, although nominally Germany 
lad two kings, it really had none, for Alfonso seldom set foot in 
the country, and Richard never once visited it. Eor many years 
the power of the emperors in Germany had grown less and less. 
iin account of their long absences from the country and their 
foreign wars, and the rich German princes had set up in their 
t'-rritory a kingly rule. Thus Denmark. Poland and Hungary 
I had become independent, Bohemia, indeed, hatl been made a 
kingdom by one of the Hohenstaufens. 

The time when Alfonso and d^ichard of Cornwall claimed to 
1)C sovereigns, is called the "Interregnum," or between reign, and 
it was a very dark period in German history. Bold robber barons 
built strong castles on the crags, near the fords and roatls, 
and not only robbed the peasants, whom they considered their natural prey, 
but merchants and travelers, and murdered helpless people who fell in their way. 
These robber barons were constantly fighting each other, and perpetrated the most 
horrible cruelties upon their prisoners. There was no law in the land, and had it 
not been for the walled towns that supported large bodies of trained soldiers to 
preserve them from the marauders, civilization might have been almost destroyed in 
Germany. 

There were two orders of knights in the empire at this time, Teutonic Knights 
and Knights of the Sword. During the reign of Erederick II., they united to con- 
quer Prussia, up to that time a heathen country, and from 123010 130Q they fought 
the Prussians, who were a Slavonic people, finally conquering them and colonizing 
the country with Germans. 

In the centuries lying between Henry the Fowler, and the last of the Hohen- 
staufens, the burghs had grown wonderfully in importance. They carried on com- 
merce with many countries, and as I have before said, hail their own trained soldiers. 
The cities along the Rhine joined for the protection of their commerce, in a league, 
called the League of the Rhine, while those along the sea coast formed the Hanseatic 
League, with its navies on the ocean and its armies on the land. These fleets and 
armies prevented the infringement of the liberties of the cities and protected them 
from pillage. The English called the German merchants Easterlings, and carried 
on a large trade with them, and the English " sterling," as applied to money origin- 
ated in those days. 

With the princes, cities and leagues, all having their own laws in their own ter- 
ritory, Germany suffered the fate of the broth in the nursery tale, that was, spoiled 
by too many cooks. There was no law that was the same in all parts of the kingdom, 
and this was a great evil. Out of this confusion of laws, there grew up in W^est- 
phalia a law that is a favorite in our own frontier communities. We call it "lynch 
law." but the Westphalians called it the Vehmgerichte, or a secret court. Any one 
who was accused of a crime, which deserved death, was summoned to appear on a 
certain day and hour before the Vehmgerichte, to answer for it. If he refused the 



GERMAXY. 



467 







iKui !iii.t Ox at I'luw. 



first, second and third summons, a secret avenger 
was appointed to hunt him down and kill him. If 
he came and was found guilty, he was imme- 
diately strung up to some convenient tree. 

Anybody could appeal to this kind of a court, 
and any freeman could become a judge of the 
Vehmgerichte. The oppressed people from ail 
over Germany complained to the Vehmgerichte, 
and for three hundred years it remained powerful, 
but died out at last, as most human institutions do. 
Richard of Cornwall dieil, in course of time, and 
after the German princes had paid Alfonso to withdraw his claim to the empire, they 
elected Rudolf of Austria to the throne. He was from an old Swiss family that since 
the tenth century had lived in the little castle of Hapsburg. near the Konigsfelden, 
in Switzerland. Rudolf was neither rich nor powerful, but what was better for 
Germany, he was a brave man who loved his country well. He avoided quarreling 
with the Pope, for he realized that it was through those quarrels that Germany had 
been brought to this unhappy pass. He put down the robber barons, and destroyed 
their castles, and won the love of the whole German people by his bravery, skill and 
horiesty. He fought against the king of Bohemia, who had taken Austria, Styria, 
Carinthia, and Carinola by force from the German empire, and gave the recon- 
quered provinces to his family, who founded the present royal house of Hapsburg. 
Rudolf died in the year 1291, and after his son Albert had defeated a rival claimant, 
Adolf of Nassau, he became Emperor of Germany. 

Albert had no real right to the crown, for the electors had chosen Adolf and the 
son of Albert's dead brother, was the heir to the Hapsburg possessions. Albert 
determined to take Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, three Swiss cantons or counties 
that were free under the crown. The brave Swiss armed themselves with whatever 
they could secure, and resisted the governors Albert sent to them, who treated them 
with great severity. Perhaps you have heard the story of brave William Tell. 
Gessler, one of the governors sent by Albert, was so cruel to the Swiss that they 
formed a league against the Austrians. To this league the gallant archer, William 
Tell, belonged. Tell was known far and wide as a bowman who could shoot straight 
and true, and as a man who had a spirit as independent as the free winds that blew 
across his native mountains. One day in passing with his little son through the 
village of Altdorf, he noticed the ducal hat of the Hapsburgs set on a pole in the 
market-place and was ordered to bow down to it. 

Tell boldly refused to honor the hated Hapsburgs with any allegiance, and was 
dragged before Gessler. The tyrannical governor had heard of Tell's -skill with 
the bow, and as a means of punishing him, commanded him to shoot an apple set 
upon his son's head, and threatened him with death if he refused or failed. Tell 
selected two arrows, placed his son the distance required by the tyrant, drew the 
string and clove the apple fairly in twain, to the great surprise of all present. 

Gessler had noticetl that Tell had stuck the other arrow in his belt, and now 
asked him what he had intended doing with it. 

"To slay thee, tyrant, had I killed my son," answered Tell. 

Gessler was enraged, and caused Tell to be bound, and thrown into a boat, to be 
carried across Lake Lucerne to the dark frowning castle of Kussnacht. On the way 



468 



GERMAW 




Superior of the Order of Oenntin Knlirlitii Hrnthepj of 



a dreadful stonu arose. Tell was a skillful sailor, and 
offered to ^ruide the boat safely to land if Gessler would 
have him unbound. The tyrant did so, and Tell per- 
formed his promise, but as soon as he was near to the 
shore he grasped his l)ow and arrows, sprang out before 
he could be hindered, and giving the boat a vigorous push 
saw it carried away by the wind, as he sprang swiftly up 
^\ the bank and hurried into hiding in a rockj' defile that 
■*;,* he knew well. The storm almost immediately subsided, 
antl Gessler and his comrades landed and began a search 
for their escaped prisoner. As they passed through the 
narrow glen where Tell la)- hidden, he shot Gessler 
through the heart, and eluding capture, bee^me the hero 
of the whole canton. We are told these days that the 
story, like many of the other heroic tales, is false, but it 
is nevertheless true to the spirit of the Swiss people. All 
of the opposition of the Swiss only made the emperor 
the more determined to subtlue them, but he was murdered by his nephew on his way 
to Hapsburg castle, and for the time the conquest of the Swiss was abandoned. 
Albert had proven st) unpopular with the Germans, that they selected their next king 
from another family, and Menr}' of Lu.xemburg was chosen to reign over them as 
Henry VII. The new emperor had certainly not learned much from German history, 
or he would have let Italy alone. One of his first expeditions was into Italy, where 
the Italian cities and the Pope resisteil him with might and main. Brescia was 
besieged, and 1 lenryswore that he would take the city, and cut the nose from the 
face of every man in it. The Brescians were attached to their noses, as is usually 
the case, and held out gallantly until Henry i)romised to knock the noses from all 
of the statues instead of from the men, then they let him in and he proceeded to 
take his bloodless vengeance on the statues, with a solemnity worthy of a comic-opera 
king. 

1 lenry was poisoned soon after, in the year 1313, and was the last of the German 
emperors who exercised any real power in Italy. Two emperors were elected to suc- 
ceed Henry VII., Frederick the Pair being supported by some of the electors, and 
Louis of Bavaria by the others. Of course they went to war, and in 1322 Frederick 
was taken prisoner. Louis visited him, and he promised to give up his claim, where- 
upon Louis set him free. Frederick's brother and the Pope, who had as usual mixed 
in the quarrel, would not agree to the terms that Frederick had made with Louis, so 
the honorable prince went back of his own accord to deliver himself up again to 
Louis. The emperor admired the loyalty of P'rederick so much, that thereafter they 
were as dear to each other as brothers, and Louis would even have sharec^ the throne 
with him, if the electors would have permitted it. 

The Germans were tired of having dissension sown in their country by the Pope, 
and during the reign of Louis, the princes met and declared that the German empire 
was henceforth free from the Pope, and would manage its affairs to suit itself, 
whether he liked it or not. They were soundly cursed, but they did not mind it 
much, and when they were really to depose Louis, who proved a bad emperor, tht-y 
did so, weakly consulting the Pope, in spite of all of their bold defiance to him. 
Louis fought the (lectors awhile, but he died in the height of the contest, and Charles 



GERMANY. 



469 




470 GERMANY. 

IV., son of the king of Bohemia, brought the long struggle against the Popes to an end. 
by having himself crowned without their sanction. He nevertheless remained upon 
good terms with the Pope, and reigned for thirty-two years, enriching his family by 
making great marriages for his children, but doing little for Germany. The country 
fell back into the clutches of the robber knights during the ne.xt reign, and murder and 
all of the crimes of the old days ran riot. The people sighed for the virtuous and 
just rule of a good king, but it was long before they had it. 

Wenceslas, who followed his father on the throne, was a vicious madman, who 
governed Bohemia with frightful cruelty, and delighted in blood. The Germans 
endured his rule tor several years, then although he remained king of Bohemia, they 
caused him to be confined a prisoner in a castle in Austria. It was during his reign that 
Duke Leopold of Austria, with several thousand soldiers, marched into Switzerland, in 
the year 13S6, to again attempt the conquest of the free people. On the heights of 
Sempach fourteen hundred Swiss patriots guarded the pass. The Austrians, several 
ranks deep, armed with long lances, surrounded the Swiss, who had only short 
spears, swords and battle-axes, beside their bows and arrows. On foot the Austrians 
advanced to the charge, and it seemed hopeless that the Swiss could break through the 
array of bristling steel points and reach the Austrian ranks. One of the wisest of the 
Swiss leaders, Arnold Winkelried.saw that a way must be opened, .so rushing forward 
he grasped as many of the lances as he could embrace with his arms, and as their points 
entered his body cried "make way for liberty," while his countrymen, rushing 
through the gap thus made, fell upon the Austriaiis and defeated tluni. It was 
patriots like Winkelried who held Swiss independence dearer than life, who fought 
at Nafels, two years afterward, and made Austria respect the independence of the 
Swiss cantons; so you see that once in a great while in the world's story, bravery has 
led to the triumph of the right, against the most overwhelming odds. 

During the reign of Wenceslas the lords governed their own particular terri- 
tory without being responsible to anybody, but in the course of time violence so in- 
creased that the lords themselves began to realize that the country was going fast 
to ruin, and was at the mercy of a foreign enemy. When Wenceslas was imprisoned 
as a lunatic, a certain Rupert, grandson of a Rupert who will never be forgotten, 
because he founded the famous Unix ersity of Heidelberg, was called to the throne 
in the year 1400, thirteen years after the University was founded. 

The crazy Wenceslas had a strong following, who must have been deranged 
themselves or they would not have wanted a lunatic for a king, and these made so 
much trouble that Rupert could accomplish nothing, though he wore himself out in 
trying, and died when he had borne the crown ten years. As soon as his death was 
known there was worse confusion than ever, if that were possible. A Moravian 
prince named Jobst, and a Hungarian named Sigismund, were the chief claimants, 
and as both were chosen by separate parties, there would no doubt have been an- 
other cruel war, had Jobst not, fortunately for the country, been removed by death, 
leaving Sigismund the sole choice of the electors. 

Sigismund was a proud, faithless, cruel man, vain and haughty. Liki- all tyrants, 
he believed that the king should hold the conscience of the people in the hollow of 
his hand, and that none should dare think or speak contrary to the belief of their 
sovereign. It was during the reign of Sigismund that John Wickliffe preached in 
England against the avarice and ambition of Popes, and held up to public scorn the 
shamful lives led by the priests. He fearlessly asserted that God. and not the Pope, 



GERMANY, 



471 




ficrinau L;ui(lskuefht XII. (_"eutury. 



was the head of the church, antl many persons agreed 
with him. In Germany learned men who read Wick- 
Hffe's writings, and believed that he was right, did not 
scruple to speak their mind; and in Bohemia, John 
Huss, a professor in the University preached fearlessly 
against the sins of the Pope, and not only the students, 
but the whole city of Prague was enthusiastic. Huss 
was absolutely fearless, and when he began showing 
that the state of the Catholic Church in German}^ was 
as bad as it was elsewhere, the Pope cursed him, and 
the whole city of Prague. 

The citizens of Prague found that the sun shone 
just as usual, the rain fell, and neither plague nor 
famine were brought about by the Pope's curse, which 
was an unusually lurid one, and toltl him in effect that 
he might curse them to his heart's content, they would 
neither give up Huss, nor his new doctrine, which they 
considered far more reasonable than thetjld. Emperor 
Sigismund called a council of the church in the cit}' of 
Constance, and gave Huss and his friend Jerome who 
went with him, a written promise that no one should do them any bodily harm, but 
when the Pope had the reformers in his power he gave them their choice of taking 
back all that they had said about the priests, bishops and popes, or of being burned 
at the stake. The two brave men refused to deny the truth of their preaching, and 
both were burned to death, as though the burning of a million fearless men could 
hide from the eyes of the just God the sins of the clergy, or could stifle in the 
minds of the people the new-born ideas, which were to develop through the smoke 
of the torture fire, into the wonderful reformation, which a few years later Martin 
Luther was destined to spread far and wide in Germany. 

The faggots about the feet of Jer<~ime and Huss burned to ashes, but their flames 
kindled in Bohemia such rage as made the tyrant Sigismund tremble. The people 
who had known the two martyrs and their teachings, rushed to arms. Sigismund 
called upon the States of Europe to organize a crusade against the " heretics," for 
Wenceslas now died, and Sigismund came by inheritance king of Bohemia, as well as 
the emperor of Germany. The Hussites vowed that not only would they defend their 
faith, but they would also prevent Sigismund from taking his kingdom of Bohemia. 
They chose for their leader, a lean, wizened, one-eyed man, by the name of John 
Ziska, and although he was not handsome to look at, he was the best soldier in 
Europe, as brave as a lion, and as was the manner of the times, nearly as cruel. 

Three times the army of the emperor was routed by Ziska, and when the Bo- 
hemians were certain that they held the kingdom secure from Sigismund, they 
invaded Germany, retaliating with dreadful cruelty, the injuries the emperor had 
heaped upon them. Ziska died in 1424, antl Procopius, a blind priest led the Hussite 
army. For nine years more Germany was devastated by the Bohemians, then Sigis- 
mund made a treaty with the Hussites, and received his kingdom from them. When 
he had put them off their guard, he proceeded to break his promises with that 
cheerful disregard of plighted faith, that we have often noticed as a peculiarity of 
kings before and since his time. The Hussites were not crushed out, however, in 
spite of all the persecutions to which they were subjected, and they are known to us. 



47^ 



GERMANY. 



as the " Moravian Brethren." Sigismund died in 1437, anu his son-in-law, Albert II.,. 
who was chosen after him, only lived two years, then the crown was given to Fred- 
erick III., nephew of Albert, who tor fifty-three years did more to ruin Germany, 

than had any king be- 
fore him. He was a 
weak, lazy, selfish slug- 
gard, who was nick- 
named "Emperor 
Nightcap," because he 
invariably fell asleep 
when State affairs were 
being discussed, and 
was too lazy to have 
done what little think- 
ing he did, and would 
ha\L' no doubt refused 
to think altogether, if 
he could have been 
relieved of the trouble. 
I He bought off robbers 
1 instead of punishing 
^ them, allowed his lords 
1 to defy and insult him, 
I and to carry on cease- 
I less warfare with each 
I other, and while Ger- 
'^ many was threatened 
s onevery side by foreign 
I foes, levied no armies, 
and made no exertioi 
to save the countr)'. 

Hy this time learning- 
had spread all over Eu- 
rope, though up to the 
year 1301 all books were 
either written by hand 
on tablets of horn or 
wax, or on rolls of vel- 
lum, or papyrus, and 
were scarce and costly. 
In the year 1301, paper 
was first made in Eu- 
rope, and when in 1390 
paper began to be made 
by machinery moved by 
water-power, books became cheaper. It remained for a German, John Guttenberg, to 
invent movable type, and when with the aid of Peter Schoeffer, who designed his letters 
for him, and Faust who furnished the money to cast the type, Guttenberg perfected his 




GERMANY. 



47. > 



invention in 1436, the first jewel was set in the diadem of a new king — universal 
knowledge. Like most inventors, Gutenberg reaped no reward for his invention. 
Faust and .Schccffer seized his blocks and press for the share they had taken in the 
work, and in 1457, the first book made with movable type — a bible — was printed with- 
out him. .So fast were the copies of this work turned out, that the people thought 
Faust in league w-ith the devil, and so sprang up the legend of Faust, of which Goethe 
has made such beautiful use. 

Hungary and Austria were devastated by Ottoman Turks during the reign 
of Frederick, " Emperor Nightcap," but no imperial force was sent to hold them 
in check. The Hungarians had long desired independence from German rule, 
and they gave themselves a valiant king, John Hunyadi, while the Bohemians, who 
were also dreadfully harrassed by the Turks, made George Podiebrad king. The 
people of Vienna at last grew so angry at the indolent and foolish conduct of Fred- 
erick, that they compelled him to give Albert III., his brother, the regency of Austria 
for eight years, though Albert was soon as much hated as was the emperor. 




-^J^— 



MdiliTll Or,\m Passenger Ship. 



During his reign the brave Swiss defeated Charles the Bold, a famous Burgun- 
dian prince, who tried to seize Lorraine, with whose duke the .Swiss were allied, and 
the Bohemian and Hungarian people maintained themselves against Frederick. 
iM-itz, of the Palitinate also rebelled, and Germany was so distracted by wars, quar- 
rels and revolts, that the nation and its emperor was the byword of Europe. 

Ma.ximilian, the son and successor of Frederick III., was the bravest and hand- 
somest man of his time. He was as generous as he was valiant, and as true hearteil 
as he was handsome. Frederick and his wife, Eleanor, had been anxious to marry 
their son to Mary of Burgundy, the heiress of Burgundy and the Netherlands, but 
when her father was killed in battle, the French king seized her territory for him- 
self and the poor maiden was left portionless. That made no difference to gallant 
Maximilian, for Mary was as good as she was fair, and the prince had fallen desper- 
ately in love with her, for her own s\Veet sake. We are told that he went to Ghent 
to meet her, as she was journeying through his father's kingdom, and that in the 
streets of that old town, streets whose every stone — could stone speak — might tell 



474 



GERMANY. 



a romantic tale, they dismounted, kissed each other, and renewed their plighted 
vows. They were married, and when Mary's son, Philip, was born, the French king 
could no longer claim that there was no male heir to Burgundy, and was obliged 




to yield it up to Maximilian who ruled it and the Netherlands, in the name of the 
child. As the real king of two such rich provinces, beside Germany, Maximilian 




Jolm Humyaai and Johu Caprlstanus Iq Battle Agaluxt the Turta. 



4/6 



GERMAXV 




was more powerful than any German emperor had 
been for a long time. Mary bore a daughter, Mar- 
garet, and after five happy years of wedded love, 
died, bitterly mourned by her husband. 

Poor Maximilian had a sad time of it, after 
Mary's death. The people of the Netherlands 
refused to obey him, and sized little Philip, Mary's 
son, whom alone they regarded as their king, though 
if the;}' had known what misery this very Philip was 
to beciueath their country, through his descendants, 
they might have strangled him in his cradle. The 
people of Burgundy also rebelled, and shut Max- 
imilian up in prison antl held him for many months. 
The lords of his empire checked and harassed him. 
and though he succeeded in doing some really good 
and great things for Germany, he was worried by the 
hostility of the I^ope, and always in want of money, 
so much in want that he once served as a private 
Gc.r,nauci.i.cu8Bc.ginuin,.orxvi.ccu.«ry. soldier to the EngHsh king. Maximilian organized 

the first government postal system of Germany, and also a court where the 
quarrels of the nobles might be settled, and prohibited- them from fighting each 
other without his permission, under the penalty of being declared outlaws, 
lie divitled the empire into circuits, for the administration of justice, and did 
what he could to bring about an orderly government. The popes all this time were 
stirring up discord in Germany and leaving nothing undone to embroil it vvith France 
and Italy, yet Maximilian dreamed that bj' uniting Philip in marriage with Joanna of 
Spain, heiress also to the Americas, that the llapsburgs were to exercise an empire 
like that of Charlemagne. So dreaming he built castles in the air, in which he saw 
himself Pope, the spiritual as well as the temporal ruler of the world, and with these 
dreams, and with the poems of chivalry that he loved, he whiled away the intervals 
of his leisure, though he might have known that the great cities of his empire were 
really free, that the leagues they had formed were fatal to the imperial power, and 
that the old Germany was passing away for ever. 

Maximilian's daughter, Margaret, was married to the French king, Charles VIII. 
who discarded her to marry a lady who had vast possessions, Anne, of Brittainy. 
He sent Margaret back to her father, thereby so enraging Maximilian, that he took 
up arms against France, and his last years were embittered with troubles of various 
kinds. He died in i5ig, in the midst of the greatest religious struggle that the 
world has ever seen. 

In the year 1483, the year after Maximilian's wife, Mary, died, there was born at 
Eisleben, in Saxony, in the cottage of a poor miner, a child who was to do mighty 
deeds for the world. In that humble cottage there was cherished a passionate love 
of knowledge. The father and mother were too poor to send their son to school, 
but they succeeded in inspiring him with the desire to gain an education. Then, as 
now, poverty was no barrier against knowledge. The lad had a sweet voice, and a 
true ear for music, and he managed to learn to read and write. Then by singing 
from door to door he earned enough money to pursue his studies. At last he found 
a friend, who saw that the son of the poor miner of Eisleben gave promise of future 



GERMAiNY. 



477 



greatness^ This kind patron sent him 
to the University of Erfurt, where he 
remained studying law for four years. 
At the end of that time his patron 
died, and Luther, for the boy of whom 
I have been telling you was Martin 
Luther, entered a monastery, where he 
became so learned, that when he was 
but twenty-five years old, he was made 
a professor in the Ur'versity of Wit- 
tenberg. 

While in this position, Luther made 
a journey to Rome, in 1510, and became 
acquainted with the Pope. Now Luther 
had read history, especially- tlie history 
of his beloved German\ . I le had 
learned how the popes had committed, 
all sorts of crime untlcr tlie cloak of 
religion, how they had murdered those 
who had opposed them, plungednations 
into war, and had become religious 
princes without religion, and that their 
doings and those of the clergy had 
been a scandal to all pure-minded 
people. What he saw of the Pope at 
Rome, convinced him that the charges 
so often made by Wickliffe and others, 
were no doubt true. One thing particu- 
larly shocked and disgusted him. When the Pope wanted some mone\' to build a 
great church, St. Peter's, at Rome, he allowed certain persons to sell indulgences, 
that is licenses of forgiveness for certain past and futui'e sins, to raise the required 
sum. Think of a church of Christ, the sinless, being built by such means! These 
indulgences had really been sold for a lung time. That is, the Pope would promise 
to pardon a sinner if he would build a church to a certain saint, give a sum of money 
to the clergy, go on a crusade, or perform some other such service, but the wholesale 
disposal of pardons at so much money each, seemed a shameful traffic in tlie 
ignorance of the people, as well as a premium on sin. 

There must have been a great many sinners in Germany, or a multitude of 
people contemplating sin, for the Pope sold through his agents, to whom he allowed 
a large commission on the business done, thousands of these written indulgences. 
Luther went to the Archbishop of Mayence, who had bought his church position 
from the Pope for a good round sum of money, and complained of the harm that a 
certain pardon-vender, named Tetzel, was doing to the cause of true religion. The 
haughty churchman tuUl him in effect, to mind his own affairs. Luther considered 
that the purity of religion was his affair, and proceeded to obey the bishop's behest 
in a way that astonished that insolent personage. 

The " forgiveness seller," Tetzel soon afterward sold to a gay young cavalier, 
whowassomethingof a practical joker, a license to beat and rob a man whom he hated. 




MARTIN Ll'THEK. 



47S 



GERMANY, 




Luther's House ut Wmeubcrtr. 



whereupon the knight set upon Tetzel himself, as he 
was traveling, beat him well, and took away a 
large sum of gold that he had received in his nefarious 
trade. I suppose he was cursed by the priest, but that 
did not hinder him from having his laugh, and there 
were not wanting people to declare that Tetzel 
deserved all that he had brought upon himself, there 
being an homely proverb, " what is sauce for the 
goose, is sauce for the gander." 

Luther wrote out ninety-five reasons why the sale 
of pardons was wicked and contrary' to the Bible, and 
nailed them on a church door in Wittenberg, where 
all might read them, and challengetl any Catholic to 
prove that he was in xhe wrong. A learned doctor, 
named Eck, debated with him, and as printing was 
, now common in Germany, the "reasons" of Luther 
were scattered abroad, and created intense excite- 
ment in the cities where the people were thoughtful 
and well educated. Many persons, among them 
jjrinces and professors, believed with Luther. At tirst the Pope paid no 
attention to the new doctrine, but when he learned that the "partlon" com- 
merce was being ruined in Germany by the disputes of the people, who 
told those w'ho were inclined to purchase them that they were buying only 
worthless nonsense, he roused himself, and summoned Luther to come to Rome 
and be tried for heresy. The Elector of Saxony was Luther's frientl, as well as his 
lawful prince, and he politely told the Pope that if he wanted to try Luther it must 
be done in Germanx , for he would not allow him to go to Rome. Thfnui)on the 
Pope sent a haughty cardinal to ccmduct the trial. This dignitary called the 
princes of the empire together at Augsburg, and told Luther that he must recant, — 
that is, recall everything that he had said. 
Luther replied that he was perfectly willing to 
do so. if the cardinal would prove to him from 
the Bible that his doctrines were wrong, but the 
cardinal scornfully refused. Luther then wrote 
an appeal to the Pope, nailed it upon a church 
door in Augsburg, and fled by night into Saxony. 
In 1520 the Pope solemnly burned Luther's 
writings, and would no doubt have burned Luther 
himself if he could have done so. He gave 
the "contumacious monk" sixty days to recant, 
or be excommunicated. Luther had been 
Ijreaching and teaching for the whole two years 
since the affair of Augsburg, and had gained 
thousands of followers. When he heard of the 
Pope's proceeding against him, and received the 
Pope's w'ritten order to recant, he made a bonfire, 
too. burning in it the books of the law of the 
Romish church, and the Pope's letter, or "bull" GennanKnichtinFoii Armor and Laaj-x^'.ccntnir. 




CxERMANY. 



479 




Burguudians 1470. 



as such communications are now called, in the public 
market-place of Wittenberg. When the sixty da^s 
had passed the Pope excommunicated Luther. The 
sturdy reformer retaliated by excommunicating the 
Pope, and went on preaching as before, his fearless- 
ness being the admiration of all Germany. 

Charles V., the grandson of Maximilian, was at 
the time Emperor of Germany, and in the year 1521 
he assembled the princes at Worms, and called upon 
Luther to appear. Luther's friends remembered 
what had hapijened to Huss and Jerome, upon a 
similar occasion, and tried to persuade him to remain 
in Wittenberg, but the brave Luther feared nothing. 
"I will go to Worms if there be as many devils there 
as tiles on the roofs," he said, antl he did so. The 
cities through which he passed honored him as never 
monk was honored before. Bells were rung, the 
people came out by the thousands to bless him, and 
wish him God-speed, and hung upon every word 
that he spoke as we treasure the words of the dying. Perhaps they thought 
he was going to his death, and he may have thought so himself, but his cour- 
age and zeal never flagged, and his purpose to hold fast to the truth, as he believed 
it was as firm as ever. 

At the door of the church where the princes were assembled, a grizzled old 
soldier, one of the ablest generals of Europe, confronted him and looked into his 
fearless eyes. What he saw in the face of the brave Luther moved him. " Little 
monk, little monk,'' he said in a tone of some agitation, laying his hand on Luther's 
shoulder, "thou art doing a more daring thing than I or any general ever ventured; 
but if thou art confident in thy cause, go on, in God's name, and be of good cheer, 
for he will not forsake thee." 

Luther stood up before those great princes and churchmen, he, the humbly 
born monk of Eisleben, and most eloquently defended his faith. When asked to 
recant he firmly refused to do so. There were those who desired the Emperor to 
burn Luther, but Charles would not break his promise to the Elector of .Saxony, that 
no perscTnal harm should befall him, but he at once forbade everybody to believe his 
doctrines, as though faith was a matter over which kings have control, and threat- 
ened punishment upon any one who should befrientl him. The Elector of Saxony, 
nevertheless, sent a body of masked horsemen, who seized Luther and carried him 
away to Wartburg castle, where he remained safely in hiding, under the name of 
"The Ivnight George" for nearly a year. It was during this time that he began the 
translation of the Bible into German, ami wrote many beautiful hymns and sermons. 

Certain disturbances broke out in Germany, among these who had embraced 
the reformed religion, and it was to preach against their violence and disorder that 
Luther left his quiet retreat. With the aid of Philip Melancthon, a talented young 
professor of Wittenberg, Luther finished the translation of the Bible into German, 
and it was published in 1534. It was this Bible, which found its way into the homes 
of the nation, that made the rich, beautiful. High German language, the literary 
language of Germany, for there were nearly as many spoken dialects as there were 



48o 



GERMANY. 




.lOHN CALVI.V. 



provinces ot the empire. The German 
peasants had long groaned under bitter 
tyranny. They had been taxed, harried 
and oppressed, but had borne it all, think- 
ing that Providence for some reason or 
other, had decreed their suffering. The 
priests had encouraged this belief, for 
they, like the no' les, grew fat on the toil 
of the poor. The printing-press and 
Martin Luther had done much to unsettle 
these peasants, and when they became 
convinced that all these long ages they 
had been deceived and robbed by those 
who should have protected them, they 
rose in arms, and went forth in vast dis- 
orderly hordes, to abolish feudalism and 
the Catholic church. Churches and cas- 
tles were laid low, monasteries were 
burned and plundered by the aroused 
peasantrj', who laid waste the fertile fields, 
and committed as many atrocious acts as 
though they had determined to avenge 
all of the wrongs of the ages at once. 
Soon nreachers arose among them who 
pretended to have divine revelations, and the peasants were incited by these 
mischievous persons to destroy all law, religion and government, and any of the 
nobles who hesitated to comply with their absurd demands were put to death. 
Luther tried to persuade the peasants of their folly, but failing in this, he wrote 
some forcible arguments opposing them Finally the German princes marched 
against them. The rude courage of the peasants was no match for the trained 
soldiers of the Empire, and they were subdued, though not until a hundred thousand 
lives had been sacrificed, and many dreadful deeds had been committed on both 
sides. 

Amid all these troubles Lutheranism steadily gained ground. Calvin, a leader 
who believed somewhat differently from Luther, but was as bitterly opposed to the 
Catholics as he, made many converts. Charles V. was a busy monarch, for he was 
king of Spain and the Netherlands as well as Germany, was at war with P'rance, and 
had continually to light the Turks, who persisted in ravaging Austria and Hungary. 
He did find time in 1529, to settle upon plans for driving out the Turks, and bringing 
into order the religious affairs of Germany. 

To do this he called an assembly, who decided upon compelling the Lutherans 
to cease preaching against the Catholic religion, but the Lutheran princes refused to 
agree to this decision and drew up a protest, from which they received the name 
Protestants, a name borne ever since by those who differ from the Roman Catholic 
doctrines of faith and practice. 

Haughty Charles V. told the Protestant princes, that he would give them six 
months to submit to the decree of the Catholics in the council, and at the end of that 
time if they still refused, they would be outlawed. The Protestants were not to be 



GERMANY. 



481 



frightened, for they knew that they had friends abroad that would be glad to see 
Charles engaged in civil war, and instead of submitting, they formed a league and 
raised an army. 

At first, Charles, who was a great military genius, defeated the Protestant army, 
but at a time when he sent some of his troops into Lorraine and others against the 
Turks, thinking that he had thoroughly crushed the Protestant princes, the Protes- 
tants, under Maurice of Saxony, again rose, defeated the imperial army at Augsburg, 
and formed such a powerful league against the emperor, that he was compelled to 
grant the Protestants liberty of worship, while they did the same for the Catholics. 

Charles V. was disappointed in most of his ambitions. Although he fought for 
the Catholic religion, the Pope was his jealous and bitter foe. All the world seemed 
ungrateful for what he had attempted to do for it, and the heart-weary emperor gave 
Spain, Naples, the Netherlands, and the American colonies to his son Philip II., and 
bestowed upon the king of Bohemia and Hungary, his brother Ferdinand, the Ger- 
man-Austrian possessions, then retired into a monastery, where he died in 1558. 

It is said that Charles V. had a desire to hear his own funeral sermon, and 
dressed himself in a wind- 
ing-sheet, was laid in a 
coffin, and had the service 
performed over him. He 
took cold upon that occa- 
sion, and in a few weeks 
a genuine funeral sermon 
was preached over his 
body, which, as he seemed 
to enjoy such things, it 
was a pity that he did not 
hear. Luther had been 
dead twelve years when 
Charles died, but how 
different his end. Calmly, Modem M.m of war. 

triumphantly and hopetully he passed from earth, leaving a memory forever precious 
to the world and a work that will never perish. 

Calvinism, Lutheranism, and other Protestant "isms" spread all through Europe 
in spite of the tortures of the inquisition in Spain, France and the Netherlands. 
Ferdinand I., who succeeded his brother, Charles V. as emperor, and his son Maxi- 
milian I. avoided trouble between Protestants and Catholics, but Rudolf II. who came 
to the throne in 1576 cared more for horses, dogs, and astrology, than he did for his 
subjects, and allowed the Jesuit priests, among whom he had been brought up in 
Spain, to work mischief in Germany. In Austria, these Jesuits tore down Protestant 
churches and schools, and burned bibles, driving many Protestants to take refuge in 
other countries. These outrages forced the Protestant princes to form a league, which 
the Catholics opposed with a union. Rudolf II. became more and more the tool of 
the Jesuits, who increased so rapidly in power, that the princes of Bohemia and Hun- 
gary made Rudolf sign an agreement not to interfere with religion in those kingdoms. 
He did not keep his word in Bohemia, and in 161 1 Mathias took the Bohemian 
crown, being the next hereditary prince of that kingdom. 

Rudolf II. died in 161 2, and Mathias was elected emperor of Germany. The 




482 



GERMANY 




MiO'T and LleutcDaut of (;eniinn UintlBknccht 
XVI. Century. * 



Protestant-s soon found that they had misunderstood 
the character of Mathias. He was determined to make 
the CathoHc religion supreme in German}-. He was a 
childless old man, and called to his aid, his cousin, 
I'erdinand, and made him king of Bohemia. 

Ferdinand was a cruel and bigoted man who 
thought that the only road to heaven was that whicli 
led through the portals of the Catholic church, and 
would have driven the whole world along that road at 
the point of the sword, if he had possessed the power. 
He began his reign in Bohemia by tearing down a 
Protestant church, to let the "heretics know his humor 
toward them." The Bohemian princes reproached the 
emperor for giving them such a king. The emperor 
returned a haughty answer, and the Protestants, headed 
by Count Thurn, proceeded to the council house of, 
Prague, and threw the Catholic councilors out of the 
window. Emperor Matthias was somewhat alarmed 
when he heard of tliis. antl more so when he learned 
that the Protestants of Bohemia had made an alliance with those of Austria. 
Germany and Hungary. He tried to induce Ferdinand to be more gentle, but 
the bigoted king had made up his mintl to crush out Protestantism. He raised 
two bodies ot troops and placed them under skillful generals, and thus was begun 
that terrible thirty years war of religion in Germany, which involved all Europe. 

By the death of Matthias, in 1619, Ferdinand 11. became emperor of Germany, 
as well as sovereign of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary. Bohemia was conquered and 
punished cruelly. I shall not attempt to detail the terrors of those dreadful years, 
when Germany wept over her dead, when her fair vineyards were red with slaughter 
and her blue skies were darkened with the smoke of ruined cities. Two-thirds of 
her people fell, and the echoes of the blows struck upon German battle-fields, 
sounded in the groans of widows and orphans in many a home in .Sweden and Den- 
mark. Christian IV., of Denmark, came early to the aid of the Protestants in Ger- 
many, and Gustavus Adolphus, the good king of Sweden fell on the field of Lutzen, 
where si.Kteen thousand Swedes nearly gained a victory over the great Catholic 
general W'allenstein. and sixty thousand men. 

What did Germany gain by the long struggle? you ask. I answer you that 
Germany gained religious libert}', at the cost of hundreds of thousands of her 
bravest and best, but so much territory was lost that the empire was almost a shadow. 
Alsace was lost to P'rance, Pomerania to Sweden, Holland and Switzerland were 
separated from the empire, and the German princes were made nearly independent. 
The suffering from famine after the close of the thirty years war, was so great, that 
the people in .some parts of Germany are said to have killed and eaten travelers. 
The fields had been left untilled, commerce was destroyed, and death and ruin were 
everywhere. The leagues of the cities had been disolved, and nothing seemed to be 
left of Germany's greatness. 

The German princes owned little allegiance to Ferdinand III., who succeeded 
Ferdinand II. ten years before "The Peace of Westphalia" closed the war. Louis 
XI\^ wanted the Rhine acknowledged as the boundary of his I'Vench dominions, and 



GERMANY. 



483 




lis 



rjt> 



Albert III. Achilles- A Leader Against the Suabians, 

army forwanJ, jiounced 
and were already 



soon after the treaty of peace was signed, seized Stras- 
burg, and finally brouglit on a war which Germany 
waged with varying success with P^rance. for more 
than tifty years. Louis XIV. induced the Turks to fall 
upon Germany on the east, in order that he might 
plunder it on the west. The tlreaded Saracens laid all 
Hungary waste with iire ami sword, and besieged 
Vienna, the brilliant capital of .Austria. 

.All about the city the Turks fell upon the inhabit- 
ants who had not sought the safety of the walls, and 
sent eighty thousand of them into captivity in Turkey. 
For two months the Viennese defended themselves. 
Then the Turks who had succeeded in making a tunnel 
under the walls whicli they filled with gunpowder, began 
to blow up the defenses. In their distress the citizens 
sent up rockets from the spire of .St. .Stephen's church. 
These were seen by gallant John Sol?ieski, King of 
Poland, who was approaching with an army to the 
relief of the city. He knew that the rockets were 
a mute prayer for immetliate succor, and he hurrietl 
upon the Turks in the hour when they thought A'ienna was their 
rejoicing over the victor^', and beat them out of Austria. 

In the Suabian table-land which gave birth to the Hohenstaufen family of princes, 
there is a mountain upon which, away back in the early days of Germany, a certain 
doughty prince built his castle, and received from the mountain the name of Hohen- 
zollern. Whether the Hohenzollerns were robber barons in their day, or whether 
they were not I can not say, but they grew rich, and in the year 141 5 Frederick of 
Hohenzollern bought the county of Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany, adjoin- 
ing Pomerania, and his descendants were the bravest and best princes of the German 
empire. While the German emperors were fighting France, after the Thirty A^ears' 
War, not many of the princes stood by them. Leopold I. was especially unfortunate 
in this respect. The French king bribed some of his most powerful princes to be 
untrue to him, but he could not offer a bribe that would tempt the Great Elector of 
Brandenburg, the noble Frederick William, to desert his emperor. He stood nobly 
by him, gained back Pomerania from .Sweden, made Prussia free from Poland and in 
every way strengthened and developed it, and fairly won his title of "The Great 
Elector." 

For a hundred and tifty years the Turks had been slowly pressing forward. 
They had in that time taken many provinces from Austria, and had firmly fastened 
upon Hungary. Christendom was in danger from them, and the war that Germany 
waged against them from 1684 to 1699 was called the Holy War. In this struggle 
Prince Eugene of Savoy, won great fame. Prince Eugene was a Frenchman, for 
Savoy is a province in southeastern France, and it was a strange thing for a French 
prince to gain renown in the German cause. This was the way that it came about. 
Prince Eugene was so small, lean and absurd looking in uniform, that when he of- 
fered himself as a general to Louis XIV. that monarch sneered at his pretensions, 
and made fun of his stature. From that time forward Eugene hated the French 
king. He had been educated for the church, and received the name of "The Little 



484 



GERMANY. 




Abbott" from his soldiers, for he offered his services to 
the German emperor, and was accepted. The great 
stalwart grenadiers were disposed to laugh at their 
diminutive general, but when they had once seen him 
in battle, they comprehended that in spite of his size 
there was none that could compare with him in bravery, 
skill and daring. He had a remarkable power of win- 
ning the affection of his men, and they would follow 
their "Little Abbott" where they would not have dared 
to venture under another leader. The comfort of his 
soldiers was as dear to him as though they had been 
his children, and if the emperor was slow in paying 
them their service-money, he would pay them out of 
his own pocket. In return they worshipped him, and 
would tight to the death at his command. It was Prince 
li.ugene and his stout followers that dealt the death- 
l)low to the Turkish power in Europe, at the battle of 
Zenta, in 1697. ^^d the French king must have heartily 
Germau cmzici and ivasiints XVI. Century. • regretted tlic folly that cost him such a famous gen- 

eral. He was to regret it more bitterly, however. 

When the Turks had been driven off, Leopold I. compelled the Hungarians to 
crown his son Joseph as their king, and made the country of Hungary tributary to 
Germany. In the year 1701 the king of Spain died without children. Louis XIV., 
of France, Leopold I. and Joseph Ferdinand, of Bavaria, each claimed the Spanish 
throne. They could not all have it, but none would yield, and thus came about the 
War of the Spanish Succession. With the help of Frederick 111. of Brandenburg, 
whom he made king of Prussia, and thtt "Little .\bbott." Leopold I. gained several 
great victories in the year 1701. 

It was at this time that James 11., the last of the Stuart kings of England, died 
in exile in France, and Louis declared his son the rightful king of P^ngland, though 
he had solemnly promised the English people to abandon the attempt to force the 
Stuarts back upon them. The English had called William Prince of Orange to the 
throne, and as the French and the Dutch had long been enemies, Louis thought to 
kill "two birds with one stone," that is, to restore the Catholic sovereignty in England 
and crush Holland at the same time. 

The English declared war after William died in 1702, and Oueen Anne came to 
the throne, bringing with her as her minister the famous Duke of Marlborough. All 
Europe was now in a broil. The Dutch, English and Germans on one side, were 
under the Duke of Marlborough, and Bavaria and France on the other side under 
several famous leaders. The fight over the Spanish crown and the .Stuarts lasted 
thirteen years, and while it was in progress the ambition of Louis Xl\'., which had 
really caused the whole trouble, was ended by death, Leopold and his son Joseph 
also passed away, and Charles VI. came to the throne of Germany. 

When all of the countries engaged in the dreadful struggle were well nigh ex- 
hausted, peace was declared, but Charles VI. was dissatisfied with its terms, and 
fought a year longer. In 17 14 he was obliged to yield, and the war came to an end. 
From that time dates the jealousy between Prussia and Austria, that brought dis- 
aster upon Germany a few years later. For the next twenty-five years Germany 



GERMANY. 



485 




The Great Elector, Freilerick William of Braudeuburg. 



was generally peaceful. A German prince succeeded 

to the English throne, and Prussia grew all the 

time in power, while Austria became somewhat less 

strong. In the year 1740 Frederick the Great became 

king of Prussia. His father, Frederick William I. 

was a singular person, and must have been a hard 

man to live with. He hated learning, and art, and 

because his son loved both, hated him, too. He 

wanted to make Prussia a war-like .State, and huntetl 

all over Europe for the tallest men that could be 

found to compose his guard. Though he despised 

all learning, he hated French culture and manners 

above everything else, and made his own habits 

differ so much from the polite manners of the French, 

that he was considered extremely rude and vulgar, 

and he knew it and gloried in it. He was a rigid 

Calvinist, and used to preach such long and wearisome 

sermons to poor Frederick, when he was a mere 

lad, that the boy almost perished under the infliction, 

and was turned against all religion. Frederick William I. had a most violent 

temper, which he seems never to have made any attempt to control, and he would 

belabor with his cudgel any one who angered him. Music was another thing that 

the king hated. Being commanded to let French books and music alone, Frederick, 

with the perversity of human nature that is often seen In high-strung people 

unnaturally repressed, had a craving to do everything that was forbidden to him, 

and indulged his will in secret. His over-doses of Calvinism spurred him to read 

every work he could procure that threw doubt upon divine teaching, and he became 

an avowed unbeliever, to the great wrath of his father, who did everything that he 

could, both in public and private, to humiliate the crown prince. 

To cap all of his folly, Frederick William was determined to marry his son to a 
woman whom he hated. He had tried before to make Frederick give up his claim 
to the crown, but the prince was firm In his refusal, and now this proposed marriage 
was the last straw In the already too heavy burden of the prince. Aided by his sister 
and two faithful friends, Frederick attempted to run away, but he was captured and 
brought back. One of his friends was taken at the same time and hanged before his 
eyes. His angry father would have killed him with his own sword, had he not been 
prevented. The Emperor Charles VI. interfered to save Frederick's life. He was 
kept in prison a long time, and treated with the greatest severity, but at last his 
father forgave him, and in time learned to respect his qualities of mind and heart. 
He bought a palace for him, where he lived many happy years with his friends and 
his books, and when he came to the throne, he was already a great favorite with his 
people. 

Charles VI. died without sons, and left his empire to his daughter, Maria 
Theresa, but several of the German princes were jealous of the beautiful young 
empress. Two of these, Frederick of Prussia, and Charles, the Duke of Bavaria, 
tried to seize a portion of her lands, while the King of .Spain wanted all the rest. 
The Bavarian duke had the French king on his side, for Bavaria was always friendly 
to France, and marched toward Vienna, while Frederick met the army of the empress 



486 



GERMANY. 




German Prnrnmer and Color-Bt'arer XVI. Century. 



in Silesia, and held it in check there. Maria Theresa 
fled to Hungary, and asked for help, which was given 
her, and England came to her rescue. After some 
fighting peace was made in 174S, the empress losing 
to Frederick the province of Silesia, and being com- 
pelled to give up two provinces in Italy also. 

Frederick II. was a great king in peace, as in 
war, and after the first struggle with him, Maria 
?l Theresa watched his growing power for eight years 
with much uneasiness. She could not forget Silesia, 
her lost province, and she determined to draw the 
sword to regain it and check Prussia. This time she 
had the help of France and Saxony, while England 
helped Prussia. This was the Seven Years' War, 
and Frederick won the title of "The Great" by the 
brilliant victories he gained over the empress and her 
allies. I shall not tell you about these battles, but 
it is sufficient to say, that when the war was over 
things were left as they had been at the end of the 
first war, except that 145,000 homes lay in ruins, 
and 280,000 men in Saxony and Bohemia had died of famine, to say nothing of those 
who fell in battle, or died in prison. War, you see is a costly luxury, and we are glad 
that the improvements in death-dealing engines and implements, have made it so 
much more expensive to life than it was in the days of Frederick the Great, that it is 
likely to go out of fashion altogether. There can't be any great satisfaction in killing 
the opponent that one can't convert, and people are beginning to realize that sword 
strokes enough have been given to carve out a very solid foundation for the temple 
of human rights, though we can see that in the past, the evil has sometimes been 
necessary to briuL; about the good. 

Frederick had, no doub, tspent far more treasure in conquering Silesia than would 
have bought it twice over, and he had beside, to repair the damage done to his 
kingdom. He began at once, like the wise ruler that he was, to undo the mischief 
wrought. He rebuilt ruined villages, gave money to buy seed and tools to the poor 
farmers who had lost their all, established schools, and went about among his subjects 
so kindly and familiar, that they lovingly called him "Old I-'ritz " and " Father 
Fritz." 

When Frederick 11. died he left Prussia one of the greatest States in luirope, 
with a full treasury, and a spU'ndid army, He was respected ami admired by the 
whole world for his learning and wise government, and the six millions of people of 
Prussia, mourned his death as a personal loss. He had lived to see Maria Theresa's 
son, Joseph II. on the throne of the German empire, and to be the model of that 
brave and virtuous prince. Joseph had, however, not a single people to govern like 
Frederick the Great, but thirteen principal governments, speaking ten different 
languages. He tried hard to rouse a spirit of German nationality, but he could not. 
and in trj-ing to rule all of these people in the same way, he almost wrecked the 
empire. Joseph II. was unlucky in nearly everything. He removed the burdens of 
the peasants, and won the hatred of the nobles; abolished the convents, and brought 
down upon himself the wrath and machinations of the Jesuits; interfered with the 



GERMANY. 



487 



•old laws and customs, and the people 
rebelled; fought the Turks, and was 
beaten. He was a good man, but he 
wore himself out early, and died in the 
prime of his life, leaving his empire in 
great confusion to his brother Leopold, 
who was not quite so good, but had 
more judgment, and made his good- 
ness go farther and accomplish more. 
Joseph was lucky in one thing, (though 
the chances are that he did not know 
it,) he died in 1790, and thus escaped 
the most dreadful period in Europe's 
history, the French Revolution, and 
what followed immediately after. Leo- 
pold only lived two 3'ears to wear the 
crown, then Francis 1 1, became emperor • 
Frederick William II. had been king of 
Prussia for six years, upon the accession 
of Francis, and he lived five years 
longer, doing nothing to greatly entitle 
him to a place in history; upon his 
death, his throne descended to his son, 
Frederick William III. 

I have told you in the story of 
France the tale of how Napoleon 

. ' .lOSEl'H a. 

Bonaparte came into power, and how 

the good king of France Louis XVI. and his beautiful queen died for the sins of their 
forefathers. You must not suppose that Germany, of all the nations of the 
world, could view calmly affairs in France. The king of Prussia at first intended 
to fight France, but when he saw England coming forward to join Austria, 
against the French, full of jealousy, he refused to ally himself with the other two 

powers. Prussia, Austria and England were 
attacked singly by the French, and beaten. A 
French army invaded Austria, but the Arch-duke 
Charles, brother of the Emperor Francis, drove 
it across the Rhine. 

In the spring of 1797, Bonaparte came over 

the Alps with his victorious army. At Glogau, 

the dauntless Arch-duke met him with a little 

army of five thousand men and stood his ground, 

u f^'mz^'^.s^^^^^ «^ the superbly disciplined and overwhelming 

lA 1 ^^Ji.. ^'^^i-J' French army dashing against him, until only two 

hundred and fifty men were left to him. He 
retreated almost alone, when there was nothing 
else to be done. Napoleon so terrorized the 
Austrian emperor, that in the fall of 1797, he 
Prince Eugene. gave him the whole west bank of the Rhine, 





488 



GERMANY. 




Kiilglit 111 Full Arinur ami Liulv XVI. Century 



to secure peace. Frederick William III. was as jealous 
of Austria as his father had been. The other German 
princes began to forsake the empire and join France, 
and Napoleon soon demanded the right bank of the 
Rhine. Austria refused to grant it, and the Arch-duke 
backed up the refusal with such hard blows, that Napo- 
leon's generals who had crossed the river to hold what 
they had demanded as a gift, were driven back again, 
defeated and in tlisgrace. The Arch-duke was sent to 
Bohemia soon after, and when Napoleon again crossed 
tlie Alps, in 1800. he fell on the Austrians unaware, and 
defeated them at Marengo and 1 lohenlinden, thus 
compelling them to yield to his demands and make 
peace in 1801. 

Prussia wanted verj' much to secure Hanover, 
which was a hereditary possession of the reigning 
house of England, l^ngland had from the first been 
the bitter foe of .Napoleon, and had furnished the 
Austrians with money to fight him. To further his 
schemes against Hanover, Frederick William III. made no objection to 
Napoleon's overrunning Hanover with an army, hoping to receive that province as 
the price of his inactivity. England knew that the ambition of Napoleon en- 
dangered all Europe, and the English people were determined never to yiel-d to him. 
The English ministers succeeded in combining .Austria, Russia and Sweden against 
France, but Prussia would not lift a hand to save Germany. 

Napoleon triumphed over the new combination of his enemies at .Austerlitz, in 
1805, and Prussia at once professed warm friendship for France, and Frederick 
William III. received the coveted Hanover, as the price of his faithlessness to the 
Fatherland. Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden, also joined the French. Sixteen of 
the German princes deserted the Emperor in 1806 and declared themselves subject 
to France, therefore Francis I. with deep sorrow announced the dissolution of the 
Empire, and .Austria, with its provinces, was all that remained to the Hapsburgs of 
that magnificent dominion, that Maximilian had dreamed would one day be a world- 
wide empire. Alas for human greatness! 

Traitors seldom prosper, and the weight of Prussia's sin bore heavily on the 
kingdom. Napoleon treated the Prussians as a conquered people. Queen Louisa, a 
strong-souled loyal woman, had all along urged her husband against the course he 
had taken, and the whole kingdom, smarting under the sense of disgrace, pleaded to 
be allowed to fight the French. War was accordingly declared in 1806, but the 
Prussians were beaten in si.x months. 

Austria, so often conquered by Napoleon, would not remain conquered any 
length of time. Again in 1807, the Austrians endeavored to throw off the hated yoke 
of I'rance. Surely never was there more splendid courage, and devoted patriotism 
than was shown by the gallant .Austrians, who in five dreadful battles against 
Napoleon and the renegade German princes who had turned their arms against their 
own country, tried to stem the tide of conquest that threatened their national life. 
They were defeated again, and were compelled to part with three provinces to 
France, and a large tract of territory to Bavaria. 



GERMANY. 



489 




Frt^derlcb rlie Great. 



This was in the year 1809, and the peasants of 
the Tyrol nobly took their part with Austria. The 
Bavarians were compelled to march through the 
Tyrol, to join the allies advancing upon Austria. In 
the Passyr Valley, there dwelt Andreas Hofer, an 
inn-keeper, who had planned with his neighbors, 
what they should do, if the Bavarians should come 
that way, as they doubtless would, on their march to 
Vienna. On a certain bright April day, the peasants 
received from a messenger, slips of paper, on which 
were written "It is time." The Inn river bore that 
day the same message to those living along its banks, 
who were in the secret, for they knew that the bits 
of wood floating on the stream, each with a tiny red 
flag fastened to it, was the signal agreed upon at the 
approach of the hostile army. 

On the south side of the Brenner Pass, is a basin- 
like valley, green and lovely, surrounded on all sides 
by towering mountains. On the slopes of these 
mountains the Tyrolese waited safely hidden until 

the Bavarians gayly marched down into the narrow green basin. High above 
the valley a gloomy castle perched upon a crag, but no danger seemed to 
menace the Bavarians, not an enemy was to be seen. .Suddenly the peasants 
charged down upon the foe. Loads of hay were made into effective breast- 
works, over and between which they fired into the hollow square into which 
the soldiers had formed when so unexpectedly assaulted. So hot was their fire, 
that the square wavered, broke, and the troops fled, pursued by the peasants, who 
took them all prisoners, and carried them to the gloomy castle for safe-keeping. 
Every peasant cheerfully promised to say nothing of what had happened. All 
trace of the fight was removed, or hidden, and when the allied armies passed through 
the basin-like valley, a little later, they wondered perhaps that the Bavarians did not 
meet them, but had no suspicion of what had happened. When they were threading 
their way among the rocks and defiles of the pass, showers of bullets and stones 
hailed down upon them from the peasants hidden high above them, and terrible was 
the havoc they wrought. 

Hofer and two daring comrades carried on the war in the Tyrol, and with their 
peasant soldiers took many strong places. A field-marshal of France, with a 
large force, was sent against them, but the Tyrolese defeated him, and with a loss 
of but few men killed and wounded, killed 4,000 Frenchmen and took 6,000 prison- 
ers, sending the field-marshal home "with a bee in his bonnet." 

When Austria signed the conditions of peace, Bavaria was given the Tyrol, but 
the Tyrolese would not consent to be transferred to their enemies. Against odds 
numbering twenty to one they held out, until Hofer was betrayed to the French by 
a traitor, and there was absolutely no hope. Hofer was shot by the order of Na- 
poleon, and met his fate like the hero that he was. and among the Tyrolese his name 
is honored as it deserves to be. 

I have told you in the story of France of the dismal failure of Napoleon's Rus- 
sian campaign, and in what plight he returned to France, and have related how the 



490 



GERMANY. 



Emperor Alexander of Russia, in 1813, made an alliance with Frederick William III. 
ayainst him. Like a single brave man the Prussian people sprang to arms in answer 
t(i their king's appeal, anxious to wipe out their country's dishonor. Poor Austria* 
had striven so valiantly against the conqueror that it had neither money nor men to 
venture in a contest which from past experience seemed doubtful indeed. Her fields 
had remained untilled, and her commerce was nearly ruined. The people, too, hatl 
lost heart, and the thought of confronting again invincible legions of Napoleon, 




Aniiroils JIoftT Being Leil to Lxecutloii. 



filled them with alarm. The advisers of the emperor had mismanaged every cam- 
paign, and though there were in the Austrian army many soldiers like the brilliant 
Arch-duke Charles, their experience and courage amounted to little when they had 
to contend, not only with the wily Napoleon, but also to strive against the blunders of 
their own war minister. The whole degenerate, weakened Austrian empire, therefore, 
was so war- wasted that at first it could give no aid, and after Napoleon had beaten 
the Prussians and Russians at Lutzen and Bautzen, the emperor of Austria sent 
Count Mettcrnich to arrange the terms of peace. 



GERMANY. 



491 




Unifiii-ni of Infantry uf 
Uie Guard 1891 



"Well, Metternich, how much money has England given you to 
play the part of peacemaker?" insolently cried Napoleon, Hinging his 
hat upon the ground, to see if Metternich would stoop to pick it up. 
The courteous Prince Metternich, no doubt, thought this rudeness but 
natural to a low-bred Corsican, who had literally 'waded through 
slaughter to a throne." Perhaps he thought, too, of the millions of 
money and the torrents of blood that had been poured out to satisfy 
the ambition of the unscrupulous conqueror, and believed that to bow 
before hini was like bowing to some Pagan idol. At all events he set 
his lips firmly, looked at the hat, then squarely at Napoleon, and each 
knew what was in the mind of the other. Fate gave the lash to the 
unseen forces that were driving the French emperor to his doom. He 
determined to fight Austria. 

In the ne.xt month the German Field Marshal Blucherwon his title 
of "Marshal Forwards." In Silesia he gained a great battle, and 
destroyetl a large French force, and in the four days' battle before 
Leipsic, of which I ha\e already told you, struck the decisive blow 
which broke Germany's bonds, and made her free. The allied princes 
now offered peace to Napoleon, but he would not accept their 
terms. Bluff, rugged old Blucher therefore, crossed the Rhine in 1814, and joined 
the allied army. The kings that Napoleoji had made tumbled from their thrones 
and hurried into hiding. "Marshal Forwards" won several battles, and Napoleon, 
too, gained several victories, but could not stay the advance of the enemy toward 
Paris. Napoleon fell, as I have told you, was sent away to Elba, to soon return, and 
in one hundred days, with 150,000 men at his back, fought his way to Waterloo, to be 
defeated by the English Wellington, and the second Peace of Paris was made. 

After this peace, which finally disposed of Napoleon, France was compelled to 
restore to Germany a large part of the conquered territory, and the Tyrol came back 
into the possession of Austria. The German empire was replaced by thirty-nine 
States, with a parliament at Frankfort. Only one of the kings that Napoleon had 
made was left in power, and he, Bernadotte, of Sweden, was the voluntary choice of 
the Swedish people, and had assisted in the overthrow of the tyrant. 

The revolution in America and France gave a new impulse to the thoughts of 
the people of Europe. The Germans, as a race, you will remember, had always 
been passionately attached to the idea of freedom, but the feudal system had been 
fastened upon them, and petty princes had riveted them in fetters, against which 
they had vainly striven. At the end of the Thirty Years' War, the people had 
hoped that they would have more liberty, as they had more independence from the 
empire, but they found that the nearly independent princes ruled them more des- 
potically than they had been ruled before. 

The success of democracy in America had been fully proven at the time of the 
overthrow of Napoleon, and the Parliament of Great Britain had long been tending 
in the direction of popular liberty. Germany's printing presses were under the eye 
of the government, and there were officers whose duty it was to read the books and 
newspapers, and report to the government anything they considered a reflection upon 
the administration of affairs. Persons who wrote or spoke against the government 
were severely punished in nearly all of the German States. Trial by jury was not 
common, and great injustice was perpetrated by the arbitrary courts. Such heavy 



492 



GERMANY. 




Priit>slaQ Soldiers ( 16601. Hussjir Offlcer. fnvalryman, 
Grenadlor. 



taxes were laid upon exported and imported goods that 
commerce could not flourish. The coinage of the 
several States was different, and there was not the same 
standard for mone\', and this caused great confusion. 
In July, 1830, a significant revolution occurred in 
France, by which Charles X. was driven from the 
throne, and Louis Phillipe was given the sovereignty of 
I'rance. After this the people of Germany were more 
hold in e.xpressing their wish for freedom. When 
Ernest Augustus, the uncle of the present queen of 
luigland, succeeded to the kingdom of Hanover, in 
1837, he began his rule by striking down the con- 
stitution under which the people had for several j^ears 
enjoyed a measure of liberty. The Hanoverians 
appealed to the Parliament, or Confederation of Ger- 
man States, for their rights, but the confederation 
declared that it could not interfere, and the people 
lost all confidence in it. The Zoll Verein, or Customs 
Union of several German States, was formed soon after, 
which removed in a certain measure some of the' 
disadvantages under which commerce labored. Before this Zoll \'erein was made, 
merchandise could not pass from one German State to another without paying a tax, 
which was a burden and nuisance. 

Louis Philippe promised to rule the PVench people by a constitution, and wlun 
he had tried their patience for eighteen years, always evading the fulfillment of his 
word, they drove him from the throne, in 1S4S, set up a constitution which made 
France a Republic, and placed at its heatl as president, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. 
He in his turn betrayed the liberties of France, but the people did not despair. The 
struggle for liberty in France roused a sympathy in Germany. France had received 
a constitution, Germany too, would have its wrongs redressed. 

For years the students at the German universities had been formed into clubs 
for the spread of liberal ideas. They did many ridiculous things to show their 
contempt for antiquated notions, and were, no doubt, a visionary lot, but they never- 
theless carried the seed of free thought and free speech into every part of Germany. 
When Louis Philippe was driven from the French throne in 1848, every State in 
(iermany was roused to sudden action. The people demanded a constitution, and 
the doing away with the clumsy tyrannical state processes of the past. The king of 
Prussia, and most of the [jrinces of the smaller States yielded to the demands of the 
people, for they were made in many cases at the point of the bayonet. The Emperor 
Ferdinand of Austria refused, and was obliged to flee for his life, and even to give 
up his throne to his son, who was more liberal in his ideas. 

In May, 1848, the national German parliament met at 'Frankfort, to appoint a 
national assembly, but it accomplished little, and revolutions broke out all over 
Germany. They were put down one by one, and when Napoleon III. proclaimed 
himself emperor of I-'rance, in 1S51, the German princes congratulated themselves 
that the failure of the republic in P' ranee, would discourage the people of Germany. 
P'or centuries patriots had dreamed of a IJnitetl (iermany.and for centuries the stern 
blacksmith, War, iiad been hammering the Germans on his anvil, striving to weld 



GERMANY. 



493 




E.\irEi:ui; willia.m i. 



Frederick William IV., 
The fact of the matter 



them together, but the metal required a little more 
heating, with the fire of trial, more strokes of swords, 
more tempering with blood and tears. 

Schleswig-Holstein had long been subject to Den- 
mark, but a large number of the people were Germans, 
and were constantly quarreling with the Danes. In the 
unquiet days of 1848, when all Europe was in agitation, 
the Germans tried to drive the Danes out of Schleswig- 
Holstein, and make themselves free of Denmark, but 
they failed. In 1863 King Frederick VII., of Denmark, 
died, leaving no children, and the Danish crown passed 
to Christian X., according to the agreement of the 
European powers who met in London some years 
before, and settled Holland, Denmark and .Schleswig- 
Holstein upon him. 

Germany and Schleswig-Holstein had not agreed 
to this settlement, and the King of Prussia, William I., 
who had succeeded to the throne of his brother 
in 1861, refused to allow Christian X. the two duchies, 
was, that Prussia wanted the two duchies, and with the aid of his splendid 
army, which in spite of the Prus'^ian constitution he had reorganized and strength- 
ened William I. and his "Iron Chancellor," Otto von Bismarck-Schoenhausen. were 
confident of ultimate success. 

The idea of "freeing .Schleswig-Holstein" was popular throughout Germany. 
Austria joined in the war that was made for the purpose. Brave little Denmark 
fought its two powerful enemies until utterly crushed by the large armies they sent 
against her. The war lasted for two years, and was a shameful contest. Prussia 
triumphed, and coolly made arrangements to anne.x the "freed" duchies to herself. 
Austria had not counted on Prussia taking all of the spoil, and the dispute over the 
division of it terminated in a seven weeks' war between Prussia and Austria in 1866. 

The Saxons, Hanoverians, Wurtembergers, and the people of Baden took the 
side of Austria, alarmed at the growing influence of Prussia, who at once stirred up 
the Italian provinces of Austria, and raised three great armies to attack the Austrians 
in their own territory. All of the people of German blood were thus arrayed upon 
one side or the other. Many battles were fought, but the Austrians out-generaled 
and out-fought, were defeated by the superior equipment of the Prussian army and 
the genius of its commanders. 

Peace was made in 1866, by the terms of which Prussia not only received Schles- 
wig-Holstein, but Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Nassau. The States north of the 
Main were formed into a federation, Nord-Bund, with Prussia at its head, the States 
south of the Main were formed into another federation, while Austria was left out in 
the cold. 

In 1S70 the throne of .Spain became vacant, antl Leopold, of Hohenzollern, put 
in a claim to it. France had long distrusted Prussia, and fearing that the Iron Chan- 
cellor had it in his mind to crush France, as Austria had virtually been crushed, the 
Emperor Napoleon III. determined upon war, at least that was the reason he gave 
for his action. The probability is, however, that he saw alarming symptoms of a 
republican uprising, and seized the first pretext to divert the attention of the French 



494 



GERMANY. 



people to a foreign enemy. There was no real cause for the declaration, for when 
Leopold saw how distasteful his claim to the Spanish throne was to the French, he 
withdrew it. Then Napoleon III. sent his ambassador to William I., insolently 
demanding of him the assurance that no Hohenzollern should ever in the future 
put in a claim for the Spanish crown. The king met the audacious demand with 
contemptuous silence, and Napoleon III. issued his declaration of war. In so doing 
he showed the utmost folly. He was not prepared for war, while Prussia had the 
best army in the world. 

In the past France, in her contests with Germany, had counted upon the mutual 
jealousies of the various .States. Napoleon had reckoned upon south Germany 
remaining neutral, but the south German federation cast its lot with Prussia and the 
northern States. Always before, the Germans had waited to be attacked by France, 




Congress of Berlin. 1878. 



and Napoleon thought that they would do so now. Again he was mistaken. The 
French army marched to the frontier of Germany, but no farther, for they were 
obliged to wait for ammunition anil supplies. The German army was hurried forward 
to confront the French, but its condition was very different. The national spirit in 
Germany awoke as if by a magic touch. France had often humiliated Germany, 
now was the time to vindicate the prowess of the nation. In eleven days Germany 
had 450,000 soldiers in three armies on their way to PVance, and 1 12,000 in the garri- 
sons of Germany, ready to fight to the last for the fatherland, while France only hatl 
310,000 all told. Moreover, Germany had also Von Moltke, the skilled and gallant 
field-marshal, who had crushed .Austria at Sadowa. 

The vast German force in three armies. General Steinmetz on the north, with 
61,000 men, the Crown Prince Frederick William, with 180,000 men on the south, and 



GERMANY. 



495 




Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia. 



Prince Frederick Charles, with 206,000 men in the 
center, advanced toward France. The whole German 
frontier was protected with a livinL,^ wall, and Prance 
did not yet assume the offensive. It was necessary for 
Napoleon III. to gain a victory, to inspire the French 
with confidence in him as a general. The odds were 
against him at every important point. 

There was a little town on the German frontier, 
Saarbuck, in which there were stationed 1,500 German 
cavalry. The town had n(_;ither walls nor tortihcations, 
and was of no importance, from a military standpoint. 
Against this place. Napoleon III., his young son, the 
Prince Imperial, and 25,000 PTench rifle-men advanced, 
captured it, and telegraphed to Paris, the news of a ^, , J 
great victory. The newspapers of the French capital 
])ririted glowing accounts of the action, carefully refrain- 
ing from mentioning against what ridiculous odds the 
battle was waged, and the populace went wild with e.\cite- 
ment. At last the French had crossed the frontier, and 
stood on German soil, but it was the only time during the warthat they did so, except as 
prisoners. Two days after " the comedy of Saarbuck," August 4, 1870, the crown- 
prince, whom the Germans lovingly called " Our Fritz," crossed over into France, 
defeated the French Marshal, McMahon, at Weissenberg, drove him back to Worth, 
followetl him there, and two days later, in a dreadful battle, lasting thirteen hours, 
killed 4,000 French, and captured 6,000, losing in the engagement, 10,000 men. 

McMahon fled toward Strasburg, and Alsace was nearly all open to Germany. 
Another French Marshal, Bazaine, was defeated a week later at Courcelles, by 
Steinmetz and Prince Frederick Charles, and retreated to Metz, a strongly fortified 
place on the right bank of the Moselle river. Bazaine intended to have a force to 
hold Metz, and to retreat to Chalons, where a new army was being formed, but Von 
Moltke, suspected what he was about, and Frederick Charles crossed over the 
Moselle, and placed himself with 120,000 menbetween Bazaine and Chalons. 

On the i6th of August, the Frejich Marshal with 180,000 men made a gallant 
attempt to force himself past Frederick Charles, and in a six hour fight, each army 
lost 17,000 men. Bazaine claimed a victory, and the P^rench in Paris shouted and 
wept for joy. He was, nevertlieless, driven back to Gravelotte, where on the i8th, the 
Germans, who had received reinforcements, met him with 20,000 more men than were 
at his command. The Germ.ans fought him with their faces toward Paris, while the 
French faced toward Berlin, and both armies were thus inspiretl to do their utmost. 
From early morning until darkness fell upon that mid-summer day, the battle raged. 
The Germans lost 20,000 men, and Bazaine pressed on to Metz, claiming another 
victory, but when the French people learned that he was shut up in Metz, surrounded 
by 200,000 Germans, they saw the trap into which \'on Moltke had driven him, and 
almost went mad with rage and grief. 

The French had fought with the utmost bravery, but this was the beginning of 
the end. McMahon attempted to march to Bazaine's relief, by passing northward, 
crossing into Germany, then descending upon the rear of the besiegers, but he was 
baffled by the German arm>-, and driven into Sedan. He made the most heroic 



496 



GERMANY, 



effort to break out, and in the attempt 
he brought on a fearful battle, result- 
ing in the utter destruction of his 
ami}-. His whole force, 108,000 men, 
4,000 officers, 70 field pieces, and 
11,000 horses fell into the hands of 
the Germans, and the greatest victory 
in the history of war, was placed to 
Von Moltke's credit. 

Still I'Vance would not give in, 
and within the walls of Paris an 
army of 70,000 men made continual 
assaults upon the forces of " (3ur 
Fritz," who had marched to the very 
gates of the French capital, and 
awaited the siege trains. Toul fell 
September 23. Strasburg defended 
itself with magnificent bravery until 
September 28, falling under a terrible 
bombardment. Bazaine gave up his 
great army a month later, and the 
victorious Germans crietl "On to 
Paris!" Gambetta, the leader of the 
republicans, escaped from Paris in a 
balloon, and roused by his fiery 
eloquence, the provinces of southern 
France. Heroic Ijands of Prench 
sharp-shooters harassed the Ger- 
mans, and late in November, 150,000 F"renchmen marched to the relief of stub- 
born Paris, but were defeated. 

Little by little, and against, the most determined resistance, all Prance was sub- 
dued, and at last Paris, sorely pressed by famine, was compelled to yield. Three 
months later P>ance gave up Alsace and Lorraine, and the war was practically over. 
The Germans had seen how by union they had achieved their greatest national 
triumph, and resolved to make that union lasting. The princes of the German 
States offered the imperial crown to William L, while their army was still before 
Paris, and the first Diet, or parliament of the restored German empire, an empire in 
the true sense of a unites! people, met at Berlin, March 21, 1871, twenty-six States, 
including the conquered provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, being included. 

The new German empire thus founded was composed of people who had passed 
slowly through various stages of national development. The emperor was beloved 
by all, and Bismarck, his chancellor, had the firmness and skill to carry any measures 
that he thought necessary for the good of the State. A military sj'stem was devised 
that compelled every able-bodied man to serve three years in the army, exempting 
none from a certain term of service. The soldiers were well drilled in body and 
mind, and the army soon became the national school of manhood. The military 
system is still fastened upon the German people, who feel that the school is both an 
expensive and hartl one. The officers are frequently Ijrutal, and treat the private 




EMI'KKOU WILLIAM IL 



GERMANY. 



497 




Uuifonii of Laucer 1S91. 



soldiers with cruelty. To escape the three years of virtual slavery, 
the young men emigrate by the thousands every year, and the 
empire is drained of one source of its strength. 

Emperor William's life was twice attempted by Socialistic assas- 
sins, because he had made laws against them. These Socialists are 
really Democrats, who desire to do away with monarchy. Among 
them are some foolish persons who imagine that all government 
should be destroyed, and property equally divided. These fanatics 
are called Anarchists, and have caused the Soci:;lists much trouble, 
and by their wiUl nonsense, and their insane crimes, have prejudiced 
Europe against democracy, and have caused the .Socialists to be 
misunderstood. 

Emperor William died peacefully in his bed, March 9, 1888, at the 
ripe old age of nearly ninety-one, mourned with the most sincere 
grief by the whole nation. The Crown Prince Frederick liad suffered 
for some time from an incurable disease of the throat, and had borne 
the intense agony of his painful ailment with such heroic fortitude 
that the whole world had become interested in his case. When his 
aged father died, he was already beyond the power of speech, and in this condition was 
made emperor, six days after William I. breathed his last. He lived but three 
months to bear the title of emperor, dying June 13, 1888. 

Beloved as was Emperor William I., "Our Fritz" occupied a place apart in the 
affections of the people. He stood to them as the type of the new German nation, 
embodying all that was best in their qualities. Hating war, he was nevertheless 
prompt to defend the Fatherland against its enemies, proving himself generous to 
the vanquished, and sullying his victories with no acts of cruelty. He was liberal in 
his ideas, and was utterly opposed to the government stifling the voices of the people 
in the elections, for Bismarck had done this more than once, and he believed that the 
days of despotism in Europe were numbered. 

William II., who followed his father on the throne, and is the present Emperor of 
Germany, is a true Hohenzollern. He has an exaltetl idea of the divine right of 
kings, and that notion has already plunged hini into trouble. He would suffer no 
man to oppose him in council, and one of his first acts was to dismiss the "Iron 
Chancellor," who had for several years been looked upon by other nations as the real 
ruler of (icrmany, and to call to his aid Caprivi, a man more pliable to his wishes. 

He has taken stern measures to repress Socialism, but it is a greater power in 
Germany to-day than ever, being like the fabled plant that thrives best when it is 
bruised and trodden upon. By his manifestations of a warlike spirit, he has driven 
France and Russia into an alliance, and has found it hard work to conceal from the 
people that the Triple Alliance, that has been so long maintained between Austria, 
Italy a-nd Germany, is mcu'e for the purpose of checking the spread of French ideas 
of liberty, than protecting Europe from brench and Russian aggression. The com- 
mon saying "that every man in Germany carries a soldier upon his back," is now more 
often heard. Then people resent the taxation that keeps an immense army prepared 
for war at all times, and their representatives in the Diet have resisted further increase, 
though without success. 

For ten years there have been rumors of coming war in (Germany, but it would 
take a clever prophet to tell what incident will precipitate the struggle, and what 
would be the result, should the Triple Alliance and England engage in war with 
Russia and France, and as I make no pretensions to being a prophet, I shall not 
attempt to do so. 








0.\G before Carthaj^e was built, there lived amoni^ 
the mists and snows of the north, a race kindred to 
that which the Greeks found in the south when 
they crossed over to Europe. Who they were, or 
whence they came, I can not tell you, but they left 
traces in every part of western Europe of their life and habits in the 
stone implements of the war and chase found deep down under the mold 
of ages. They may have had traditions of the great movement of the 
race that peopled the world, or descendants of the savage cave-dwellers, the brutal 
man of that time in the world's age, when the earth, the air and the sea teemed with 
animal life, of which we know only by its fossil remains. 

We have learned that the Celts were the first Aryans to reach Europe, and that 
they conquered in very early times the people they found there, and spreading far 
and wide, formed colonies. They were in their turn crowded by the Teutonic races, 
and fleeing before their conquerors, crossed over into Britain and Ireland. The 
R(unans called the Celts, Gauls, and the Gauls were long the most powerful of the 
tribes of western Europe. 

There is an old story that relates that at the tinie of the E.xodus,Gathelus,aGreek, 
married a daughter of Pharaoh, named Scotia, and emigrated with her to Europe. 
Their descendants, so runs the tale, came over to Ireland, and thence peopled Scot- 
lanii, which took its name from Scotia. This tradition has no truth in it, as you will 
see, when I tell you how Scotland was settled. The adventurous Celtic Gauls crossed 
over from Ir(-land whither they had gone in search of new homes, and founded a 
colony in Scotland. They did not change their ancient name, nor indet-d have they 
to this day, and the Gauls or Gaels yet speak in some portion of Scotland, the old, 
old Celtic, which Csesar heard when he invaded Britain. This Gaelic or Celtic speech 
may not have been spoken in exactly the same way by the direct descendants of 
Japhet, but the Gaels declare that the ancient patriarchs would have had little 
trouble in understanding it. They even claim that Celtic is thi; oldest language of 
the world, though oriental scholars do not agree with them. 

The Celts lived among the mountains of Scotland and on the shores of the 
lovely lakes and rivers of the country, for unnumbered centuries, before we hear of 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 499 

them in history. History is one of the new inventions of man, when we compare it 
with the age of the world, and its story has neither beginning nor end. Scotland in 
these days abounded in wild animals, and the Gaels lived a pastoral life, hunting game 
for food, perhaps as a sort of pastime, but depending mainly on their flocks and 
herds. Like the Hebrews, they wandered from place to place in search of pasture, 
at the different seasons of the year, and were a rugged, sturdy, independent race. 

1 he religion of the Gaels, like that of the other Celtic tribes, was Druidical 
just what this religion was, is not now quite certain, for though the Druid priests had 
an alphabet, and knew philosophy, science and magic, their writings have been lost 
to us through the zeal of the early Christian teachers. Ca:sar inquired into the 
religion of the Druids, and other Latin writers have told us what they were able to 
learn concerning it. The Druid priests were men of the most dignified manners and 
mysterious practices. They made the laws of their respective tribes and were held 
in fear and ^everence. The princes and chiefs of the tribes were below them in 
authority, for they appointed whom they would to hold the people in subjection. The 
fierce leaders of the Celts could not go to war without the consent of the priests, nor 
would they undertake any matter of importance without first consulting them. The 
priests were supposed to be able to govern wind, rain, thunder and lightning, and 
knew every trick wherewith to outwit the evil spirits that were constantly lurking 
about, bent on mischief. To keep the people in awe of them, they celebrated mystic 
and awful rites in the depths of the dark forest, and sometimes offered human vic- 
tims to appease the wrath of the demons. 

The word (druidheadh) from which Druid is taken, is the Celtic term for 
' impressive," and the Druids were certainly as impressive as all their arts and the 
fears of the superstitious Celts could make them. They educated the sons of all the 
chiefs and principal men, and having them thus under their authority, were able to 
gain grtat control over their minds and influence their action in after life. I can not 
tell you what the education of the Celtic youth was, for the simple reason, that since 
they were forbidden to write, there has been no record kept of that mysterious 
knowledge that it took them so long to acquire. lam sure that their bodies were 
trained in all sorts of war-like exercise, and their minds were not wholly neglected. 
Patriotism and the love of valor were their characteristics, and their training 
probably placed great value on those qualities. Many of their lessons were in verse. 
and fifty thousand verses are said to have been memorized by the pupils during their 
term of instruction under the priests. Those youths who showed any aptitude for 
poetical composition, were trained as bards or singers, and became second only to 
the priests in influence. Many of these bards were chiefs, and their stirring war- 
songs inspired their followers to such deeds of valor in battle as entitled them to a 
place in the isle of heroes, which was the Celtic heaven. 

/The Druids did not believe in a God who would protect them in battle, and were, 
therefore, always careful to exhort their warriors to rely on the valor of their own 
arms. The God of the Druids was the spirit that filled all nature. I They believed 
that in the blessed islands the warriors would receive the rewards for their good 
deeds, and taught them to hold death in contempt. There was much that was debas- 
ing in the religion of the Druids, and their bloody rites, magic and mystery, kept 
their Pagan followers in the condition of moral slaves, and made them extremely 
cruel; yet at the beginning, like all religions, it had in it some seeds of truth, and 
shows the Aryan origin of the people who could thus adapt a religion differing not a 



500 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



great deal from that of Old Egypt, and make it so characteristic of a certain element 
in the Celtic character. 

When the Gaels had lived a long time in Northern Scotland, a tribe of Goths, a 




Dnild Priests OffcrlnE Hiimnn S»rrltlce8. 



Germanic people, seized upon the islands lying to the north of Scotland, The Gaels 
called these people Galli, or strangers, and soon found them inconvenient neighbors. 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 501 

The newcomers were of a restless, war-like tendency, ant! would swoop down upon 
the Gaelic shepherds, rob them of their flocks, and driving- them off the land, take 
possession of it. The Gaels wandered from place to place in search of pasturage for 
their herds, and when after a winter in some sheltered valley a tribe or family returned 
to their summer pastures, it was to find them in the possession of the "strangers," who 
were not at all disposed to give them back. 

There was plenty of room for all, if the Gothic intruders would have been content 
with the game in the forests and the wild herds of the mountains for their food and 
the material for their clothing, but they could not. It was as natural for them to 
plunder, as it is for cats to catch mice, and like true savages, they had a supreme 
contempt for work of any kind. They despised the Gaelic shepherds, and gave them 
the name of "Scots," or wanderers — "vagabonds," perhaps — and the Scots in turn 
called the Gothic tribe "Picts," which means "painted men," also "thieves," so in the 
two words "Pict" and "Scot," we have a portrait of the people to whom they were 
applied. 

In the thirtl century, the land of the Scots is first called Scotland, the Romans 
having called the tribes of North-Britoqs "Caledonians." These Caledonians resisted 
Agricola most bravely. When he tried to penetrate into their country and subdue 
them as he had the Celts to the south, the Picts and Scots who had been at war for 
centuries, laid aside their mutual quarrels, and united against the Roman invaders. 
They chose for their leader a gallant chieftain named Galgacus or GoU of the tribe 
of MacMorin. Galgacus was as eloquent as he was brave, and before he led his 
forces against Agricola at Ardoch, in the year 84, he made a speech to them in which 
he related all of the greed and cruelty of the Romans, and urged the Caledonians to 
fight for liberty to the last drop of their blood. His words so inspired his followers 
that they engaged in battle with great fury. It raged all ilay, and at night the field 
was red with their blood and covered with their corpses. The Romans had triumphed, 
but from that day they could never tempt the Caledonians to face their terrible 
legions. They had learned that valor was useless against such discipline. Their 
defeat did not by any means crush them, but henceforth the>' fought only from 
ambush, and from inaccessible rocks and fens. 

Hadrian was finally convinced that the Caledonians were not to be subdued, and 
built a wall to protect those tribes on the south who had acquired some degree of 
civilization, from their savage northern neighbors. His successor, Antoninus, found 
the wall of Hadrian entirely insufficient, and built between the Forth River and the 
Clyde, an immense wall forty miles long, protected by nineteen fortresses. This 
work must have been difificult enough, for the Caledonians no doubt harassed the 
builders ceaselessly, and placed every possible obstacle in their way. The Romans 
had a double design in the construction of the wall. From its fortresses they could 
at the same time protect their colonies from the incursions of the northern tribes, 
and overawe the Britons on the south. 

In the year 180 the Picts broke through the wall of Antoninus, and began to 
plunder the Britons and Romans For many years they committed outrages, and it 
was not until 210 A. D., that the wall was made the boundary of Rome's dominion in 
Britain. After that time the Picts and .Scots were busy for a century, practicing in 
their own country the arts of peace and war that they had learned from contact with 
the Romans. They cut down forests, drained marshes and cultivated the soil, and 
though they kept their tribal hostility alive with the feuds and frays between them- 



502 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

selves, there was no general war, and no foreign expeditions. The Scots 
earl}' became Christians. Among the Christians who fled from Roman perse- 
cution were men who sought peace and safety in the British Islands. They 
made themselves a home among the people of Wales, England and Scotland, and 
taught their neighbors the doctrines in which they themselves believed. Their faith 
slowly spread, and the Scots being of a deeply serious and reflective turn of mind, 
adopted it readily. For a long time the Picts would have nothing to do with the 
Christian faith, and in the second century they were still Pagan and savage. All the 
centuries that the Picts and Scots had been quarrelsome neighbors, their character 
had changed little. The Scots were still content to live by industry, the Picts still 
eager for adventure and plunder. 

In Valentia where the Romans had built towns, the Scots had made remarkable 
progress. It was in Valentia that Saint Patrick was born, and grew up to man's 
estate. He was the son of wealthy parents who gave him every advantage in their 
power, and he early became renowned for his piety. He could compose poetry and 
sing, so he was known as "Patrick the Psalm Singer." He went about in Ireland among 
the Druid Celts, and labored among them for many years, converting them to 
Christianity and building churches. 

About a hundred years after Saint Patrick crossed over to Ireland to carry the 
Gospel to the heathen Celts, an Irish missionary, Columba, the pious son of a royal 
prince who had done much for Christianity in his own country, took twelve of his 
zealous countrymen and ventured into Scotland to convert the Picts. At first the 
Picts would not receive the missionaries, but Columba won their admiration by his 
feats of strength and endurance, and they became his enthusiastic friends. Columba 
appears to have been a truly wonderful man, a hero of romance as well as religion, 
and the monkish chronicles of the olden time have much to say about his adventures. 
Saint Ninyan Ninian had preached the Gospel nearly all over Scotland, but Columba 
was an apostle after the idea of the Picts, and for them he did wonders. The Scots 
had by this time become quite civilized, and the arts, sciences and literature were not 
unknown among them. The conversion of the Picts and Scots to the faith put an 
end for a time to their wars, and the peace lasted for several centuries. 

In the ninth centurj' the Picts had spread over the land until they occupied a 
third of the kingdom of Albin. Alpin was king of the Scots when a war broke out 
between the two tribes. Greedy as usual for plunder, the Picts had made up their 
minds to exterminate or drive out the Scots, and possess the whole country. Alpin 
was not the man to be easily terrified, even though the Picts had reputation for 
ferocity that made them a formidable enemy for a jjeople peacefully inclined. He 
gathered his warriors and awaited the attack. It was near Forfar, in Angus-shire, that 
the Picts fell upon the Scots. Fearful was the clash of arms, and hardly less fearful 
the mingling of Gothic and Gaelic war-shouts that lasted from dawn to close of day. 
The king of the Picts was slain, and his host acknowledged themselves vanquished. 
The victorious Scots were returning to their camp when they fell into an ambush 
prepared for them by the treacherous enemy, and were all slain. The head of Alpin 
was hewed from his body and carried through all the towns of the Picts, and there 
was the wildest joy over his death among them. The bloody head was nailed to one 
of the towers of the Picts, that they might not forget how their enemy had fallen. 
The Scots, too, did not forget. "Remember the death of Alpin," became their war- 
cry, and fearfully did they revenge their fallen king. 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 503 

Alpin was the first of the really historic kings of the Scots. His death was a 
titter blow to his people, and for three years they did not renew the war. His son, 
Kenneth MacAlpin ascended the throne upon the death of his father in S34, and 
made peace with the Picts. Secretly he forwarded every preparation for war, and 
when all was ready, at the end of three years, called all his chiefs together, and made 
the plan of campaign. Led by Kenneth himself they fell upon the Picts, routed them 
in a hard-fought battle, giving no quarter. The Picts then pleaded for peace, but 
King Kenneth sternly refused it on any other terms than the surrender of all their 
lands. He reduced them nearly to the condition of slaves, and leavingguards among 
them went back to his own territory. No sooner was he gone than the Picts arose, 
massacred the Scots and attempted'to regain their independence. Kenneth swore in 
the most emphatic Gaelic, — and I assure you that Gaelic can be very emphatic, — that he 
would blot the Picts from the face of the earth, and forever render them incapable of 
further trouble. Drusken, the Pictish king, was informed of this terrible threat, and 
knowing that King Kenneth was a man of his word, was somewhat alarmed. He 
therefore took his people across the river Forth, to the town of Scone, and sent mes- 
sengers to Kenneth apologizing for what had happened, and begging peace. The 
Scottish king replied that he would only speak to them of peace when they had 
promised to surrender. He would give them no assurance for the future, and told 
them that he would punish their treachery as seemed best to him. The Picts then 
determined to sell their lives clearly. Seven times in one day were they attacked by 
the Scots, and finally defeated and scattered, they found safety in England and 
Wales, and Scotland was thenceforth the land of the Scots. Kenneth broke up all 
the strongholds of the Picts, and banished those who were left, and had not been 
implicated in the massacre. 

Next Kenneth attacked the Saxons who had invaded the Lothians, and the 
Britons in Strathclyde. He vanquished them and feared not to engage Ragnar 
Lodbrok, the Dane. This marauder had filled all England with desolation, and none 
had been able to overcome him. Valiant Kenneth beat him off, and so great was his 
fame as a warrior, that thenceforth as long as he reigned over Scotland, the kingdom 
was free from foreign invasion. Kenneth died in S34, leaving to the people a freed 
kingdom, antl to his brother Donald the crown, for the crown was then not hereditary, 
but the people chose the king, and Donald was their choice. 

The brother of the wise Kenneth MacAlpin was very different in character from 
that good king. He was slothful, vicious and vain, qualities abhorred by the Scots. 
Seeing how little force of character the monarch possessed, the Picts who had fled to 
England secured the aid of the Saxons to regain what they had lost. In spite of 
Donald's luxurious habits and his lack of discipline among his warriors, he was as 
brave when roused as was Kenneth. He gathered his hosts, and in a great battle, 
defeated his foes. The Saxons made peace, leaving their allies to shift for themselves, 
and Donald returned to his slothful ways. Disgusted with- him, and despairing of 
his improvement, the nobles cast him into prison, where he got rid of himself by 
suicide, to the relief of the nation. 

Kenneth had left a son, Constantine, and he was next chosen as the king of the 
Scots, and ascended the throne about 860. For sixteen years he ruled the Scots 
strictly, and woe to the youth who practiced the indolence or drunkenness that had 
been favored by the former king. Like the Spartans of old, he compelled the men 
to eat their meals together, sleep on the bare ground, and neglect no exercise that 



504 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

would develop strength and skill. He even put to death cowards, and those who 
persisted in their vices to the extent that they were a burden to the community. 
Lord Ewen of Lochaber saw how hateful many of these strict laws were to the Scots 
and roused a revolt. The king put it down, caused Ewen to be strangled in prison, 
and thus intimidated the unruly. The Danes under their renowned chief, Hubba, 
descended upon the coast of Fife and made a camp, during the reign of Constantine. 
To this camp they carried much pillage, and the king attacked them more than once. 
He was finally betrayed to the Danes, and was murdered by a Pict who had enlisted 
int he Scottish army for the purpose. 

The ne.\t king, Hugh, was known as "The Swift-footed." Swift or slow, he soon 
ran his race of vice and sloth, and a year from the time he was crowned, was slain by 
Grigory or Grig, an eloquent and brave chieftain, who then became his successor. 
King Grig was one of the mightiest of the ancient Scots. He beat the Danes out of 
Fife and fought them under Hardicanute in Northumberland, nearly annihilating 
them. He thus gained Northumberland as a portion of Scotland. When he had set 
his conquest in order he turned his arms against those Britons who still held a portion 
of his kingdom. Tht-se people were in a sad plight. On one hand were the savage 
Pagan Danes, on the other the hardly less savage Christian Scots. Preferring the 
Christians to the heathen, they made peace with the Scots, promising them all of the 
lands that the .Scottish warriors might wrest from the Danes. The chances were that 
the Scots would have kept such lands even without their permission, so it was prudent 
of the Britons to make a virtue of necessity. 

Scarcely had Grig settled with the Britons, when the Irish invaded Galloway, and 
securing great quantities of plunder crossed back into their own country. Without 
loss of time, Grig followed the robbers, took bloody vengeance on the Irish who 
attempted to oppose him, and arrived at Dublin which he besieged. The place sur- 
rendered when the prospect of famine stared the people in the face. Grig then 
showed himself as merciful as he was valiant. I le simjjly demanded that the persons 
in charge of the education of the young Irish king should acquit themselves well of 
the task, made the officers and chieftains promise to govern with great^ justice to 
their neighbors in future, and setting the country in order, returned to Scotland. 
After a reign of eleven years, much disturbed by the restless truce-breaking Danes, 
he gave up the crown to Donald II., son of Constantine. 

Donald II. was a wise and good king, who also reigned eleven years, and was 
succeeded by Constantine II. in the year 900. Edward of England had made war 
ui)on the Danes and driven nearly all of them from their lands. He also claimed 
some of the southern portion of Scotland, and was preparing to drive out the Scots. 
The Danes, Scots and Northmen, therefore, made an alliance against the English, 
and in a dreadful battle the allies were defeated. Many of the Scottish nobles, when 
they saw that the cause of their allies was hopeless, rushed on death rather than 
survive the disasters of "the defeat. 

The English took Westmoreland and Cumberland from the Scots, and North- 
umberland from the Danes, thus beginning the long wars for the conquest of Scot- 
land. After Constantine had reigned forty years disastrously and weakly, he retired 
into a sort of monastery, and Malcolm I., son of Donald II., was made king. He 
regained Cumberland and Westmoreland, and scourged the Danes into decent 
behavior. After eleven years of righteous reign he was rewarded for the efforts he 
had made in the behalf of his country, by assassination. 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



O'-'D 



Indulf, the next king who came to the throne in 954, made Dunneddin (Edin- 
burgh) a part of the kingdom. He reigned for eight years. Then strife arose 
between Duff and Culen, both claimants for the crown, and after nearly a dozen years 
of war, and the death of one of the claimants, Kenneth IL became king and reigned 
twenty-four years. He was followed by another Constantine, who fell also in defense 
ot his crown, and Malcolm II. became king in 1005. This Malcolm was a valiant and 
doughty Scot, who reigned thirty years over the nation. He invaded Northumberland 
and gained great victories, made Strathclyde, long a bone of contention with the 
English, a part of Scotland, beat off the Danes and rebuilt the fortresses ruined in 
former wars. He made wise laws and established order throughout Scotland, dying 
in the year 1034. The whole nation mourned the death of the king. To add to their 
grief was the fear of impending calamities. The rivers overflowed their banks in a 
way never known before, the rain fell in floods, and in midsummer there was a black 
frost and a fall of snow. The calamity came soon after in the form of famine. The 
crops had all been ruined or swept away by the floods, and there was dire distress 
throughout the whole land. Thus the year of the death of Malcolm II. was long 
memorable in Scotland. 

Malcolm II. was succeeded on the throne by his grandson Duncan, an amiable 
and honorable prince, who as the Prince of Cumberland, had won the respect of the 
English antl the esteem of his subjects. Duncan had an ambitious and able cousin, 
Macbeth, who was thane of Ross by birth and having married the widow of the thane 
of Moray was rich and powerful. Macbeth was bold and daring, and coveted the 
crown of the kingdom. He hated Duncan, but concealed his hatred and his 
ambitions. ♦ 

There was a thane of Lochaber, Banquo by name, who had been so cruel to his 
subjects that they tlrove him from the province. He complained to King Duncan, 
who sent a herald into Lochaber, summoning to trial before him those who had taken 
part against Banquo. Headed by MacDual, Banquo's most bitter enemy, the rebels 
gathered an army after they had murdered the king's messengers, and prepared to 
resist his authority. They called the Irish to their aid, and thought they would have 
an easy victory over Duncan, who was nothing of a warrior. 

Duncan sent Macbeth and Banquo against the rebels. They conquered them 
and carried the head of MacDual to the king. The mutilated body of the rebel 
chieftain was hung in chains in the most conspicuous place in Lochaber, and Macbeth 
and his army marched back to Perth where the king held his court. 

Sweyn, brother of Canute, soon afterward invaded Scotland. Macbeth and 
Banquo had won the confidence of the king by their Lochaber exploit, and keeping 
Banquo with him to advise him in regard to military matters, he sent Macbeth with 
an army against the Danes. The Danes were driven off, and Macbeth's aspirations 
for the crown grew bolder. Since the days of Kenneth II. the crown of Scotland had 
been hereditary', and the Prince of Cumberland was its heir. When Duncan was 
Prince of Cumberland he had married the daughter of Siward, thane of Northum- 
berland, and now had two sons, Donald the Fair (Bane), and Malcolm the Large- 
headed (Canmore). Malcolm Canmore, being the eldest, was made Prince of Cum- 
berland, greatly to the rage of Macbeth who wanted that title himself in order that 
he might inherit the crown. His fierce wife encouraged his rage and together the 
two conspired against the life of the king. 

Macbeth, like most of the people of his time, believed tirmly in witch-craft, anil 



5o6 SCOTLAND A.NU IRELAND. 

he usetl to visit three mysterious sisters, who pretended to be witches. They lived in 
a dariv hovel in the woods and brewed all sorts of mj'sterious messes which they sold 
to the ignorant and suspicious as "charms." These "weird sisters" probably discov- 
ered the ambition of Macbeth and knowing what sort of prophecies would please 
him best, after the manner of their kind in all ages of the world, gave him the advice 
he wanted most to take. They hailed him as king, and pretended to be able to see 
into the future. Urged on by these three witches, by Lady Macbeth and his own evil 
nature, and aided and abetted in the plan by Banquo, Macbeth murdered Duncan. 
The two princes, greatly to the disappointment of the murderer, escaped. Malcolm 
went to the protection of Edward the Confessor, of England, and Donald fled to the 
Hebrides, then inhabited by Celts and Norwegians. 

Macbeth was crowned K\qg of Scotland, and for the first ten years of his reign 
was a just and able king. He restored the country to peace and order and punished 
robbers and criminals without mercy. As time went on he showed a most tyrannical 
disposition toward the nobles of his kingdom. He executed them, seized their lands 
and banished them on trifling pretexts, and made himself cordially hated by all 
classes of the people. Banquo, his accomplice in the murder of Duncan, had some 
hopes that his sons, instead of those of Macbeth, might succeed to the crown. There 
was said to be a pro])hecy that his son Fleance should be the father of kings, and 
when this came to the ears of Macbeth, he had father and son waylaid by hired 
assassins. Banquo fell, but Fleance escaped to Wales, and a little later I will tell you 
how the prophecy concerning him was fulfilled. 

The nobles were indignant when they heard of the murder of Banquo, antl rarely 
appeared at the court of Macbeth, fearing the same fate for themselves. The king 
became more and more of a tyrant. He was not blind to the hatred of his nobles, 
and resolved as a matter of prudence to build for himself a strong castle, into which 
he might flee in case of revolt. He chose the steep, rocky hill of Dunsinane for the 
site of his stronghold, and set his people to work carrying material up the slope. It 
is said that he divided the work between the thanes of the kingdom, compelling each 
to furnish a certain number of laborers and oxen for dragging the carts. Many of 
the thanes had a suspicion that the king was building the castle as a refuge against 
them, and a fortress from which he might oppress them and defy their wrath. 
Macduff, the bold thane of Fife, was the most outspoken in regard to the conduct of 
the king. He told the lords and nobles that the building of this castle boded thtm 
no good, and had they not agreed to furnish the king their aid, he would withhoUl 
his. He sent his quota of workmen and materials, but as he had heard that his words 
had been reported to Macbeth, did not venture himself into the power of the king. 
Macbeth determined to seek Macduff in Fife, and marched thither with a strong 
force. Macduff did not wait to receive his foes, but fled to England. The king seized 
Macduff's possessions, pronounced his ban against him, and treated with the utmost 
severity every one that he could discover had said anything against his tyranny. 

Young Malcolm Canmore was at the court of th(; luiglish Edward, and to him 
Macduff carried the story of his wrongs and those of his country, entreating him to 
avenge the death of his father, and to free Scotland from the tyranny of the usurper. 
Malcolm knew that Macbeth was a wily and scheming villain, and did not know but 
that the story that Macduff told him might be a snare to lure him back to Scotland 
and into his power. To test Macduff and learn whether he really had the welfare of 
Scotland at heart as he pretended, Malcolm told him in confidence of various things 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 507 

that he would do were he made King of Scotland, that were neither honorable nor 
virtuous. Macduff listened to the prince in horror. When Malcolm had finished, 
the stern thane of Fife looked at him with an expression of loathing. "Begone, 
heir of royalty, dishonor to thy name!" he said. "Prodigy of evil, fitting rather to 
bring disaster on a valiant nation than to rule them as a free people!" He turned 
away and was about to leave the presence of the prince, his heart full of rage and 
sorrow, when Malcolm seized him by the hand and explained that he was only testing 
his loyalty. He brought witnesses to prove his honor and truth, and Macduff was 
convinced. 

Malcolm was eager to return to Scotland, and his grandfather, .Siward of North- 
umberland, provided him with an army to make good his claim to the Scottish crown. 
When the people of Scotland learned that their rightful prince was returning to his 
own, they were full of joy. Not a hand was raised for Macbeth, and his lords and 
nobles deserted him until there was hardly enough, all told, to man the walls of the 
castle of Dunsinane, to which the tyrant and his wicked wife retreated. From Dun- 
sinane Macbeth sent messengers to Ireland and the Hebrides for soldiers, offering 
rich reward for their services. Neither he nor his wife had any doubt that they 
should crush their enemies, for the three 'weird sisters" who had prophesied the 
death of Duncan, Banquo, and that Macbeth should be king, had said (if we are to 
believe Shakespeare) 

"Macbeth shall never vanquished be until. 

Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill 

Shall come against him." 

In his pride and cruelty, he as little thought it possible that he should cease to 
tyrannize over the Scots, as that the forest should walk abroad and approach his 
castle gates. 

Multitudes of men-at-arms and thanes of the kingdom rallied around Malcolm. 
The people and priests prayed for the success of the handsome, gallant young king, 
and heaped blessings on him as he marched to Dunsinane. As his soldiers passed 
through the forest of Birnam, they plucked green branches and fastened them in 
their helmets, as though they were already victors. Thus King Macbeth, as he 
looked from the casement of his tower of Dunsinane, saw in the distance what seemisd 
to him a forest in motion steadily coming nearer and ever nearer to Dunsinane. 
" Until Birnam wood shall come to Dunsinane," and now he thought it was surely 
coming. Feeling that his doom was near, he fled the castle, which fell into the hands 
of Malcolm. Flight could not save him, Macduff followed him close, overtook and 
slew him and his son. Both were buried in the wave-washed isle of lona, in 
1057, and Malcolm was crowned king of Scotland. Macbeth reigned in all, seventeen 
years, ten as a good and wise king, and seven as a hated tyrant. It may be that his 
crimes committed to gain the crown drove him mad at last, for his deeds were those 
of a lunatic in the last seven years that he reigned over Scotland. His name and 
memory were abhorred by the Scottish people, who hailed Malcolm as their 
deliverer. 

Malcolm Canmore was the greatest king of old Scotland. As soon as he was 
placed in the charge of the kingdom, he busied himself in rectifying as far as lay in 
his power, the effects of the tyranny of Macbeth. Macduff remained his valiant 
and true friend, and aided him much in his efforts for the good of the country. Asa 
reward for the part that Macduff had taken in his restoration, Malcolm conferred 
three great honors on the posterity of the thane of Fife, that were highly prized for 



5o8 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



centuries. A law was inatle which allowed them to place the crown on the heads of 
the kings of Scotland, to command the right wing of the king's army, and in case of 
causing the death of an enemy without premeditation, to pay in money for the 
"accident" without being brought to trial. 

During the reign of Malcolm some robbers made their lair in the forest of Cock- 
burn, and from its depths were wont to issue forth, plunder the surrounding 
country', and then hie them back to their shelter. Patrick of Dunbar assailed them, 
and with the loss of but twentj'-four men, killed si.\ hundred of the rascals. For 
this service he was knighted, and his descendants played an important part in the 
history of Scotland. It is said that Malcolm was as generous as he was brave. Hav- 
ing heard that a plot had been formed for his murder, and that one of the leading 
nobles of the court was its prime mover, he one day invited the thane, who had no 
idea that the king knew of his plan, to walk with him in a safe and secret spot. 




Castle of EdInbnrB. 

When they were alone, the king told the plotter that he thought it a cowardly and 
unmanly thing to attempt to destroy the life of a man secretly, and that now if he 
wished to kill him, to do it as a valiant man should. Both were armed, and he was 
willing to try the issue then and there, and all he asked was fair play and no favor. 
The would-be murderer was overcome with remorse and shame, and falling at the 
king's feet begged his pardon, which was freelj^ granted. 

Itwasw'hile Malcolm IV. was still a young man that William 1 lie Concjueror 
invaded England, killed valiant King Harold, took possession of that kingdom 
and made himself the cruel master of the Saxons. Edgar Athcling, the son of 
I larold, feared to trust himself to the tender mercies of the Conqueror, and with his 
mother and two sisters, took ship for Germany. The vessel was driven by the wintis 
into the Firth of the Forth, and the fugitives, assured of the protection of Malcolm, 
landed in Scotland. When the young king saw fair Margaret, the sister of the fugi- 
tive prince, he was smitten with her beauty and winning ways. He found on closer 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 509 

acquaintance that she was as good as she was beautiful, and as she returned his have, 
they were married. 

Up to this time the Gaehc or Celtic language had been the common speech of 
the people and the court of Scotland. Malcolm's long stay in England, and his mar- 
riage with Margaret inclined him to use the Sa.\on speech, and it soon became the 
language of the court. The old kings were wont to hold their court in the north or 
the Highlands, but Malcolm and the kings who came after him held court in the 
south or Lowlands, and the Lowlands were the most inf^^uenced by new ideas and 
customs. The Highlands were neglected, and there the Gaelic was spoken for many 
centuries, and there it is still spoken. The Saxon nobles driven from their lands by 
the Normans, found a refuge in Scotland and were given lands and honors by the 
king, and they, too, helped make the Lowlands English in speech and manners. On 
the coast and in the isles about Scotland, there was a union of the Danish, Saxon, 
Gaelic and French languages that formed the Scotch speech, and therefore in the 
small kingdom of Scotland, there were three languages spoken in the clays of Malcolm, 
that long continued to be the speech of the people. 

It was because the king and his armies were so constantly busy in the south, that 
there grew up in Scotland an institution that was the very opposite of feudalism, 
though it had for its end the same mutual protection of the chiefs and the common 
people. The " Clan System " of the Highlands became a necessity, and as it lasted 
seven hundred years, it must have been a strong bond between the people of the 
Highlands. The Northmen still continued their descents upon the Scottish coast in 
the north, and as the king and his armies were in the Lowlands, and the marauders 
could secure all of the booty that they wanted and retire before help could come from 
that direction, the Highlanders were compelled to depend upon themselves. 

The people who bore the same name and were descended from the same ancestor, 
lived in the same part of the country for ages. They formed their clans during the 
days of Malcolm IV., b'y electing the most popular and powerful man of each such 
family or clan to rule over the people of his kin in time of peace, and to command 
them in war. All of these chiefs were united in common interests, and were the 
Highlands assailed by Church, State or foreign foe, the chiefs and their clans were as 
one man in their courage and endurance. The nature of the country, hilly, broken 
and sparsely settled, made it diltlcult to send messengers to the clans in time of 
sudden invasion or other emergencies, and therefore signs were made for their 
assembling that were well understood by all. This sign was usually a flaming bush 
waved from the summit of some hill, and the signal repeated from hill to hill. The 
direction indicated was followed by those whom it was desired to assemble, and the 
place of meeting was indicated by a flaming cross. The Indians of North America 
at the present day, and from the remotest times have used similar smoke signals, 
and by them are able to read the number and character of the foe against whom they 
are warned. 

The dependence on each other in times of danger, bred among the clnns, that 
brotherly feeling that comes from the endurance of trouble together. The clans 
themselves were like great families, of which the chief was the ruler, judge and 
father. Among its members he went about kindly and familiar, interested in their 
joys and sympathizing in their woes. So dear was the chief to the clan that every 
man of them would dare any difficulty or danger at his bidding. This relation was 
very different from that of the proud feudal lords and their vassals, for whereas the 



5IO SCOTLAND AXD IRELAND. 

one was a tyrant and the other a slave, the Highland clans were communities of 
friends and allies, the only distinction between them and their chief being that he was 
chosen to represent the clan on account of superior qualities, and made no pretense 
of thinking himself above the humblest of his followers. The Highlanders clung to 
their speech and customs and to the old form of the Faith brought over to them by 
the early refugees from Roman cruelty. Malcolm and his queen introduced the 
Roman Catholic faith with the absolute power of the Pope and the Latin church 
service, readily enough in the south, but it was long ere the free-spirited people of 
the north could be persuaded to adopt the pompous forms and rituals of the Low- 
lands. Queen Margaret induced her husband to build many churches and monas- 
teries, and these being filled with Saxon churchmen, in a short time greatly changed 
the manners of the Lowlands. 

When William the Conqueror had reduced England to a state of supreme wretch- 
edness and installed his Normans everywhere to rob and oppress the Sa.xons, he sent 
a herald to Malcolm with a message commanding him to at once send Edgar Athe- 
ling from his dominions, or accept the consequences of his refusal to do so. The 
Conqueror probably knew that Malcolm would not thus abandon a ship-wrecked 
fugitive, cast as it were by Providence on his hands, and moreover when that he 
would be unlikely to desert the brother of his queen The Normans only wanted a 
pretext to invade Scotland and make it their own, and that Edgar had found a refuge 
there served their purpose. 

Malcolm defied Willum and prepared for war by sending a body of his soldiers 
to join Siward of Northumberland. William already regarded Scotland as his own, 
and sent one of his blustering freebooters with a company of kindred souls to take 
possession of Northumberland. The Scots and Northumbrians killed him and chased 
his followers back to England. Richard of Gloucester with a strong force was next 
sent by the Conqueror, but Siward and Malcolm defeated him and drove him home- 
ward. Then Odo, William's half brother, whom he had made Earl of Kent, was 
sent with a still larger force. The Scots and Northumbrians could not make a stand 
against such superior numbers, and Odo killed many people, collecteil great booty 
and was leisurely making his way back to England, when the allies fell upon him. 
stripped him of his. plunder, killed many of his followers, and sent him back as they 
had sent the others. Still William did not despair. He sent Robert Curthosc, but 
he did nothing, and William was at last compelled to give over a struggle by which 
he gained nothing and lost so much, and hx a boundary for his conquests. The people 
of Galloway were in a turmoil soon after the close of the English war, and a grandson 
of Banquo, who had gained the respect and admiration of the king, was sent against 
them. He subdued them and managed affairs so well that Malcolm made him 
Steward of All Scotland. That is, he allowed him to collect all of the king's taxes 
that had before that time been collected by the different thanes. English exiles who 
were given the dominion ami power of a thane, were also called stewards, but Walter, 
grandson of Banquo, was the first royal Steward, and it is said that the .Stuart family 
of sovereigns was descended from him, thus fulfilling the old prophecy that a son of 
Banquo should be the father of kings. 

When William the Conqueror died and his son Rufus became king of England, 
the peace between the two countries was at an end. Rufus seized one of Malcolm's 
castles to provoke him to war. Malcolm tried to regain his property peacefully, but 
when he found Rufus insulting and obstinate, he marched with a great army and 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



51T 



besieged the castle that he had garri- 
soned with English soldiers. Reduced 
to distress, the garrison surrendered 
and under a flag of truce came out, 
pretending that they were about to 
give the keys of the fortress to Mal- 
colm. Instead of doing this, however, 
those who came out for the apparent 
purpose, killed Malcolm as he stood 
waiting to receive them. His son Ed- 
ward was by the king's side as he was 
attacked, and to revenge him drew his 
sword and rushed on the murderers, 
losing his life also. Malcolm Can- 
more's glorious reign lasted thirty-six 
years. He had held his kingdom 
against William the Conqueror and 
Rufus in spite of the overwhelming 
odds, and had steadily civilized and 
improved the country. 

Good Oueen Margaret diti not live 
long after the tragic death of her 
beloved husband. She had aided him 
in all his efforts to improve his king- 
dom, and had been especially concerned 
for the souls of the ruiie Scots. On 
this account when she, too, died, the 
priests declared that she was a .Saint, 
that might be prayed to by the pious 
Catholics, and to convince the people 
that they told the truth, they related a 
miraculous story, for those were the 
days when the impossible was believed 
by the ignorant, if the priests or the Pope declared that it had occurred. The priests 
said that when it was thought that Saint Margaret's body should be moved from the 
tomb where it had at first been laid and placed in a more splendid one, befitting a 
person who had been declared a .Saint, all the efforts of those who were sent for 
the purpose were unavailing to lift the body, until the body of Malcolm had first 
been lifted and transferred to the new tomb, showing plainly, according to the inter- 
pretation given of the miracle that Margaret was as faithful and deferential toward 
her husband in the land of souls, as she had been while on earth. Of course there- 
after she was regarded as the jjatron of all good and pious wives, and received great 
honor. 

You will remember that King Duncan had another son, Donald, called Bane, or 
The Pair, and that upon the death of his father he fled to the rugged isles at the 
Northwest, when his brother Malcolm found refuge in England. There he lived 
during the whole time that Malcolm Canmore was king. The people of these islands 
were wild and rough, and Donald was a chieftain after their own notion. The people 




Driiiilw uiul the Dniiil Prie^tvsses. 



512 SCOTLAND AXl) IRELAND. 

of Northern Scotland did not take kindly to the new ideas introduced into their 
country by Malcolm and his Saxon queen, and when upon the death of the latter 
Donald returned to claim the throne, to which, of course, he had no right according 
to the laws of the times, for his brother had left sons to inherit his crown, the Northern 
Scots flocked around him. With their .aid he seized the crown of the kingdom. The 
first act of this wild Donald was to declare that all foreigners must leave the country 
forthwith, or take the consequences. These consequences would not have been 
pleasant, and the priests, Sa.xons and others, who had for many years contributed to 
the civilization and prosperity of the country left it, or made preparations to do so. 
The people of the Lowlands were eager to get rid of Donald, and the English and 
the Normans aided Prince Duncan to drive him from the throne. 

Duncan was the son of Malcolm, it is true, but he was not the son of Margaret, 
and had therefore no lawful right to rule oyer Scotland. Edmund, his half-brother, 
was the rightful prince, and he contrived to have Duncan assassinated when he had 
been a j'ear on the throne, and was himself seated in his stead, sharing his kingdom 
with his uncle. Donald Bane. It seems that Donald was a very obstinate Scot, who 
would take no warning by the past. No sooner did he find himself joint king of 
Scotlantl, than he re-commenced persecution of the foreigners in the kingdom. 
William Rufus had received at his court a son of Malcolm, whose name was Edgar. 
This prince saw with rising anger the course of events in Scotland, and realized that 
the great work of his father would be destroyed by the fierce Donald and the weak 
Edmund if he did not interfere He therefore secured the help of Rufus, who was 
willing that the Scots should fight one another until they became weak enough for 
him to conquer them. With his army he marched into Scotland, took Edmund and 
Donald prisoners, and was crowned king. To make sure that Donald would make 
no more attempts upon the kingdom, he put out his eyes. His brother made no 
struggle to maintain his position and Edgar thus became king, and for nine years 
and a-half, ruled wisely and well, beloved by the whole nation. It was his 
sister, Matilda the Good, who married Henry Beauclerc. Edgar died without 
children in i 107, and his brother, Alexander the Fierce, became king. Alexander 
was a devout Roman Catholic, and did much to increase the wealth and power 
of the Church in Scotland, building monasteries and abbeys, and supporting the 
clergy by grants of land and privilege. When Alexander died in 11 24, David, 
the most valiant and able of the six sons of Malcolm Canmore and Queen 
Margaret, came to the throne of Scotland. From the beginning of David's 
reign, feudalism, which had been growing up in England under the Norman rule, 
began to spread also in Scotland. The thanes of the north resisted it, and the people 
were always opposed to it, but it grew in spite of them, and became a great source of 
weakness to the kingdom, for the Scottish feudal lords, surrountled by their vassals, 
in after-times, often defied the power of the king. David granted lands and powers 
to the Norman and Saxon nobles who settled in Scotland, and while he built up 
feudalism, built also the Church. His reign was vexed by war with England 
brought about by his interference in the cause of Matilda, who had taken arms to 
maintain herself and her rights against Stephen. I have told j^ou in the story of 
Englanil that while Matilda and Stephen were disputing for the crown of that king, 
dom, the queen escaped w^ith her little son to Scotland and there raised an army, for 
David was her uncle. The Scots of the wild portions of the country, and the men of 
Gallowaj', were fierce fighters, and committed so many dreadful deeds in the northern. 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



513 




Scotch Natioual Costume 



counties of England, that some of the Norman barons who 
had been David's vassals, declared they would no longer 
serve him, and left him to join Stephen. Among these 
Normans were Robert de Bruce, ancestor of another famous 
Bruce, of whom we shall hear more, and Bernard de Baliol, 
whose descendants also played a part in Scottish history. 
This was just before the battle of Cuton Moor, in v/hich 
David's army was badly beaten. This defeat induced the 
Scots to make peace with Stephen and refuse to help 
Matilda any more. David was found dead in 1 153, having 
passed from earth while kneeling in prayer, and as he had 
been a widower for twenty years at the time of his death, 
and the Crown Prince Henry had died the year before, his 
grandson, Malcolm, became king at the age of twelve. 
Fergus, the son of Eric, had brought from Ireland ages 
before a stone supposed to be sacred to the gods of the 
Druids, and upon this stone Malcolm received his crown at 
Scione with the ancient ceremonies. 

This Malcolm was known as The Maiden, and though he died when he was 
barely twenty-five, he had managed to lay the foundation for a long war. He quelled 
a revolt of one of the descendants of Macbeth when he was still very young, and 
soon thereafter went to the court of Henry Plantagenet to be knighted. Sometime 
before, Henry had demanded some of the southern counties of Scotland of Malcolm, 
and as the young king had not the means of holding them against Henry, he yielded 
them up to him. Malcolm naturally supposed since he had shown himself so yielding 
to Henry, that the English king would knight him willingly enough. Henry was 
anxious to embroil Malcolm IV. with the king of France, who was his bitter enemy, 
and with whom he was waging war. To this end he sent him over to France to fight 
under his banner, promising to knight him on his return if he acquitted himself well. 
Malcolm had the tact to excuse his action to Louis of France, and to explain that he 
fought him from no enmity, but to gain his spurs, a reason considered sufificient in 
the days of chivalry. He returned to England his knightly valor proven, and Henry 
having no further excuse for delaying the conferring of the honor of knighthood on 
Malcolm, performed the ceremony. 

When Malcolm returned to his kingdom, he found a cold reception. His people 
thought he had paid rather dearly for his golden spurs and the friendship of the 
English king. They were indignant, too, that he had adopted so many Norman 
ways, and had settled upon them so many haughty Norman nobles, who treated them 
as slaves. They were heavily taxed, too, and rose in rebellion. The rebellion was 
put down when Henry returned two of the counties, but the Scots felt very sore over 
the loss of Northumberland, which the English king kept, and were never quite 
reconciled to Malcolm, who died before he had a chance to commit any more serious 
mistakes, and was succeeded by his brother, William the Lion. 

This brave prince was the flower of the chivalry of Scotland, and was a noble, 
generous but firm and determined king. He at once demanded that Henry Planta- 
genet restore Northumberland, maintaining that Malcolm had no right to bestow it 
upon the English king without the consent of the nation. The haughty Henry had 
expected the demand, and as soon as it was made crossed the border with an army. 



514 SCOTLAND AM) IRELAND. 

William defeated him in battle, and in his turn invaded England. Before the castle 
where Malcolm Canmore lost his life by the treachery of the English, William the 
Lion was as treacherously captured in 1 174. The English had asked for a truce and 
William had granted it, and awaited their ambassadors. They came in great strength. 
and before he could summon aid his guard was overpowered and he himself carried 
away. Before the English would release him, he was compelled to yield up fifteen 
hostages, and four of the strongest fortresses on the border. These were the castles 
that Richard The Lion-hearted sold back to the Scots, and for money to equip the 
crusades, he also returned Northumberland to them. 

Henry the Lion of Germany received his name from the great bronze lions he 
had erected before his castle, and William of Scotland received his name, "The 
Lion," from the picture of a lion on his banner. He was a brave, loyal prince, and 
an able law-maker. He held the wild Scots well in check, and did much to civilize 
the country. The weak and cowardly King John of England was afraid of him, and 
though he blustered and swore that he would take vengeance upon the Scots because 
their king would not help him in his war with his enemy, Philip Augustus, of France. 
he had no intention of entering into a war with the knightly old king. When William 
the Lion died, and his son, Alexander IL, became king. John began the "strife. He 
invaded Northumberland and cruelly ravaged the Scottish territories. Alexander 
made peace with him, and thereafter enjoyed a quiet reign. 

Alexander III. became king at the age of eight, and his childhood was clouded, 
as has been the childhood of most royal children, who have been left orphans at an 
early age. The Scottish hatretl of the English increased greatly among the nobles, 
though the young king was inclined to favor them. In the north.the Comyns opposed 
the advisers of the king, and watched them closely that they did not betraj' the 
interests of the country into the hands of the hereditary enemies 'of Scottish inde- 
pendence. When .Alexander went to England to marry Princess Margaret, King 
Henry obliged him to do homage to him for his English possessions. When he had 
done so, the king to establish a claim upon Scotland, asked him to do homage also 
for Scotland, but the king refused. He took his bride home in great state, and when 
he was twenty-one, declared his intention of subjecting the Western Isles. 

Norway had claimed these Isles from the earliest times, and from them, times 
without number, piratical expeditions had been sent into .Scotland. There were many 
Gaelic settlers upon these islands, and Haco, the King of Norway, had attempted to 
humiliate them and make them renounce their allegiance to the Scottish king. With 
this object in view, he had gathered the largest fleet that up to that time had ever 
left Norway, and had sailed to the islands, fining those who would not acknowledge 
him, and levj'ing tribute of the northern coast of Scotland. Having done this, Haco 
anchored in the Firth of the Clyde, and sent out his plundering expeditions in every 
direction. It was to punish the Norwegian king, that Alexander III. determined on 
this campaign. A great storm wrecked the Norwegian fleet, and the Scots cut their 
marauding bands in pieces. Haco put back to the Orkneys, and soon died there. A 
treaty was concluded with Norway in 1266, which ceded to Scotland all of the islands 
off the coast of North Britain. 

It was about this time, say the old chronicles, that fair Marjory, the Countess of 
Carrick, who dwelt in the lordly castle of Tunbury, one day rode out to hunt, on her 
snow-white palfrey, surrounded by a gay train of squires and damsels. As she rode 
along through the forest, her bright eyes spied a noble knight, as handsome as the 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



515 




Scotch Piper. 



mind of maiden could imagine, approactiing down tlie green-wood 
patli. Stie paused wlien lie was near enough to be addressed, and 
courteously passed the time in conversation. She learned that his 
name was Robert DeBrus and that he was a noble knight, whose 
paternal ancestors had come over to England with the Conqueror, 
and whose maternal ancestors were related to William the Lion. 

The susceptible Marjory was smitten with the gallant mien of 
the noble knight, and begged him to join in the hunt with her 
train. Robert was equally impressed with the beauty of the 
sprightly Marjory, and for that reason he declined. In those 
days, a knight could not pay court to a high-born damsel like 
Marjory, who was an orphan, without consulting her relatives, 
and securing the consent of the king. It was on this account 
that Robert courteously begged to be allowed to continue on his 
way. Mistress Marjory was not thus to be thwarted of her 
object of becoming better acquainted with the handsome knight. 
She made a signal to her people, who at once surrounded Robert. 
The knight laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, but when 
Marjory rode up to him, placed her hand on his bridle, and with 
gentle force turned his horse's head in the direction of her castle, he laughingly 
surrendered himself her prisoner. 

Marjory took DeBrus to the castle of Tunbury, and there entertained him so 
sumptuously and graciously that he was as eager to remain, as he had at first been 
unwilling to go. At the end of a fortnight he married the young lady, without asking 
his relatives or hers, and without obtaining the consent of King Alexander. This 
was not only contrary to custom in those days, but it was also a breach of the feudal 
laws. Alexander, therefore, seized the castle of Tunbury and all of the estates of 
the romantic couple. Friends pleaded their cause, and when the king had seen the 
lovely Marjory he could not blame Robert for marrying her without the consent of 
the proper parties, and forgave him, restoring at the time the estates of the Countess 
of Carrick. As an example to other romantic couples, however, he made Robert 
pay a heavy fine, Thus, Robert DeBrus became the Lord of Carrick, and his son 
became the great Robert Bruce, of whom I have already told you something, and 
shall tell you more. 

Alexander III. was in his prime, at peace with the world, blessed with a fair wife 
and three beautiful children. The nation had before it the prospect of a long and 
happy succession of sovereigns, when the queen died suddenly in 1274. Prince David 
soon followed his mother. Princess Margaret, the king's only daughter, was married 
to Eric of Norway, and Prince Alexander, the heir to the crown, was v/edded to the 
daughter of a Flemish earl. Both of these died in a short time, Alexander leaving 
no children, and Margaret only an infant daughter. The king was only forty-five, 
and hoping to have an heir, he married again. He was thrown from his horse and 
killed a few days after the wedding, and The Maid of Norway, as the little daughter 
of Eric and Margaret was called, was the sole heir of Malcolm Canmore, and the 
old line of Celtic kings of .Scotland. 

In the Lowlands of Scotland, at the time of the death of Alexander III., civili- 
zation had gone forward not very rapidly, but surely, since the days of Malcolm 
Canmore. The great feudal lords had built castles, and at the court of the king there 



5i6 SCOTLAXn AND IRELAND. 

was some magnificence. There was commerce with other countries, and the Scottish 
king had an army nearly as well drilled as that ot the English king at the same time. 
In the Highlands, however, the people were nearly as fierce and rude as in the days 
of Kenneth McAlpin. Indeed some of the chiefs of the clans would not acknowledge 
that the king had the least right over them, and he could only command obedience 
by terrorizing their followers by the presence of his armj'. Thus tiie Scot- 
tish people were still divided into the barbarous and the civilized, and were 
nearly as different in dress, manners and customs as though they belonged to 
different countries. 

Edward I. of England determined to marrj' his son to young Margaret, and sent 
a vessel to Norway to bring the little princess to Scotland. The child dietl on the 
voyage, and Scotland was left without a ruler. Edward I. had often solemnly main- 
tained the independence of Scotland, but now called himself the "over lord" of the 
kingdom, and pretended that he alone had the right to decide who should be the 
king. A dozen claimants presentetl themselves, and a dozen tiresome meetings were 
held in the next twelve months, at which each of the would-be kings presented long- 
winded arguments to sustain their claim. The contest finally narrowed itself down 
to Robert Bruce, father of the Lord of Carrick, and John Baliol, both of whom 
claimed descent from William the Lion, on the female side. After a great show of 
consulting learned authorities, Edward judged in favor of Baliol, in 1292, and made 
him do homage for the crown of Scotland, thus confirming all that lulward had 
claimed in regard to his right to bestow it on whom he would. 

When Baliol returned to Scotland he found the people bitter against him because 
he had done homage to Edward. He was soon brought to realize that in so doing he 
had made a serious mistake. Upon the most trifling pretexts Edward would summon 
the Scottish king to England, at all times and seasons. Upon one occasion he was 
called before the English Parliament to answer to the complaint of the Earl of Life 
regarding some lands. The suit had already been decidetl by the highest courts in 
Scotland, and the claims of the carl denied. Edward pretended that King John had 
offended against him in deciding the suit, and harried and insulted him until his 
patience was exhausted. Furthermore, he demanded that three of the strongest 
fortresses in Scotland be placed in his hands until King John should do as the English 
Parliament willed in regartl to the lands of the Earl of Fife. This was the last straw 
in the heavj' load of King John, and he resolved that the next time that Edward 
attempted to show authority over him, he would defy him. 

Soon after, Edward went to war with France, and commanded the Scottish king 
to send him an army to aid him. King John held a parliament, dismissed all the 
English from the court, joined with F"rance against England, and appointed a com- 
mittee of twelve noblemen to help him conduct tjie affairs of the kingdom. Some of 
the Scottish lords were frightened at this proceeding, and wavering between England 
and Scotland, supported neither. Others raised bodies of fighting men, and made 
two raids across the border, while Edward was preparing to march northward. In 
the spring of 1296, the English king advanced upon Scotland. He took Berwick and 
killed eight thousand of its people in cold blood. At Dunbar he defeated Baliol, 
who had now renounceil all allegiance to him, and before the Scottish army could 
recover from the blow, took Edinburg, LinlithgQw and Stirling. 

King John never very independent or courageous, had no heart to continue the 
struggle, and accepting the defeat as final, he was deposed and sent prisoner to 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 517 

London, and afterward allowed to go abroad, where he lived in peace and comfort 
for some years as a private gentleman. Edward carried off the coronation chair 
from the old town of Scone, destroyed every monument of the past greatness of 
Scotland that he could find, and leaving English soldiers in all the castles that had 
submitted to him, marched back to England. Many of the Scottish nobles had been 
thrown into prison, and others had been forced to join the army of the English king, 
and accompany him to his own kingdom. The government of Scotland was left in 
the hands of Englishmen, and Edward congratulated himself that the country had 
been thoroughly conquered. 

For many generations Normans, English and Frenchmen had settled in Scotland 
and became vassals of the king. They had no very strong affection for the country, 
or they would never have so tamely yielded to the claims of the English king. It was 
quite different with the Scots who traced their ancestry back to the dim days of 
legend and song. They resented the slavery of their country most bitterly, and 
would willingly have died to free it from the yoke of England. Like the Saxon 
Hereward, in the days of the Norman conquest, many of these chieftains retreated 
to the woods and wild glens of the N6rth, and determining to be free at all hazard, 
harassed the English ceaselessly, but accomplished little for their country, because 
their efforts were separate, and were not under the leadership of any man who could 
gain the confidence of the whole people. 

The English officials were so overbearing that the Scots could scarcely tolerate 
them. One of these proud officers made use of insulting language to William 
Wallace, the second son of a Scottish knight. Wallace had refused to acknowledge 
Edward as the rightful king of Scotland, and that may have had some influence on 
the tone that the officer used toward him. The wrongs of his country weighed 
heavily on the mind of Wallace, and feeling that Scotland, as well as himself, was 
insulted by the haughty Englishman, he struck him dead, and fled to the protection 
of Sir William Douglas and his brave band, who had taken arms against the English. 
Wallace was a remarkable man; tall, kingly, and with wonderful strength of mind 
and body. His voice was full and mellow, and his eloquence moved the hearts of his 
countrymen, when he fearlessly urged them to arm themselves and fight for their 
liberty. He went about in the North, reciting in glowing language the past glories 
of the Scottish race, and the disgrace of submitting to the English, who plundered 
and killed them as though they were slaves. He declared it a duty to scourge the 
English from the land, and found thousands eager to obey his bidding. 

W'ith a band of bold spirits like himself, he fell upon the English Guardian of 
the Kingdom, and drove hini from the country. Edward was amazed when he heard 
that Scotland was in rebellion. He would not believe that a man of the people could 
have a large enough following tocausehim any uneasiness, and sent a bishop to frighten 
the unruly Scots with his curses. The bishop had no opportunity to do as he was bid, for 
he was chased out of the kingdom as soon as he had set foot in it. Now Edward's wrath 
was kindled, and he ordered Henry Percy known also as Hotspur, to take forty thousand 
men, and carry fire and sword into Scotland. Many of the nobles who had joined Wal- 
lace, deserted him on the approach of the English army. With a brave force of men 
from the North of Scotland, Wallace was besieging Dundee. Many of the castles that 
the English had taken had been reduced, and had been made to surrender to the Scots, 
and Dundee would soon have fallen. As soon as Wallace heard that Edward's army 
was about to attack Stirling, he gathered his whole force, forty thousand men, and 



5i8 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

marched to the relief of the place. On the iith of September, 1297, he reached the 
bridge of Kildean, spanning the River Forth two miles from the town. He posted 
his men on some rising ground not far from the end of the bridge, and awaited the 
English. 

When Percy arrived with his army and saw that the Scots had every advantage 
of ground and position, he offered terms to them. Wallace would listen to no terms, 
but answered that he would give battle for the liberties of Scotland. Some of the 
English generals wanted to retreat, but others thought the veteran soldiers would 
make short work with the untrained forces opposed to them, and were eager for the 
fray. Two abreast the English began to cross the bridge. The Scots stood perfectly 
still until five thousand of the enemy had passed. Then Wallace sent a party of his 
men to the foot of the bridge to prevent the passage of any more of the English, and 
the rest of iiis force fell upon the unfortunate thousands in their power, and literally 
cut them to pieces under the eyes of their countrymen, who could do nothing for their 
relief, as the narrow bridge was easily held against them, and the river could neither 
be forded nor swam. The slaughter was so dreadful that a panic seized the English, 
and they fled. 

The Scots followed up their victory, and beat the English out of the country. 
Edward was in France at the time, and the Scots even penetrated into the northern 
counties of England, to revenge themselves upon their foes. Wallace was chosen 
Guardian of the Kingdom, and leader of its armies. Edward made a truce with the 
French, and in June, 1298, came into Scotland with 80,000 men. Wallace hatl not 
enough troops to make a stand against such a large force, so he burned or concealed 
all of the provisions along the English line of march, and drove off all the cattle, so 
that the foes should have nothing to eat. At Falkirk Wallace and his little army, 
through the treachery of some of his pretended friends, was trapped by Edward, and 
compelled to give battle. Fifteen thousand of the Scots were killed, and Wallace 
retreated to Stirling. The English followed, and to prevent the town and its store9 
of provisions from falling into iheir hands, Wallace burned it to the ground. The 
patriotic people of Perth fired their homes with their own hands, so that they might 
not afford shelter to their enemies. Finding no provisions and supplies in the country, 
Edward was obliged to lead his half-starved army back to England. 

Wallace resigned his office of Guardian of the Kingdom after the battle of 
Falkirk, and John Comyn, the nephew of King John Baliol, was appointed in his stead. 
Robert Bruce, son of fair Marjory and the Lord of Carrick, was also in arms against 
Edward, and under the two leaders the .Scots for five years more resisted Edward. 
Wallace all the time doing his duty nobly in the cause of liberty. Sir John Segrave 
was defeated, and twenty thousand of his men killed. Then Edward in 1303 came 
again with an overwhelming force, and laid all of the north of Scotland waste. The 
nobles made submission, and even Comyn and Bruce gave up, but William Wallace 
would not yield. The king promised to spare his life, but Wallace loved his country 
too well, to save himself at the expense of his principles. His followers dropped 
away one by one, but with the stern courage of a dauntless spirit, Wallace sought 
safety in the Highlands, and defied the king. Edward was now an old man, but he 
prosecuted the Scottish war with all of the vigor of youth. Stirling Castle surren- 
dered after a most heroic defense, and all of Scotland lay at the feet of ICdward. 
Shelterless, homeless, deserted by all, Wallace was as bold and unclisma\'cd in his 
resistance to the power of Edward as though he still had an army at his back. 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 519 

Defiant to the last, he was betrayed into the hands of the English and carried to 
London for trial. 

Of course the English Parliament found him guilty of high treason, though he 
had never taken the oath to Edward. He was barbarously dragged at the tails of 
wild horses, hanged on a high gallows, ripped open while he was still alive, and torn 
in pieces after he was dead. This horrible tragedy made a deep impression on 
Robert Bruce, and inspired him with a bitter and deadly hatred to the English. In 
1304 Bruce made an agreement, or "band," as it was called, with a Scottish bishop, 
who had twice broken the oath of allegiance to England. The "band" was of mutual 
support against their enemies, but Edward in some way possessed himself of a docu- 
ment in which it was set forth, and summoned Bruce to England to explain what was 
meant and whether resistance to the English was what he intended. Before the 
matter came up for trial, one of Bruce's friends sent him twelve pennies and a pair 
of spurs. This singular present might not have been understood by another, but 
Bruce comprehended that it was to convey to him the news that he had been sold to 
the king, that his life was in danger, and that he must ride back to Scotland with all 
speed. Bruce was not slow to act on the warning. He turned his horse's shoes so 
that they would point in the opposite direction from that which he took, and in a 
blinding snow-storm, fled across the border. At Dumfries, where the English judges 
were in session, he stopped on business. There he met Comyn, and in the Church of 
the Grayfriars the two had a conversation. Their talk waxed warm, for it was on 
the state of the country, and the oppression of King Edward. Comyn said enough 
to convince Bruce that he was a traitor to Scotland, and that it was he who had 
betrayed him to Edward. They had a fierce quarrel, in which Bruce stabbed Comyn. 
He then rushed out and told his friends what he had done, and to make sure of the 
victim, some of them went into the church, and killed the wounded man. The friends 
of Bruce then gathered in force, drove the English judges from the kingdom, and in 
March, 1306, crowned Bruce King of Scotland at .Scone, for he was now the only 
rightful claimant to the crown. 

Edward had carried away the royal crown of Scotland and the sacred stone upon 
which its monarchs had long received it, and there was no descendant of Macduff 
except one brave woman who was loyal and fearless enough to place the circlet of gold 
which was made for Bruce, upon his forehead according to the old usage, yet he was 
nevertheless made king, and the gallant hearts of the noble Scots rose up toward 
him. You may be sure that Edward of England raved and raged against the Scots 
when he heard of it. He made a great feast to which the knights and nobles of the 
kingdom were assembled. In the midst of it he had two white swans richly decked 
out with gold net-work, brouglit in and placed before him, then he made a solemn 
vow to God and the swans to beat the .Scots into obedience and to punish tlieir out- 
break without mercy. He declared that every Scot taken in arms against him should 
be hanged, and that he would terribly avenge the murder of John Comyn. There 
were many of Comyn's relatives and friends who joined Edward's arni}-, and the new 
king was deserted by some of the very people who had sworn to be true to him to 
the last drop of their blood. His own wife even taunted him with being a "summer 
king,' though let us say to her credit she did not desert him in his danger, when he 
was defeated by the English under Pembroke at Methven, and was compelled to fly 
to the desolate wilds of the Highlands. He remained with a few brave followers and 
their wives in the northern forests for manv months, living on the game of the woods. 



520 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

Finally Bruce escaped to the islands that had been a haven of refuge to Donald 
Bane, and which were then under the rule of a gallant and loyal chieftain, Angus 
MacDonald. Bruce had left his wife and the most of his friends in safe hiding in 
Scotland, and fearing that should he remain in the territory of Lord Angus of The 
Isles, King Edward would bring his army against his friend, and cause him great loss 
and suffering, he hid himself in a wild and desolate island off the coast of Ireland, 
which was inhabited by a few fishermen and hunters of the clan of MacDonald. 
Bruce remained there in hiding all the winter of 1306, while his frientls in Scotland 
were sought out by the English and fearfully punished. His wife and daughter were 
taken to England and placed in separate gloomy prisons, though they had done 
nothing whatever to deserve such a fate. There they remained eight long j^ears. 
The high-souled loyal Countess of Fife, the descendant of MacDuff, who had placed 
the crown on the head of Bruce, was chained in a dungeon on the top of the castle 
of Berwick, and many of the true Scots who had rallied around their king, Robert 
Bruce, were hanged, drawn, quartered and burned by the old King Edward, while 
Bruce's brother Nigel, and a friend who had rescued him from death at the battle of 
Methven, were most cruelly executed. Edward would not spare those of his own 
blood who had taken Bruce's part, though he did grant them the privilege of being 
hanged on gallows fifty feet high, an honor with which I have no doubt they would 
have gladly dispensed. 

For Bruce, himself, Edward would have had scant mercy, though try as he 
would, he could not lay hands upon him nor find where he was hiding. He declared 
him guilty of every crime under the sun, and the Pope solemnly cursed him and 
called upon all good Christians to refuse him aid and comfort, and even went out of 
his way to make his curse more terrific than usual. When s|)ring came again, hope 
sprang anew in the heart of gallant Robert Bruce who, in his lonely isle, had his spirit 
nourished by visions of freedom for his dear country. He secretly made his way to 
the Isle of Arran, waiting an opportunity to cross over to the mainland. He had 
some faitliful friends in Carrick, his earldom, and with them he agreed to come over 
to Scotland when he should see from his hiding place in Arran a fire burning on the 
beach. The fire would be a signal that the Earl Percy, who was in the castle of 
Tunbury with a force of English, might be safely attacked. Bruce was not alone in 
Arran. His gallant brother Edward, and many a stout Scot were with him, and one 
night they were rejoiced to see the signal-fire, and crossed over anil landed near the 
castle of Tunbury. They were greatly disappointetl to find that the fire was acci- 
dental, that Percy had many men in the castle, and that the friends of Scottish liberty 
were almost in despair. Bruce was half in favor of leaving the country again, but 
Edward, his brother, declared anything was better than hiding about as they had 
been doing so long. The followers of the fugitive king were hastily summoned, and 
the English left Tunbury in haste and returned to England. James Douglas had 
been with Bruce in most of his wanderings, and a price was set on his head as a 
traitor. A force of English held his castle and the neigborhood about it. Douglas 
made a sudden swoop down upon his stronghold with some devoted followers, cap- 
tured the castle, killed every Englishman in it, mingled with their bloody corpses tlijs 
large stock of provisions and war stores that the English had collected there, and 
setting fire to it that it might not again fall into the hands of his enemies, retreated 
in haste. The dead bodies were roasted and the castle burned to ashes, and to this 
day the people of Scotland call the deed "Douglas' larder." It is said that the 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 521 

followers of Douglas approached the castle by night on all fours so that the watchers 
on the towers might take them for cattle, covering their backs with their long cloaks 
to add to their delusion, and thus surprised the castle, arriving under its very walls 
before they were detected. 

Bruce had many narrow escapes and many romantic adventures before the 
English were finally driven from Scotland. At one time he was chased by blood- 
hounds, and he escaped so many dangers in such a marvelous manner that the people 
began to believe firmly that heaven had decreed that he should succeed, and flocked 
to his standard in great numbers. In battle Bruce was a brave and skillful leader, 
and beat the English again and again. The aged English king had been for twenty 
years at war with the Scots, and he could not bear to be defeated at last. Old and 
sick, he finally took the field himself, making his son swear that should he die his 
bones should never be buried until the Scots were subdued. He had to be carried in 
a litter, but when he came in sight of the rugged hills of the border, he mounted his 
steed and rode forward. His strength failed and he died, bitter against Scotland to 
the last moment. Edward II. was not the man to succeed against Bruce, and after 
eight years of steady fighting, conquering now the English and now the hostile lords 
of Scotland, Bruce was firmly fixed on the throne of Scotland. Edward II. did not, 
however, give up the struggle, though Stirling and two other strongholds were the 
only castles on Scottish ground that his forces still held in the year 1314. Bruce knew 
that as long as the English held Stirling he was not the real master of the country, 
so he determined to attack it. He sent word to the keeper of the castle. Sir Philip 
Mowbray, and told him what he intended. Sir Philip begged him to give him a 
certain number of days, and if the castle was not relieved by the English within that 
time he would surrender it. Edward II. hastened to the relief of the garrison with 
an immense force. It is said that there were a hundred thousand men in his army, 
all skilled in war, and many of them veterans of his father's time, (and Edward I., as 
you know, was one of the most renowned warriors of Europe). Bruce could only 
gather about thirty thousand men, unskilled except in the wild Highland warfare, 
and not the equal in training of the English archers. Only five hundred of his 
soldiers were mounted, while Edward had several thousand cavalry. Bruce, while 
he was waiting the number of days to pass that he had agreed upon with Mowbray, 
gathered his army four miles from Stirling, and made preparations for the battle 
which he knew must be fought and which he believed would decide whether .Scotland 
was to be a free kingdom or to be governed by England. The ground about Stirling 
was a sort of Park, for the castle had often been used by the kings as a residence, 
and the approach to it from the border was swampy. There was a little brook or 
"burn," as they call them in Scotland, running to the east of Stirling, which has high 
rocky banks not easy to ascend, and here one wing of Bruce's army was placed. To 
the left of the Scottish army was an open bare space which Bruce prepared for the 
reception of the English by planting in it pointed stakes, the points upward and 
lightly covered with earth. Balls with sharp-pointed spikes were also scattered 
plentifully about, and when the English cavalry should attempt to cross this open 
space their horses would be lamed or thrown to the ground. On the twenty-third of 
June, Bruce learned that the English were near at hand. He called his troops 
together, and in a short speech to them, told all who were not prepared to conquer 
their foes or die for Scotland to depart, to return to their homes. There were men 
there assembled who thought of hearthstones desecrated by the English, of homes 



522 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

laid in ashes, of brothers slain, and women and children brutally used, and they set 
their lips together and listened in silence until Bruce had finished. We can imagine 
them, then, the barelegged Highlanders, the niore martial Lowlanders, and the half- 
naked men of the Isles, lifting up one loud and deep shout, "Scotland forever!" and 
waiting the orders of their king. Those orders were soon given. The servants of 
the camp, of whom there were several hundred, were sent back to a hill in the rear 
of the army. A select body of horsemen were by the side of the king. Bruce's 
nephew, Thomas Randolph, who had once been his bitter enemy, but now his devoted 
friend, was charged with the duty ot keeping the English from making a circuit to the 
east and entering the castle. This brave soldier who is also known as Earl of Moray, did 
not see that a body of English, under Lord Clifford, had made a wide circle and was 
attempting to gain the castle, until the king pointed it out, and said in a tone of gentle 
reproof: "Ah Randolph, there is a rose fallen from thy garland." Then Randol[)h 
dashed forward at the head of his men and engaged the enemy. Randolph had long 
been at bitter enmity with the gallant Douglas, but when that warlike Scot saw that 
the English were about to overwhelm Randolph, he begged Bruce to allow him to go 
to his aid. When he came nearer he saw that Randolph was gaining a little on his 
foe, and like the generous man that he was, W(juld not allow his men to aitl him, 
saying that it was not rigiit to rob Randolph of the glory of the victory. 

When the English came nearer and saw the small number of the Scots, they 
were confident of victory. When Edward saw the Scottisii army kneel he cried out 
that they were seeking mercy, but one of his own knights told him that they were 
indeed, but that it was the mercy of God, and not of the king of England, for the 
Scots had knelt to receive the blessing of a good abbott of the army. The trumpets 
were sounded and the English rushed down on the foe. The chargers of the English 
fell on the sharp stakes, and the Scots cut their riders down without mercy. Bruce 
watched the horrible scene until the proper moment had arrived for mixing in it, 
then turning to Angus MacDonald, the man who had been his friend through all tlie 
troublous years when he was a hunted fugitive, he looked an instant into his steadfast 
eyes. "My hope is constant in thee," he said, and that was the voice of the souls of 
both those loyal friends. Then at the head of the horsemen he had held in reserve, 
he dashed into the fray. Upon his helmet he wore a coronet of gold, which marked 
him out to his own men as well as to the enemy. One stalwart English knight seeing 
that King Robert was but slight and rode but a small steed, rode out against the 
king full tilt, intending to bear him down with the weight of his own great charger. 
Bruce awaited the oncoming, but at the instant when the two would otherwise have 
collided, he swerved his little horse aside, and with a stroke at the English knight in 
passing, laid him dead at his feet. Soon the English were flying defeated from the 
fatal field. As they lied, the servants of the camj) on the hill raised horse-blankets 
on poles, and thinking that this was a force in aml)ush, the panic in the English ranks 
became greater. The waters of the Bannock-burn were red with the blood of tiie 
slain and the air heavy with the groans of the dying when the gallant English 
Gloucester, w'ho had seen King Edward to a place of safety, cried, "It is not my 
custom to flee from an enemy," and turning his horse toward the Scots, rushed back 
upon their spears, choosing rather to die with his face to the foe than to seek safety 
as a coward. Sir Giles de Argentine, too, uttered his war cry. and dashed among the 
Scottish spears, and many a gallant veteran of Edward's wars gloried with his last 
breath on that bloody field that he had died as became a brave man rather than live 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 523 

routed and disgraced by the hated Scots. The "Scots who had \vi' Wallace bled," 
gave thanks to the Lord of Hosts in the solemn hour of victory, and in their hearts 
the battle shout became "Liberty or Death," the desire of every earnest patriot since 
love of country has spurred man to deeds of darinar. 

In spite of Bannock-burn, Edward was not willing to give up Scotland. He still 
held Berwick, and hoped to regain what he had lost. Of course, in a quarrel of 
any kind between kings, the Pope must take a hand, and he sent a written 
curse to " Robert Bruce, Governor of Scotland," which King Robert very 
properly refused to receive. The priests who brought the document were 
rudely handled by some Scottish highwaymen, and were glad to escape with 
their lives. Soon after this Berwick was captured by the Scots, and through 
the bravery of gallant Walter Stuart, ancestor of the House of Stuart, it 
was held against the English. Then Bruce returned with interest upon the English 
the system of plunder and misery with which they had so long afflicted Scotland. 
Douglas, Randolph, and other .Scottish chieftains, ravaged the border counties with 
fire and sword, and the name of Douglas especially became such a bugbear that the 
mothers were accustomed to threaten naughty children with "Black Douglas." After 
a raid into Westmoreland, in which the Scots carried away great treasure in grain, 
cattle and valuables, Edward came to the conclusion that he would better make a 
truce with the Scots for two years, that is, agree that neither side should commit any 
act against the other for that length of time. This period was occupied by King 
Robert in settling certain affairs, such as who should rule after him in Scotland ami 
making laws for the protection of his kingdom and his people. Edward Bruce had 
been killed in Ireland in the meantime, and Robert Bruce, grandson of the king, 
whose mother was also dead, was declared his heir, though a birth of a son to the 
king afterward, rendered his title of no value. 

After the truce was over Edward II. renewed the war, but the English being 
again severely beaten in July, 1327, a peace was made in 1328, and Joanna of England, 
sister of the English king, was married to David, Prince of Scotland, though both 
were but infants. Bruce had passed many years of hardship, and had eaten poor 
food, and been exposed to the severe climate of .Scotland and the Isles until his 
constitution was wrecked. He was attacked with a kind of leprosy and died in the 
year 1329 at the age of fifty-five. Faithful Douglas was with him to the last, and to 
him Robert entrusted a mission. He had made a vow that when he was free from 
the English wars, he would make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but his strength 
failed so rapidly that the journey was impossible. To Douglas he gave the 
duty of carrying his heart to Palestine when his body was cold in death, and com- 
mending his infant son David, to the care of the faithful chief, he peacefully brt-athed 
his last. I must tell you that Douglas set out with the precious charge for the Holy 
Land, but hearing on the way that Alphonse of Spain, was at war with the Moors, he 
stopped to aid him. In a battle with the Saracens, Douglas attempted to rescue a 
knight who was fighting against great odds, and was killed. The followers of 
Douglas brought Bruce's heart back to Scotland, and it was buried in Melrose Abbey 
while the body of Douglas was buried, too, in Scottish soil, in the tomb of his great 
ancestors. 

Thomas Randolph, the nephew of King Robert, was chosen to govern Scotland 
until little David should be of age, but he died after a short time, and Scotland fell 
upon evil days. You no doubt remember John Baliol, who once thought himself 



524 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 




Iscutch Maiden SplDulng. 



equal to ruling Scotland, but proved wholly unequal 
to the task, and who livetl many years in France. 
When he died he left a son, Edward Baliol, who now 
claimed the Scottish crown in spite of tlie fact that 
little David had been crowned. David and his queen 
were being brought up in France, and Walter Stu- 
art, the husband of Marjory Bruce, was chosen 
regent in place of Randolph, who was dead. Ed- 
ward Baliol got together a large force and seized the 
government of Scotland, and to gain the friendship 
of England was even more slavish to King Edward 
III. than his father had been to Edward I. He reck- 
oned without the brave Scottish lords who had once 
solemnly declared that as dearly as they loved 
Robert Bruce, and as well as they had served him, 
should he attempt to yield their liberty to England, they would hurl him from 
the throne. They were not disposed to deal very gently with the selfish son of 
cowardly John Baliol, and he soon found to his sorrow that the spirit of liberty still 
lived in Scotland. There were many dreadful battles and sieges, but I will only tell 
you of the bravery of a woman who was called "Black Agnes of Dunbar " She was 
the daughter of Thomas Randolph, and the wife of the Earl of March. In 1337 her 
castle of Dunbar was surrounded and besieged by the English in the absence of her 
husband. Agnes had little fear of the enemy, so little that every day she walked 
calmly about the walls of the castle in plain view and caused her maidens to wipe the 
stones of the battlements with their handkerchiefs when a stone from the English 
engines struck them, in order to show her contempt for the besiegers. She jeered at 
the English and beat them off at every point, and conducted the defense with such 
skill that the English saw the only way of subduing her was to starve the garrison 
into surrender. This thej' tried to do, but one dark night a bold Scottish chieftain 
sailed up the stream near Dunbar castle with a little vessel and unseen by the enemy, 
delivered to the Countess of Dunbar enough food to last the defenders of the castle 
a long time. Black Agnes defended the castle for five months, then the English 
retreated. 

The knight who had relieved the wants of the garrison of Dunbar was Alexander 
Ramsay, and he was one of the heroes of those times. So many services did he 
perform for the country that when David came back from France to reign over his 
kingdom, he made him the Governor of Ro.xburgh. 

This so angered another fierce Lord who waited Ro.xburgh himself that he set 
upon Sir Alexander one day, wounded him severely and carried him away toagloomj' 
castle. There he threw him into a dungeon where he died of starvation and the pain 
of his wound. The times were so troublesome that King David did not dare tc 
punish the cowardly murderer, but actually gave him Roxburgh. Indeed poor Scot- 
land was in a miserable state of desolation from its long wars, and to add to her 
miseries famine and disease so devastated the country that the poor died by the 
thousands and some of the people, it is said, ate human flesh to still the cravings 
of hunger. 

Davitl Bruce was only eighteen years old when he returned to Scotland to 
become in reality, as he was in name, its king. He had been brought up abroad, and 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 525 

was exceeding-ly fond of enjoyintr himself, though he was brave when aroused. He 
had not been long king, when he resolved to invade England. He persisted, against 
the advice of his experienced lords, in attacking a large force of English near one of 
the border castles, and as a natural result was defeated and captured by the enem^-. 
He was carried captive to London along with many of his faithful chieftains, some of 
whom lost their lives through the anger of Edward IIL, who pretended that they 
were traitors because they had refused to aid their lawful king, Edward Baliol, to 
hold his throne. David remained in prison in London eight years, the Steward of 
Scotland, who by the will of Robert Bruce, was the next heir to the Scottish crown, 
ruling Scotland in the king's absence. Then the king of England promised to release 
him on the payment of a large sum of money. It seems that David Bruce, to secure 
his freedom, had privately agreed with Edward III., who had bought off Baliol and 
made him resign his claim to Scotland, to pay homage for the Scottish crown. To 
find out how the Scottish people would receive the idea, Edward III. allowed David 
to make a visit to Scotland. It is hardly necessary to say that the people would not 
consent to any such arrangement, and David, willingly enough I am afraid, went back 
to his English prison, where it is almost certain he plotted with the English king to 
deliver Scotland over to England. After three years more, Edward III. released 
r^avid upon the promise of the Scottish nation to pay even a larger sum for his 
ransom than they had at first agreed. 

The thrifty Scots were soon sorry enough of their bargain. They were making 
themselves poor in pocket on account of a king, who, they soon discovered, cared 
vastly more for England and his English friends, than he did for the country his 
father had fought and suffered to make free. He was constantly returning to 
England to visit Edward, and actually proposed, that since he had no children, 
Lionel, the son of Edward III., should be declared the heir of the Scottish crown. 
You may be sure that the Scots were disgusted at the proposal, and told David that 
Robert Bruce had made the Steward of Scotland his heir in case David should die 
without children, and that this same Steward was a brave and true-hearted man. 
They also declared that they and their fathers had not fought and suffered all these 
years in order to grant England what England could not wring from them by force. 
Soon after this foolish attempt, David did something even more unwise. His wife 
Joanna had been dead some time, and having fallen violently in love with a lady by 
the name of Margaret Logie, a lady who was none too good, if we are to believe 
what is said of her, he married her against the advice of his counsel, and at her 
request, or by her scheming, it is not certain which, the good Steward of Scotland and 
his son were thrown into prison where they remained for many years. 

The father of this Margaret Logie had been executed because he had made an 
attempt upon the life of Robert Bruce, the father of David, whose name the Scottish 
people honored and loved, and it is no wonder that they hated the new queen, and 
were disgusted with David. After awhile David quarreled with his wife and was 
divorced from her, but as long as he lived he never ceased to scheme with Edward 
III. to deliver the kingdom of Scotland to an English heir. 

In the year 1371 Scotland was freed from the rule of David, who died in the 
forty-seventh year of his life and the forty-fifth of his disgraceful reign. Throughout 
all the time that he had been king of Scotland, in name, as welLas in fact, the loyal 
Scottish people had sacrificed money, life and property for his sake, and in the whole 
period he never did a single worthy act. He was a dishonorable, vicious and capri- 



526 SCOTLAND AXD IRELAND. 

cious king, and that he was not personally a coward, is the only thing that can be said 
in his favor. 

I told you that there was an old prophecy that declared that a son of Banquo 
should be the father of kings, and it used to be said that the Steward of Scotland, 
who now became king, was a descendant of France, though some historians deny it 
and say that he was descended from the Fitz-Alans, a Norman family of England. 
At any rate the Steward of Scotland who had suffered in field and prison for the 
liberties of his beloved land, became king of Scotland in his old age, and founder of 
the'unhappy House of Steward, or as it is usually called Stuart, of whom you have 
already learned st)mething in the story of England. During his reign, another 
•Douglas, a descendant of that great Scottish chieftain, who had been the friend 
of William Wallace and of Bruce, grievously harassed the border counties of 
England. Edward 111. died and was followed on the English throne by Richard 
II., the son of the valiant Black Prince. This Douglas was slain by Hotspur Percy, 
though in the battle on that occasion both the Percys, father and son were made 
prisoners by the Scots. To tell the story of the reign of the Steward, or as he is 
called in history, Robert II., the first of the Stuart monarchs, is to repeat the story 
of Scottish raiti and English invasion, that for so many years made the northern 
counties of England and the southern counties of Scotland a great battlefield. Nine- 
teen years Robert II. sat on the throne of Scotland, a worthy descendant of Robert 
Bruce, then he passed away and his son was made king, with the title of Robert III. 
It was in the year 1389 that he became king, and soon after he made a truce with 
England. Robert III. was weak in mind and body, and utterly unfit to occupy a 
throne. He was suspicious of everybody, and allowed his son Da\id, the Earl of 
Rothsay, to be murdered by his uncle, the Duke of Albany, the king's brother. 
The great lords of Scotland fought and quarreled constantly, and the weak king 
could not bring them into submission. 

During the reign of Robert II., Richard II., of England, lost his crown and his. 
life, and I lenrj- 1\'., called Bolingbroke, became King of England. The truce between 
Scotland and England was broken, and both countries suffered again the miseries of 
war. In 1405 the king who had bitterly repented the folly that had lost to him his 
eldest son, became an.Kious to provide James, his only remaining son, with some safe 
retreat, where he could be educated, and would at the same time be out of the reach 
of his cruel uncle, the Duke of Albany, who had schemed to murder him so that there 
would be nothing in the way of his becoming king when his brother, the weak Robert, 
now an old man, should be no more. The king accordingly placed little James, who 
was then only eleven years old, on board ship for France. Contrary winds drove the 
vessel near to the English coast, where it was captured, and James carried captive to 
the Tower of London. About the same time in a fight between several of the great 
Scottish lords, some of the king's best friends were killed. Poor old Robert III. was 
crushed to earth by these disasters, and only lived a year afterward, dying in the 
year 1406. 

The wicked Dukeof Albany had been the Prime Minister of Robert II. and Robert 
III., and from the death of the latter to the close of his own life was ruler of Scotland 
with the title of regent. It is said by some historians that Richard II. was not killed 
in prison in England, as was commonly supposed, but escaped in disguise to Scotland 
where he was discovered by some of the followers of the Duke of Albany who cap- 
tured and took him to the castle of Stirling. There the Duke held him prisoner, 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 527 

and by threats of releasing him, giving him an army and aiding him to regain the 
EngHsh throne induced Henrj' IV. to hold little James prisoner. At any rate James 
remained in prison in England but he was treated as a prince, educated in all the 
accomplishments of the day, ami grew up a wise, valiant and brave man. When the 
Duke of Albany died, and his son Murdach Stuart became regent, Scotland was in 
a sad state from the selfish and vicious acts of his father. Murdach cared very little 
for the honor of being regent of Scotland though he held it for five years. Some- 
times it is a trifling thing that determines great events, and I will tell you how it 
happened that James Stuart at last gained his liberty after a captivity of nineteen 
years. 

In those days, as I have told you in the story of Germany, bird-catching was a 
favorite sport with knights and nobles, and hawks, or falcons as they were called, 
were trained for the purpose. It happened, so runs the tale, that Murdach Stuart had 
a falcon that he prized highly and his son Walter, a wild, disobedient young man 
who thought he would one day rule Scotland as his grandfather had done and his 
father was doing, teased Murdach to give him the hawk. Murdach refused and 
one day Walter in a fit of anger siezed the bird as it sat on his father's wrist and 
wrung its neck. Murdach in a rage declared that as his son had shown that he had 
no respect nor obedience for him, he would bring some one into Scotland who would 
subdue his proud temper. Thereupon he began arrangements with England which 
reiuilted in a few weeks in the return of James Stuart to his kingdom. 

James was as brave as Robert Bruce himself, and no sooner came back to Scot- 
land than he determined to bring affairs into order. He was married to an English 
lady and at once set about bringing the haughty nobles to terms. The regent Mur- 
dach and the whole house of Albany, nothwithstanding that the king was very nearly 
related to it, was punished for the part it had taken in the death of his, brother and 
his own imprisonment. Many of the nobles were executed and the king then turned 
his attention to the Highland chieftains who defied his authority. These Highland 
chieftains were many of them robbers and the Lords of the isles had for some times 
considered themselves independent of the King of Scotland and aspirates had caused 
great misery alonfr the Scottish coast. James dealt sharply with them and soon sub- 
dued them. In all there things it was but natural that though he was doing all in his 
power for Scotland, James I. should make bitter enemies. Every relative of a man 
executed for treason or other crimes was secretly enraged against the king. 

It seems that one of the Scottish Lords, Sir Robert Grahame, had come into the 
possession of crown lands that James took back and gave the young Robert Gra- 
hame the earldom of Monteith in stead. The earl had an uncle. Sir Robert Grahame 
who hated the king because, when he returned to his kingdom Grahame had been 
arrested with other lords and kept in prison for some time The fierce old noble 
retreated to the fastness of the wild Highlands and from his hiding place sent a letter 
to king James I. telling him that he hated him and meant to kill him. The King 
then offered a reward for the arrest of Grahame. James' uncle Walter Athole, wan- 
ted that his grandson, Robert Stuart, should have the crown of Scotland, and he and 
Robert therefore secretly joined with Grahame a nd plotted to murder the king. James 
had always treated Robert Stuart with great kindness, and employed him as his 
chamberlain, but this had no effect on the ungrateful Stuart, if indeed history gives an 
account of any of the Stuarts, who were grateful. In 1437 James went to Perth to spend 
Christmas and his court went with him. This was the opportunity of the plotters. 



528 • SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

About six weeks after Christmas, in February of the year 1437, the king entertained 
the traitor Athole and Robert Stuart at supper and was about retiring to rest when 
three hundred men were let into his residence by Robert Stuart. Katherine Douglas 
with the loyalty of her great ancestor, rushed to the door of the queen's apartment, 
where the king was, and tried to keep out the intruders. There was no bar to the 
door, but there were great iron staples driven in at each side of the door-frame, 
probably some of the plotters had removed the bar of iron that usually rested there. 
At anj' rate Katherine shut the door, and thrusting her white arm througli the staples, 
bravely held the door shut until the king had concealed himself. The blows of the 
soldiers shattered the frail barrier, and at last the heroic girl, bruised and bleeding, 
was forced to give them entrance. They came in, but the king was nowhere to be 
found. He had raised a trap-door in the floor, and was safely hidden beneath it. 
The followers of Grahame were searching the other parts of the dwelling, and 
fearing that they would return and discover him, the king was being assisted from his 
hiding-place, when two brothers named IlaH came into the room. They at once 
sprang upon the king, but he beat them down. Grahame heard the noise of the 
fighting, and came to the assistance of the brothers and killed the king with his own 
hand. He at once fled to the I lighlands, but the queen caused such hot pursuit to 
be made that he and the other plotters were taken. Thej* were executed with 
horrible tortures, but that did not restore to Scotland her murdered king, and now 
that he was no more, the nation realized what he had done for it and what he would 
have done had he been spared, and revered him almost as much as they did Robert 
Bruce. 

After the execution of the plotters Queen Joanna, the widow of James L, took 
her little son James, who was only eight years old, and who had succeeded to the 
crown of his murdered father, and fled with him to the castle of one of the lords in 
whom her husband had trusted. This nobleman promptly imprisoned them both. 
After a time the queen, who was not very closely watched, escaped and carried her 
little son with her in one of her chests of clothing. There was a knight called "The 
Black Knight of Lome." James Stuart, who was related to the young king. Joanna 
thought by marrying him she would have a protector for her son, but the little king's 
troubles were not thus ended. 

Sir William Crichton obtained possession of the person of the queen, her second 
husband, and the little king. Crichton was the lord to whom Joanna had at first 
fled, and he had a rival in Livingstone, another noble, who had been trusted by 
lames L These two nobles quarreled with one another for some time, but finally came 
to an agreement, but the king still remained almost a prisoner at Edinburg castle. I 
have told you in the course of this story something of the family of Douglas, and 
how they supported the kings of Scotland. The Earls of Douglas were the most 
powerful nobles in the kingdom, and held the position of nearly independent princes. 
They numbered forty thousand men among their dependents, and were rich in lands 
and castles. In the year 1539 Earl Archibald Douglas died, and his son William, a 
mere lad, only fourteen years old, became the Earl of Douglas. I le was proud of 
his rank, wealth and power, and made a great display of them all. He was so young 
that he does not seem to have realized the danger in which he placed himself from 
the other great Scottish nobles, and especially of Chrichton and Livingstone. His 
followers were not always law-abiding and orderly, and oppressed their neighbors, 
winning for themselves hearty ill-will Chrichton and Livingstone made every impru- 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 529 

dence of his followers rest upon Douglas, but gave the lad no opportunity of learning 
what their mind was toward him. Under the pretense that he wished Douglas, who 
was near the king's age, to become better acquainted with the young monarch, he 
invited sir William, his young brother David and another lad, to Edinburg castle. 
Naturally enough, the boys were flattered by the attention of Crichton, and went 
willingly to Edinburg, where they were lodged in the castle. 

Instead of being seated at the royal table for supper upon their arrival, they were 
placed in another room. There a black bull's head was brought before them, and 
the poor boys looked into one another's eyes in mute terror. They knew what this 
strange signal meant. It indicated that they were to be killed, for in the High- 
lands, since the earliest days, when a black bull's head was brought before a guest, 
he knew that his entertainer had determined upon his death. They had not long to 
wait their doom. They were dragged from the room, brought before some of 
Crichton's creatures who pretended to try them, and were then and there sentenced 
to death. They were executed at once in the castle yard. 

There was still a Douglas left, but Crichton knew he had nothing to fear from 
him, for he was an immensely fat, slothful glutton, who cared nothing for the past 
glory of the great name of Douglas, nor for the dreadful murder that had been done. 
There was another Douglas, too, but as she was a maiden, the plotter of the death 
of young Sir William and his brother did not count upon her. Her name was Margaret, 
and she was so lovely and noble in heart and mind that she was known far and wide 
as "The Fair Maid of Galloway." The fat old earl had a son with all the sijirit of 
Black Douglas and his other great ancestors. He was young, but not too young, to 
see the opportunity of restoring the power of Douglas by uniting the two branches 
of the Douglas House. He at once married The Fair Maid of Galloway, and the 
House of Douglas, which had before been two divisions, was now one and more 
powerful than ever, for the fat old Earl died soon after the marriage, and the husband 
of Margaret became the Douglas. 

When the king was fourteen years old, and Crichton and Livingstone had been 
for si.x years in power. James II. declared himself able to rule, and the regency 
of the two powerful lords was dissolved, though James still took the advice of 
Crichton on most subjects. Douglas came to court and won the complete confidence 
of the king, whereupon Crichton and Livingstone fled and shut themselves up in 
castles, but were made to surrender by Douglas himself. Crichton was pardoned, but 
Livingstone, whom Crichton hated cordially, was imprisoned, his two sons were 
beheaded and his estates ruined. Douglas gained greater and greater favor for 
himself and his brothers, and the former power of his House was as nothing compared 
to what he raised it by the favor of James II. He only enjoyed that favor for a few 
years, then Crichton caused his downfall. 

James II., after Douglas had several times lost favor and regained it, invited the 
l,ord to visit him in Edinburg, solemnly swearing that no harm should befall him, and 
stamping the written oath with the great seal of the kingdom. He entertained his 
guest at dinner, and afterward led him into a room, and began to persuade him to give 
up his "band" or agreement to aid and be aided by certain nobles. Douglas replied 
that he had passed his sacred promise, and could not do so. James II. snatched a 
dagger from his girdle and struck Douglas dead. The brothers of Earl Douglas and 
the whole Douglas clan at once arose against the king, but after a most gallant 
struggle the clan was driven from Scotland for the time, and all the Douglas brothers 



530 SCOTLAND AXD IRELAND. 

but one lost their lives. That one returned to Scotland lon^^ afterward, and died in a 
monastery. 

In 1460 James II. determined to retake Roxburgh, which had been in possession 
of England since David II. was a prisoner in London. With this purpose he laid 
siege to the castle, but was killed by the bursting of a shell from one of his siege 
guns. The king had married Mary of Gueldres, and she appeared before the castle 
and continued the siege until Ro.xburgh surrendered. 

As the early years of his father had been surrounded by plots and treasons, so 
the childhood of young James III. was a time of conspiracies of which he was the 
unconscious center. He grew up without the training suitable for a king, and early 
fell into trouble with his nobles. His two brothers, the Earl of Mar and the Earl of 
Albany, plotted against him, and because they were brave, warlike, noble in looks 
and manner, the king became eager to get them out of his way. Both were impris- 
oned. The Duke of Albany escaped to Flanders, but the young I^arl of Mar was 
put to death. This was when James III. was twenty-two jearsold and had developed 
the vices of his character. He had no love for out-door sports and war-like exercises, 
and his two bosom friends were one a tailor and the other a mason, both designing and 
unscrupulous persons. In 14S2 the English threatened to invade Scotland, and James 
called for his lords to bring their followers and help defend their country. The Scots 
assembled their men near the border, but wh(;n the mason richly dressed and splen- 
didly attended was sent to command them, they refused to stir. They hanged the 
mason, executed the other favorites of James, and finally imprisoned the king him- 
self. Albany thought this a good time to return to Scotland and claim the crown, but 
it was almost certain that he had made some bargain to deliver the independence of 
Scotland to the English, and the Scots refused to have him fur their leader. James 
was given his liberty and made Albany his dearest friend, but their friendship did 
not last long. Albany began to plot again with the English, and finally gave up his 
castle of Dunbar to an English garrison and fled to the court of Richard III., who 
was now king of England, and thence to France. 

James III. was so fond of money that he would do almost anything to get it. He 
sold offices and honors and even justice, and at last his lords became so disgusted 
that they plotted to take the throne from him. James learned of their plots, but had 
not the courage to arrest the ring-leaders. Instead of so doing he fled to the North. 
The lords then proclaimed the crown prince, a lad of sixteen, as king, with the title 
James VI., and advanced with an army against the old king, who had raised a small 
force in the North. The troops of the old king were defeated, and James III. fled 
from the field and took refuge in the cottage of a laborer, There he was found and 
stabbed to death by one of his son's men. Thus the third Stuart king of the name 
of James, died of violence, as did the two of the same name who came before him. 

James IV. was crowned at Scone with great splendor in 1487, and his court was 
one of the most brilliant in Europe. After a time he married the daughter of 
Henry YU., and thus secured lasting peace with England. He had a fine fleet on the 
seas, and so brought Scotland into order that he was respected at home and abroad. 
When Perkin Warbeck, who may or may not have been the Duke of York, supposed 
to have been murdered by Richard III., of whom I have told you made trouble for 
Henry VII. in England, it was James IV. who received him and gave him a bride, 
though he afterward deserted his cause and dismissed him from Scotland. Henry 
VI 11. had hardly ascended the throne of England before he was quarreling with 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



531 




The I 

of Flocklen, or 



James IV., and the quarrel resulted in war. After some 
skirmishing on the border, in which the Scots were de- 
feated, James summoned his whole strength of fighting 
men to invade England. They came and marched into 
the Northern counties and took several castles. In one 
of them James captured a beautiful woman, who was 
another man"s wife. James, too, had a wife, but that 
made no difference with him, and instead of going for- 
ward against the English, he remained enjoying the 
society of his fair captive until many of his men deserted 
and went back to Scotland. Finally he heard that the 
English were approaching, and in February, 1437, (and 
February, you notice, was a fatal month to most of the 
Stuarts,) James fought a great battle with the English 
on Flodden Hill, in which the Scots were defeated. 
After this battle James lY. was never seen more. Whether 
he fell fighting "n the front rank of his men, where he was 

last noticed in the evening of the day of the battle of Flodden, or whether 
he escaped and wandered a penitent pilgrim to the Holy Land, doing penance 
for the death of his father and for the fall of his army, will never be certainly 
known, though the best historians of Scotland declare that he fell in battle and that 
his body was buried in the monastery of Sheen, in Richmontl. At all events he was 
the only monarch of Scotland since the da3's of Malcolm III., who fell in battle, if he 
was indeed slain at Flodden field. 

James left a little son, and the Duke of Albany, son of the Duke who had been 
banished by James III., was called over from France, where he had lived nearly all 
his life, to be regent • for the young king. The queen had at first been 
made regent, but she married the Earl of Angus the year after the death of the king, 
and was deposed. Albany did not love the Scottish people. He had lived so long in 
France that he was French in education and manners. The harsh Scottish speech 
was hateful to his ears, the simple Scottish manners seemed boorish to him. He 
could make no headway against the quarrels and turmoil of the kingdom, and again 
and again crossed over to France to be rid of them. After eight troubled years, he 
gave up the regency. The Earl of Angus, who had left the kingdom when the Duke 
of Albany became regent, came back, and under the name of guardian to the young 
king, became his jailer. He and the officers he appointed made the king sign every 
paper they brought to him, and when James became a man he remembered it against 
them, and revenged himself. Indeed he showed a hatred to the nobles, and would 
appoint them to no offices if he could avoid ii. The Reformation was spreading over 
Europe, and as James seemed to have an untlue fondness for placing priests in office, 
the nobles, to oppose the king and the priests, espoused the Reformation with all 
their might. Without being clever enough to see that by so doing they were playing 
directly into the hands of the nobles, the priests persecuted Protestants unsparingly. 
Through the Parliament, in which there was a majority of Catholics, they made it a 
crime to own or read Luther's books, or preach Calvinism, and soon began to burn 
and torture heretics. The king in person presided at some of the horrible executions. 

Henry VIII. was burning both Catholics and Protestants in England, and was 
eager to have James marry Princess Alary, of England, and make himself the head 



532 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



of the Scottish Church, as he had 
made himself of tiie English 
Church. James would not follow 
the wishes of Henry, but kept 
the friendship of the Pope, and 
married a French princess. She 
died in a few months, and he 
married Mary of Guise, another 
French princess, made an alli- 
ance with France, and began to 
persecute the Protestants with 
renewed energy. Henry \II1. 
was deeply offended, and upon 
the first excuse that offered, 
declared war. The king gave 
the command of his forces to 
Oliver Sinclair, a coinnum man, 
who was to take charge of the 
arm}- when it was across the 
border. The choice of the com- 
mander had been kept secret 
from the nobles, who confidently 
expected that the honor would 
be given to one of their number. 
When they found that Sinclair 
had the command, they began 
to quarrel fiercely with him and 
his friends, and while so doing 
were surprised by a body of 
English cavalry, and many of 
them imprisoned, while the 
others were routed. This dis- 
aster, known in history as the 
MAUY sTiAUT ANi> KiiANTis u. "Panic of Solway Moss," broke 

the heart of the king. He gradually sank under the weight of the disgrace, and 
died in 1542, leaving his kingdom to Mary Stuart, his baby daughter, who was then 
but a week old. 

The plotters who, like evil fairies, ever hung about the cradle of the Stuart 
sovereigns, were busy in the infancy of Mary. The young queen grew into a beautiful 
childhood, and Henry was determined that she should marry his son Edward. The 
Scottish Parliament, influenced by Cardinal Beaton, rejected Henry's proposal, for 
they knew that it voiced the old determination of England to possess the Kingdom 
of Scotland. It may be that the words of James when he learned that little Mary 
had been born to him came into their mind. "God's will be done," said the dying 
king. "The kingdom came to the Stuart's through a lass, and it will end through a 
lass." 

Henry then made war upon Scotland with great ferocity, but little Mary was 
betrothed by the council to the heir to the French throne and sent away to France 




SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 533 

to be brought up in the family of her father-in-law, and the war was allowed to 
languish. Cardinal Beaton continued to persecute the Protestants so inhumanly that 
he was finally murdered, though this did not prevent Mary of Guise, who was made 
the regent of the kingdom for her daughter, from persecuting them still more 
inhumanly. Frenchmen were given all the offices of honor and trust in the kingdom, 
and even the castles, which had for centuries been the property of the great Scottish 
lords, were coveted by the queen regent who wished to fill them with French soldiers. 
It is said that the queen asked the consent of the Earl of Angus to place a French 
garrison in one of his castles. At the moment the earl was feeding a falcon that sat 
on his wrist. He struck the bird a blow with his fist, and said as though to the hawk, 
"The devil is in the greedy kite; she will never be satisfied." To the queen he then 
courteously replied that he could keep his castle for her use far better than could any 
foreigners. Three hundred of the lords came before the regent and declared that 
they could defend their country, and needed no foreigners, and Mary of Guise was 
compelled to give up the plan. Soon afterward Mary Oueen of Scots was married 
to Francis, the Dauphin of France. 

All this time the Presbyterian nobles of Scotland had been opposing with all 
their might the persecution of Protestants, and in their zeal had even destroyed 
several churches and many beautiful works of art. Mary of Guise had again and 
again made them promises of allowing the Protestants freedom of worship, but everj- 
time broke her promises, which were only made for the purpose of gaining time. 
John Knox was particularly active in opposing the queen regent, and in inspiring his 
countrymen with determination to maintain their liberties at any cost, even of war. 

The young Queen of Scotland, encouraged by her father-in-law, put forth pre- 
tensions to the throne of England, claiming that since the divorce of Henry VIII. 
from Catharine of Arragon was illegal, Elizabeth had no right to the crown of 
England. Elizabeth had, as you will remember, espoused the Protestant cause. 
Mary of Guise brought soldiers from France to subdue the rebellious nobles of her 
daughter's kingdom, while the great lords of Scotland implored help from England, 
their ancient enemy, against the French, who had up to this time been always their 
faithful allies in time of trouble. 

After some hard fighting, the allied armies of Scots and Englishmen gained the 
victory over those Catholic noblemen who favored Mary of Guise and the French. 
In a short time the young queen who had become Queen of France by the death of 
her husband's father, was compelled to renounce her claim to the English crown, and 
soon after Francis II. died. Catharine de Medicis, the queen's niother-in-law, had 
always hated Mary, and soon made her so uncomfortable at the F"rench court that 
she was obliged to accept the invitation of her Scottish subjects to come home and 
rule them. By blood Mary was half French, and by training entirely so. She loved 
France dearly, and wept and lamented when she saw the shores of the country fade 
from her sight, and realized that she was indeed upon her way to the wild, bleak 
North, where the men were rude and warlike, and above all where the religion of the 
whole people was that which she had been taught to despise. She was only nineteen, 
poor girl, and naturally of a gay and lively nature. When she arrived in Scotland 
she found her worst fears realized. The sober manners of the lords and ladies who 
surrounded her, bored and tired her, the speech of the people was harsh to her ears 
and their manners uncouth, but unlike her uncle of Albany, she could not escape and 
return to her beloved France. She in turn shocked the stern Presbyterians by 



534 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

her gay manners and her open practice of the popish rites which they hated. 
Soon there were many suitors for the hand of the young queen, but of these, 
Mary favored the Earl of Lennox, Lord Darnley, above all others. He was the heir 
to the crowns of England and Scotland, if the direct line should fail. He was a 
handsome man, could dance and sing, but was a glutton, drunkard, and an unclean 
fellow altogether. He schemed with David Rizzio, the secretary of the queen, and 
succeeded in gaining Mary's favor. Mary's brother, the leader of the Protestant 
party, was the Earl of Moray. He hated Darnley for his evil life, and because being 
a Catholic he would encourage the evident determination of the young qut^en to 
persecute protestants. He called the nobles together to take measures to prevent 
the marriage, but in vain, the willful queen not only married Darnley, but a month 
later rode at the head of her army to crush tiie Protestant lords. She drove them 




UITY OK KDI.VBIUG. 

out of Scotland, and renewed the persecution of the church. The queen soon began 
to hate her husband, for she was in love with Rizzio, and made no secret of her 
affection for him. Simpleton though Darnley was, he had sense enough to hate the 
man who had stolen the queen's favor from him. Rizzio had his enemies, and Lord 
Ruthven and several others joined Darnley in a plot for his murder. He was stabbed 
to death in the very presence of his mistress. Mary persuaded Darnley to deny all 
knowledge of the murder, and to go with her to the castle of Dunbar, and thus 
separate himself from his friends. Here the royal pair was joined by Earl Hothwell, 
a handsome, cruel man, who raised eight thousand men, and drove Lord Ruthven 
and the other conspirators into England. 

Hothwell succeeded to the place in Mary's affection that had been held by Rizzio, 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



r -> - 



and between them they plotted to get 
rid of Darnley. The birth of Mary's 
little son James delayed the execu- 
tion of the plot, and Mary pretended 
to be reconciled to Darnley. .Soon 
after the baby James was christened, 
Darnley went on a visit to his father 
in Glasgow, and while there was taken 
ill with the small-po.x. This was 
Mary's opportunity. Going to her 
husband, she persuaded him to 
accompany her to Edinburg, and 
that the palace might not be infected, 
placed him with a faithful servant 
in a lonely house in the suburbs of 
the city. There Bothwell planned 
to murder Darnley in a very terrible 
manner — to blow him up with gun- 
powder. There is no doubt that 
Mary was in the plot, and knew the 
very hour when it was to be executed. 
Darnley must have learned in some 
way of his danger, for when the house 
was blown up February i, 1567, 
immediately after the queen had 
visited him and left him in his cham- 
ber, Darnley was not in it. The 
murderers had made sure of their 
work, however, for they had over- 
taken Darnley and his servant in the 
garden and strangled them as they 
were taking flight. 

Bothwell, Huntley and Balfour were known to have done the deed, and a placard 
was nailed on the Parliament House accusing them. The Earl of Lennox, the father 
of the murdered Darnley, demanded that the accused should be tried by the Parlia- 
ment. The Parliament consented, but on the day of the trial Bothwell with three 
thousand armed men took possession of the streets of Edinburg to overawe the 
court, and prevented aiiy witnesses from appearing. He was declared innocent, and 
the very next day announced to the Parliament that he meant to marry Mary. Both- 
well had a wife, but that gave no serious concern either to him or the queen. He 
divorced her May 7, 1567, and a week later married Mary Stuart. 

The people of Scotland had been unusually patient with Mary, but her scandalous 
■conduct in marrying the murderer of her husljand was too much to be borne. The 
nobles gathered an army, and a month after Mary and Bothwell were married, 
besieged them at Seton House. The queen promised to surrender if her husband 
were allowed to go unharmed. Bothwell was allowed to ride away, and Mary was 
carried to a castle on an island in Lochlevin. Bothwell tried to get hold of little 
James, doubtless to murder him, but the Earl of Mar, his guardian, would not allow 




F.li7..il>i-th Sinus llii- Dcath-Warniut of M;ivy Stimii. 



536 



SCOTLAXD AXD IRELAND. 



the wretch to even see the child. Closely pressed on every side by the angry nobles, 
Bothwell fled abroad, and died a raving maniac nine years later. James was crowned 
king at the age of thirteen months, and his uncle, the Earl of Moray, was made his 
regent. The Douglases though fallen from power again, played a part in the history 
of the Stuarts. In her prison Mary gained the affection of a lad named Douglas, 
who stole the keys of the castle, unlocked the doors, and rowed her across to the 
mainland. Here'others of the faithful Douglas clan awaited her, and they went to 
Mamilton, from which Mary issued a proclamation asserting that her resignation of 
the kingdom had been forced and was therefore unlawful, and commanding the 
regent to give up his authority. Moray pretended to treat with the queen, but really 
delayed only to raise troops, and when he had fifteen hundred men marched against 
the queen and defeated her. Mary fled to England, and to the protection of Eliza- 
beth. The queen of England had heard of the crimes of the Scottish queen, and 
being convinced that to aid her, or even to allow her to leave the kingdom, would 







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bring disaster on England and the Reformation, placed her in prison. Her imprison- 
ment could not have been very severe, for she was allowed several intimate friends 
as servants, and corresponded freely with her son and her Catholic friends in France 
and Spain, as well as Scotland. In the nineteen years while her son was growing up, 
she schemed for her liberty and for the overthrow of the Protestants. In neither can 
we blame her, for educated as she had been, she felt justified in doing anything that 
would destroy the enemies of the church. She was allowed to go out hunting, but 
Avas so carefully watched that it was impossible for her to escape. 

James VI. had a sorry time of it among his plotting and unscrupulous nobles, and 
in time became as crafty and unscrupulous as the worst among them. He was a 
selfish, vain, conceited man, and was willing to be scolded and dictated to by Eliza- 
beth, in hope that she would leave him her crown when she died. He deluded his 
imprisoned mother with vain hopes of being released and sharing the crown with 
him, but in reality he never raised his hand to save her, and when she was finally 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



53 



0/ 



beheaded for joining in a plot against the life of Elizabeth, he allowed his wounded 
feelings to be salved with a pension. 

After the death of Mary there was a bitter struggle between the Presbyterians 
and the Episcopacy in Scotland, and that struggle, with much bloodshed and many 
horrors, was continued for nearly a hundred and fifty years. When Elizabeth died 
in 1603, James inherited her crown. Scotland continued to have a separate govern- 
ment, though under the same crown as England, until the days of Queen Anne, when 
the two governments were also united. Elsewhere I have told you the main features 
of the Story of Scotland under the later Stuarts, and the wars that were waged by 
the Scots to restore them to the throne. 

The Scotland of to-day is a country of peace. So long distracted by wars, it is 
now the home of commerce and industry, and no country of the world has a more 
sterling, thrifty. God-fearing people than has Scotland. Its population has been so 
modified by contact with England, that it is truly British, and Queen Victoria has no 
more loyal subjects than the descendants of those proud Scottish lords, who gave 
their lives to save their country from England's yoke, and the posterity of those 
determined commoners, both Highland and Lowland, who fought at Bannockburn, 
Falkirk and Flodden. 



/I 



IRELAND.!^ 



\ 




YING in the Atlantic Ocean just west of England, is an island which, 
though no larger than the State of Indiana, has played an import- 
ant part in the history of Northern Europe. Not that it has made 
conquests of other countries, has discovered new lands, or has sent 
fleets laden with riches to the busy marts of the world's trade, but 
that for ages it was the center of the learning of Northern Europe 
and the home of religion and poetrj-. This island we call Ireland, 
or Erin. Sometimes it is spoken of as "The Emerald Isle," on account of 
its verdant fields and meadows and its clear sunlight. The natives did 
not call their land Ireland, but it was so named by the Phcenicians, or 
rather from a name which the Phoenicians gave to the country ages before Caesar 
first saw the shores of Britain. They called the island lerne, "The uttermost point," 
for they thought it the most western portion of land on the earth. Before they 
discovered Ireland they had called a cape of Western Spain lerne. Thus the 
ancient Irish learned to call their land Erin from the Phoenicians. 

There was a time in the far past when Ireland was not an island, and indeed it is 
said by those who have studied the rocks, to read the story that they tell, that Ireland 
was twice united to the mainland of Scotland, and twice separated from it by some 
great disturbance of nature. It is said, too, that Ireland was covered to the depth of 
several hundred, and perhaps thousands of feet, with ice and snow, and that this 
melting and being dissolved in the course of centuries by the changing of the tem- 
perature of the surrounding air and ocean, great ice-fields slipped down into the sea, 
scraping the mountains in their passage until tiiey assumed the regular outline that 
they wear to-day. After this, forests began to grow, and ages and ages afterward. 



538 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

how long I can not tell you, the first people of Ireland inhabited the country. Who 
these first people were is not known. There is a legend that declares that long before 
the Deluge, fifty men and three women from the far-away home of the human race 
came to Ireland and formed a colony. The flood swept their settlement away, and 
in the sixtieth year of Abraham a colony of the descendants of Japhet came to 
Ireland and formed a settlement. 

According to the legends the first people who inhabited Irt;land, were giants, 
fierce in war, savage and cruel. They did not know anything of the use of metals, 
pottery or even fire, and were little more intelligent than the beasts of the fields 
about them. Remains of this legendary race have been found in caves and else- 
where, showing that they used stone hatchets and hammers, but little indeed can now 
be learned of them or their manner of life. When tliey roamed in the fields and 
forests of Ireland, the fierce Gauls of what is now the country of Belgium, in some 
way learned of the existence of the island, and crossing over the Englisii channel 
and Irish Sea, a colony of them overran the country and conquered the rude natives. 
These Belgic Gauls, or Firbolgs, as they are called in the old Irish chronicles, were 
in turn conquered by the Danes, who swept down the eastern coast under the lead of 
a valiant chieftain named Nuad. These Danes, or Danaans, fought a great battle 
with the Firbolgs, in the west of Ireland, which raged for thne days, and remains of 
which are found still in a great cairn which marks the spot of this legendary struggle. 
The Danes won the fight, but in the course of it their chieftain lost his hand. The 
followers of the victorious chieftain thought it beneath their dignity to serve a man 
who was mutilated, but Nuad induced one of his followers, who was a cunning 
worker in metals, to fashion a silver hand for him. .Around "Nuad of the Silver 
Hand" the wave of legend sweeps bright and sparkling. He was a mighty warrior, a 
great builder of forts of earth and stone, and he entirely vanquished and destroyed 
the fierce Belgic Gauls, establishing a line of Danish kings that reigned nearly two 
hundred years over Ireland. All this was hundreds of years before Christ was born, 
and before history of any kind was written in Northern Europe. 

In the reign of Luga the Longarmed. the legends further say, the Milesians 
invaded the country. The Milesians were not natives of the proud old (ireek city 
of Miletus, of which we have learned something in the story of the old Empires, but 
they were followers of the two sons of Milesius, a Celtic chieftain of ancient Spain. 
These Milesians had come in contact, through the Phoenicians, perhaps, with the 
civilization of the East, and though still savages, knew far more of the fashioning of 
weapons and of war than did the Danish conquerors of Ireland. The Danes, how- 
ever, were fierce fighters, and it was only after a severe struggle that the Milesians 
conquered the country and divided it between their two chieftains, 1 leber and Here- 
mon. In the course of time Heber became jealous of his brother Heremon, and 
slaying him, made himself ruler of all Ireland, though his chieftains occupied portions 
of the land almost independent of his authority. These Celts brought with them 
the religion practiced by their race in the south, with all of its mysterious and bloody 
rites. 

The Celts divided the people into different classes, each distinguished by their 
dress, and taught them to worship the gods. They had their bards or poets, their 
Sennachies, or men whose duty it was to keep in memory the history of the people, 
relate it at certain times, and instruct their sons in tiie same art, and judges who 
•decided disputes. One hundred and fifty or sixty kings of the race of the Milesians 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



539 



^57-^ 










■-ir i-^-""^/' 



ruled Ireland in the dim centuries 

of legend, and though the country 

made little progress in civilization, 

as we understand it, poetry and 

the arts did develop, and there 

were palaces built and temples 

raised to the heathen gods. One 

of these early kings, Lara, was the 

Brutus of Irish legend. Lara's 

father and kindred were slain by 

a fierce Milesian king, but Lara, a' 

mere lad, escaped by pretending 

idiocy. He was brought up by a 

faithful old harper, and married a ^'^" ■""'' <""•■>(;'' 

fair princL-ss. Then passing over to Gaul, he gained the help of some warriors of 

that country, who returned with him to Ireland. He slew the murderer of his kindred, 

and became king, founding a line of monarchs famous in Irish history. 

One of the descendants of Lara married a fairy bride, for those were the days 
when faries were supposed to have lived in the green forests and mossy glens of 
Ireland, and sported by moonlight on the yellow sands that kissed the happy 
shores of the fair "Emerald Isle." The daughter of the tairy princess and mortal 
prince, was Meave, famous in the fairy legends of Scotland, England and Ireland, as 
Queen Mab. Meave was the Semiramis of Erin, the fiercest, most gifted and war- 
like queen that ever reigned amidst the mists and shadows of the land of fable. 
She married three husbands, and quarreled with them all, and made successful 
war against Cocullin, the fiercest chief of his time. Meave died at the age of a 
hundred years, and her descendants reigneil over Ireland until they were over- 
thrown by a native tribe, who founded the kingdom of Meath. 

One of the famous kings of the Irish legends is Con of the Hundred Fights, and 
next to him comes Finn, the son of Coul, who reminds us of King Arthur. He had 
his "Knights of The Round Table" in the person of the Feni, his sworn friends, who 
followed wherever he led, were leal and loyal to him through all his adventures, and 
were heroes in their own right. Finn destroyed all sorts of dreadful monsters, was a 
valiant fighter, and had niore than mortal power, for he could read the future. He 
was beloved by two sisters, but like most people who "read the future," he could not 
read his own destiny. One of the sisters having declared that she could never love 
a man with gray hair, the other lured Finn into an enchanted pool, where he was 
changed into an old man. The Feni compelled the enchantress to restore Finn's 
youth, but from that time forth his hair was snow-white. While Finn was king, the 
Danes first invaded Ireland, but were beaten off. One of the Feni is said to have 
lived many centuries, and it was he who it is said to have told to Saint Patrick the 
stories of the great deeds of the valiant Finn, that are recorded in the Four Masters, 
the ancient chronicle of Erin. 

There are many weird and interesting stories told of the adventures of the Feni 
but I will relate only one of them that you may understand how imaginative and 
poetic the early Celtic bards of Ireland were, and what singular stories they sang to 
the people, perhaps accompanying themselves on the harp. In this tale we are told 
that the Feni, who were great hunters, went out one day with their hounds to their 



^-^^ 



540 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 




favorite sport. Finally, after they had enjoyed themselves for 
some hours, they climbed a hill and sat down to rest. As they 
reclined upon the grass and watched the cloud-shadows on the 
plains below, they saw in the distance two strange objects. As 
these came nearer the hill, they discovered that one was a giant, 
like those conquered so long ago by the Firbolgs, and that he was 
immense in size and so ugly that they could hardly bear to gaze 
upon him. This giant was leading a horse, the most singular beast 
that the Feni ever saw. He was huge like his master, six times 
larger than ordinary horses, but his knees were crooked and de- 
formed, he was lean and scraggy, and his jaws stuck far out in 
front of the rest of its head. The Feni were highly amused at 
the appearance which this strange pair made, and laughed loudly 
as they saw the giant, still leading the beast, make straight for the 
place where they sat. The giant paid no attention to their mock- 
^ # ery,but bowed low before King Feni, and offered to serve him for 
a year, but as one of the conditions, desired that his horse should 
iiwi N;.;ionai costumi. havc thc best fare and be well treated. Me particularly requested 

that the brute should not be allowed to stray, at which all the Feni laughed louder 
than ever, for the poor old beast seemed so weak, lean and stiff, that it did not seem 
possible that it could have any desire to stir of its own free will. As soon, however, 
as the giant took his hand from the halter upon its head, it rushed among the horses 
of the Feni. kicking and biting, and killed them every one. One of the Feni sprang 
forward finally, and seized the horse again by the halter, whereupon it became as 
stiff and solid as a rock. He mounted its back and flogged it, but still it would not 
stir. Thirteen more of the Feni jumped on the brute's back to aid him to flog it, but 
still it did not move, but when its gigantic master gave it the signal it began slowly 
to follow behind him as he walked away. The other Feni laughed loudly, but their 
laughter was turned to alarm when the giant changed his pace and set off as swiftly 
as a swallow could fly, followed just as swiftly by his horse with the unlucky Feni on 
his back. Soon they were out of sight, and Finn and his warriors started toward the 
sea to seek a ship in which to pursue them, for the guint walked as easily upon the 
water as on land. On tln' way they met two beautiful youths who were great wizards 
and who guided them to the sea, by their magic built swift ships, and the crafts sailed 
away to the enchanted island, where they thought they might find their fourteen 
comrades. The first thing that they saw when they arrived at the isle, was a huge 
cliff, as bright and smooth as glass, which they thought it impossible to climb. One 
of the Feni determined to climb it, however, and did so, finding at the top of the 
cliff a smooth plain, in the midst of which was a well, beside which there was a 
drinking horn. 1 le raised the horn to his lips, when from out the well there sprang 
a terrible enchanter with wht)m the Feni fought till sunset, when he sprang into the 
well and disappeared. For four days the same thing happened, but at sunset on the 
fourth day when the enchanter was about to spring into the well, the Feni clasped 
him about the waist and sprang in with him. Down, down they went through the 
darkness, until they reached the other side of the earth and came out into a land 
where the sun was bright and the flowers always in bloom. There the Feni had many 
wonderful adventures, and finally the fourteen Feni were found and carried back to 
their own land, whereupon the giant and his ugly horse vanished into the air and 
were never more seen. 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



541 




Irish Peasant Womau, 



It was with such tales as these that the bards amused the poetic 
Celts, but the bards were something more than story-tellers. They 
were priests of the mystic religion, and their curse was dreaded 
more than that of the Pope in later times by the Catholics. Woe 
to the Celt who angered one of the bards or offered him injury. 
His lands, his horses, cattle, sheep, wife and children were cursed with JL_ 
an awful curse, and he could never be safe or happy until he had 
succeeded in having that curse lifted. 

I wish that I might tell you more of these early Celts, of their 
heroes and fairies, their demons and beautiful maidens, and their 
sorrowful tales of love and war, but these things are not history, 
and 1 must pass them by. 

Like most half-savage nations, the Celts kept slaves to till the 
soil and care for their flocks and herds. These slaves were bought 
from other tribes or taken in battle. Some time in the early part of 
the fourth century, the wild Irish made a raid into that portion of Scotland lying 
nearest to their coast, and after commjtting many violent deeds retreated across 
the arm of the sea that lies between, carrying with them much plunder and many 
captives. Among these slaves was a youth destined to work a great change in 
Ireland. He was a Christian, and the master whom he served as a shepherd in the 
mountains of .Antrim, as well as all of the Celts of Ireland at that time, was deep 
sunken in idolatry. 

While this shepherd wandered under the blue sky and bright sunlight in fair 
Erin, he pondered deeply upon its lack of civilization and religion, and when he 
escaped after a captivity of seven or eight years and returned to his own land, he 
still carried in his thoughts the idea that had grown up within his mind, that he was 
destined to Christianize Ireland. He wandered to Gaul and thence to Rome, but 
finding no peace but in fulfilling his mission, gathered a few followers and crossed 
into Ireland. From the very first, the hearts of the Irish people were softened 
toward the missionary, who was none other than Saint Patrick, of whom I have 
already told you something, and he converted thousands to the faith. You have no 
doubt heard the beautiful legend of the shamrock, or clover, which is now the emblem 
of Ireland. It is said that Saint Patrick had difficulty in making the heathen Irish com- 
prehend how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost were one, until 
stooping he plucked a shamrock from the grass at his feet, and showed to tht-m the 
three perfect rounded beautiful parts that make the one leaf of the plant. You may 
have also heard that -Saint Patrick drove the snakes and toads from Ireland, but that 
legend has only one truth in it, that there are neither snakes nor toads 
in Ireland except those that have been imported in the last century from other 
countries. The fact is, that there were none before the days of Saint Patrick, and 
those who have studied the subject are inclined to think that since before the days 
when the great ice-fields covered the island, there have been no toads or frogs and 
probably no snakes, in the country. 

The written history of Ireland begins with the mission of Saint Patrick, though 
there was a written history of the Celts of that country long before. This Celtic 
history was carefully kept by the Druids, and was chipped in blocks of wood and 
stone in strange notches and characters that the early missionaries did not know how 
to read. They considered these cumbersome records of the Druids, not only mys- 



542 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 




The Stocks 



terious, but exceedin<;ly evil, and destroyed all 
of them that they could find. In doing this, 
Saint Patrick and his followers were the means 
of losing to the world much that would now be 
considered of the deepest interest and value, for 
instead of the traditions and legends that have 
come down to us from father to son, we would 
have accurate history, not only of the nation 
but of its religion and its practices. Perhaps 
Saint Patrick feared that there might be found 
those who would believe the doctrine of the 
Pagans, and thought it safest to destroy their 
writings, but not only he, but other early Chris- 
tian missionaries were exceedingly zealous in removing from all the countries of 
Europe which they Christianized, every trace of the old religion that it was possible 
to blot out. Saint Patrick found the island Druid, and left it Catholic. He estab- 
lished churches and monasteries throughout the length and breadth of the land, 
and in a remarkably short time, there grew up in the homes of religion in Ireland, 
a class of men who were not only eloquent preachers and teachers, but who in their 
monasteries composed music, practiced the working of metals, and became skilled 
architects. These monks traveled over the then civilized world, and iml)ibing a love 
for Greek and Latin literature, read and wrote much in those languages. While 
(iaul and Germany were torn by ceaseless wars, and learning made no headway, 
in Ireland the learned and pious monks kept the lamps of literature, poetry and 
religion burning with the tiame supplied by their genius and zeal. 

The fierce Danes disturbed these pious monks, and drove them forth from the 
monasteries and retreats, which they destroyed. They went abroad to Gaul, Scotland. 
Scandinavia, and other countries, and at least two hundred and forty of the Saints 
worshipped at the different shrines of Europe, are of Irish origin. The fierce sea- 
kings held Ireland in subjection for nearly a hundred years, but in q68, Brian, the 
brother of the king of Munster, united the Irish chiefs against the Danish invaders, 
and drove them out of the body of the kingdom, though a few still held the towns on 
the sea coast, and warred with the tribes. In the course of time the Danes and the 
Irish became reconciled, and those who remained on Irish soil, united with the 
natives, and became Irishized. Forty-six years after Brian had driven the Danes 
from the kingdom, and when he had been for twelve years king of Ireland, the 
Danes came again, and with them a large force of Norwegians. Brian defeated 
them in a great battle in 1014, though he himself was slain in the light. The Danes 
made no more attempts to conquer Ireland, and those who did not leave the country 
after the defeat, lived in peace with their Celtic neighbors. 

There were four great tribes that were all powerful in Ireland in the days after 
the defeat of the Danes. These tribes long remained masters of the different por- 
tions of the country, in which from time immemorial they had made their homes. 
Among them were the O'Neills of Ulster, the O'Connors of Connaught, O'Briens 
and McCarthys of Munster, and the MacMurroughs of Leinster. In the twelfth 
century the Irish church became a part the Roman Catholic system, and Nicholas 
Breakspeare, the only Englishman who ever became a Pope, and who is known in 
history as Adrian I\'.. granted Ireland to Menry Plantagenet. Henry II. cared little 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 543 

for Ireland, for greedy as he was for territory, it was the fair lands of the French 
king upon which he cast longing eyes. Dermot MacMurrough, king of Leinster, a 
fierce, savage Irishman, who cared little for the rights of neighboring chieftains, 
carried off the wife of a chieftain named O'Rorke, and refused to give her back. 
Dermot was sixty years old, and had not youth or a romantic temper to plead as an 
excuse, and the king of Ireland, Rory O'Connor, joined with O'Rorke,, to win back 
by force of arms, the fair Helen of the Irish story. MacMurrough was driven from 
Leinster, and crossing over to France, where fienry was then holding his court, did 
homage to him for his kingdom, and offered to will Leinster to any Norman knight 
who w.ould help him regain it. Richard De Clare, the Earl of Pembroke, known as 
Strongbow, accepted his offer. He crossed the channel with Dermot and an army of 
stout Norman nien-at-arms, and attacked the enemies of the brutal king of Leinster. 
The half-savage, poorly-armed Irish, were no match for the steel-clad Normans, and 
they were beaten. The Normans overran the country, and for awhile carried every- 
thing before them. Soon the bold Irish lost their fear of the steel armor and heavy 
battle-axes of the Normans, and rising in rebellion, aided by the Danes, harassed 
the Normans fearfully. Dermot died a year after Strongbow conquered his king- 
dom, and Strongbow who had married Eva, Dermot's daughter, succeeded to his 
kingdom accordingto the contract. Henry Plantagenet, thereupon crossed over to Ire- 
land with an army, and made Strongbow yield up Leinster. IVIany of the Irish chiefs 
made their subjection to the English king, but Rory O'Connor, the hereditary king 
of the country, refused to do so. 

When Henry went back to England the struggle between Irish and Normans was 
renewed. For many years they were constantly at war. The Normans would issue 
from their strong castles and walled towns, plunder the fields of the Irish and slay 
all who opposed them as regularly as the harvest season came around, and the Irish 
would waylay the Normans when and where they could, and slaughter them without 
mercy. In course of time, both found that it was better for them to remain at peace. 
The Norman nobles gradually adopted the dress and manners of the Irish, married 
into Irish families, and even changed their Norman names and speech for those of 
the Celt. The Norman kings of England did not look on this mixture of the races 
with approval, but they could not prevent it. After awhile the chiefs of the ancient 
Irish tribes began to regain power. When Bruce defeated Edward's army at Ban- 
nockburn, and the Scots threw off the English yoke, the Irish chiefs invited Edward 
Bruce to come over and help them gain their independence from England. He came, 
was crowned the king of the country in 1313, and the Irish rose in rebellion. Sir 
John De Birmingham led a large force of English troops into Ireland, Bruce was 
defeated and killed, and a number of English chiefs settled on the lands that they 
took from the leaders of the rebellion. 

After this attempt, the Irish chiefs harassed those who adhered to England's 
policy, and attempted to keep up English customs in Ireland, until they were glad for 
the sake of peace, to renounce both. In 1356 the English Parliament passed a law 
that no person born in Ireland should hold the king's castles or towns. A little later 
the Parliament of Kilkenny, made up of Normans, passed laws, making death by 
torture the punishment for any Norman who should marry an Irish woman, and even 
prohibited the Norman and Irish children from playing together. 

The law-makers, instead of softening the mutual hatred of Normans and Irish, 
thus sought to keep them alive. Their absurd laws could not be enforced, and only 



^44 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 

embittered the people against those who made them. Richard IL determined that 
he would thoroughly subdue the Irish, and had crossed into Ireland with an army, 
when the news ot the landing of Bolingbroke took him back to England to unsuc- 
cessfully do battle for his crown and kingdom. During the War of the Roses the 
Butlers of Munster, and the Ormonds of Tipperary, wore the red rose, and the Ger- 
aldines of Maynooth, wore the white. There were many bloody frays on account of 
the quarrels of York and Lancaster, on the soil of Ireland, and many poetical tales 
are told of the heroism of those who fought on either side. In after-days the Irish 
espoused the cause of Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be that Duke of York long 
thought to have been murdered by Richard III. This roused the wrath of Henry 
\'II., and he prepared to crush Ireland by destroying the power of its Parliament, for 
he saw that in the hands of the Irish chieftains it might become a power dangerous 
to the English claim over the Island. 

An army was, therefore, sent into Ireland under a leader named Poynings. Me 
summoned a Parliament and made it declare by a solemn act that henceforth all 
English laws should operate in Ireland, and that no act of the Irish Parliament could 
become a law, without the consent of England. 

1 lenry MIL was as cruel in Ireland as he was in England. I le took church pro- 
perty, burned images and shrines, and fearing that the Irish chieftains, justly indig- 
nant at the desecration of the things they held most dear might arise in rebellion, he 
prevented the possibility, in a manner imitated afterward by several of the English 
sovereigns. He captured them, threw them into prison or put them to death, laid 
waste their lands, and after shooting down men, women and children, that formed 
their tribes, distributed their effects, their homes and lands, among English settlers. 

The most dreadful deeds were done in unhappy Ireland in those sad days. The 
poor wretches who had the misfortune to belong to the tribes against whose chief the 
English king's wrath was directed, were hunted like wild beasts, and ruthlessly mur- 
dered wherever found. It is no wonder under such inhuman outrages that the Irish 
hatred to English rule, grew into a deep national passion, that has never been over- 
come, and it is safe to say that it never will be. 

When Henry died and his son Edward was seated on the throne, Protestantism 
was made the national religion of Ireland, but when young Edward ilied, after a brief 
reign, and Bloody Mary became queen, the Catholic faith was restored. Although 
the queen refrained from persecuting the Irish, on account of their faith, having no 
excuse for so doing, she was not more generous toward theni in other respects than 
her father had been. She took a whole county of Ireland for herself, and after 
driving off the people who were obliged to take refuge in the woods and mountains, 
and live if they could upon what they could find there or starve to death when they 
could do no better, peopled her new lands with English. One half of the great 
tract of land of which she robbed the Irish chieftains and their clans she named 
King's Count}', in honor of Philip of .Spain, and the other half was called Queen's 
County, in memory of herself, names which they bear to this day. In 
Ireland the honor of being the chief of a tribe and inheriting his property was 
not hereditory, but each tribe when its chieftain died, elected a new chief from their 
clan, usually one of the sons of the old chief. As among some other rude nations, 
the land did not belong to the persons of a tribe, but to the whole tribe. 

Henry VIII. had given the chieftainship of the tribe of the O'Neills, who were 
the descendants of a famous old Irish king, to one of the sons of Con O'Neill, who 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 545 

was not the lawful son of his father, and who. by the ancient Irish law, as well as by 
the modern English law, had no shadow of right to the chieftainship. Con O'Neill 
had a younger son who was in high favor with his tribe. His name was Shane, or 
John, and he was brave, patriotic, and a man of great personal beauty. The O'Neills 
hated the chieftain appointed by Henry VIII. as much because the English king had 
chosen him to rule over them, as for any other reason, and they loved Shane with 
peculiar warmth. When Elizabeth became Queen of England, and the chief ap- 
pointed over the O'Neills by her father, had been killed in a quarrel, Shane rallied 
his followers and declared that his half brother, whom it is suspected he himself had 
killed, had never any right to the honor of being the chief. The young heir of the 
murdered chief who was safe in England, appealed to the English Governor of Ire- 
land for aid to hold the chieftainship. The Earl of Sussex was the rightful Governor 
of Ireland, but he was absent at the time, and the matter was brought before Sir 
Henry Sidney, who marched against Shane, but was met by the young chieftain and 
persuaded to submit the dispute to Queen Elizabeth. Presently Lord Sussex came 
back to Ireland, and with an English armj' at his back endeavored to conquer Shane, 
but he failed. Shane beat the English, at every point, and finally bound Sussex to 
maintain peace until he himself could go to London and present his case to Eliza- 
beth. He went, and Elizabeth was so deeply smitten with the handsome Irishman, 
that she maintained him at court for some time, and sent him back in a high good 
humor to Ireland. For two years Shane was at peace with the English, but in that 
time he committed some extensive outrages on the Scots in the north of Ireland, 
who had been his friends and allies in his first difficulty. He kept the North in good 
order, however, and the English did not interfere with him. In 1565 he made a great 
raid upon the South country, which so angered Sir Henry Sidney, then the deputy, 
or Governor of Ireland, that he sent an army against him, which after some defeats 
was victorious, and Shane was compelled to flee for his life. Trusting that the Scots 
whom he had injured would forgive and shelter him, he fled to them, but a few hours 
after his arrival became enraged at a taunt flung out by one of them, and engaged in 
a brawl which ended in his death. His head was hewn off and sent to Sir Henry 
Sidney, who after the barbarous manner of that day, exposed it all bloody and 
ghastly upon Dublin Castle. 

Shane's onslaught upon the .South was the beginning of a long struggle between 
the English and Irish chieftains. 

The persecution of the Protestants in France, Germany and Spain, and the con- 
tinual plotting of the Catholics to restore that religion and renew the persecutions of 
the days of Bloody Mary, made Queen Elizabeth wary and cautious, guarding at 
every point and by every possible means, against the overthrow of her power, and 
the Protestant supremacy in Great Britain. The Geraldines headed another revolu- 
tion, but Elizabeth was merciless in her dealings with them. After a long struggle, 
the Irish chieftains were apparently subdued. It was then that the representative of 
the queen invited four hundred of them to a banquet, and murdered them all except 
one, who escaped to tell the bloody tale. Rory O'Moore, the hero of Irish ballad, 
devoted his life to avenging this horrid deed. He, himself, had been invited to the 
fatal feast, and many of his friends and kindred had fallen by the treachery of the 
queen's agent. 

O'Moore headed an uprising against the English in which many of the Irish 
chieftains, successors to those who had been murdered, willingly joined. Ormond 



546 



SCOTLAXU AND IRELAND. 







sir WalliT Ualelsh. 



of Butler, his bitter hereditary enemy, aided 
Sir William Pellham to put down the re- 
bellion. 1 shrink from telling you of the 
awful deeds done on both sides, during this 
revolt. Sir Walter Raleigh, who was sent 
against the Irish, I grieve to say, acted as 
savagely as the others concerned in the 
dark horrors of that time. On one occasion 
—the surrender of Smerwick— he murdered 
all his prisoners in cold blood. The English 
laid the whole county of Munster waste. 
There was not left a tilled field nor an 
inhabited cottage, except in the towns, the 
length and breadth of the district, and a 
dreadful famine followed in which the peo- 
ple starved to death by the hundreds. 
The lands taken from the people of Mun- 
ster were given to English settlers, but as 
they had a harder time among the resentful 
people who had been robbed for their ad- 
vantage than the early settlers of America 
had among the Indians, they found little 
.„. ................. inducement to remain in Ireland. 

Red I high O'Donnell, son of a brave Irish chieftain of that brave C\an, was im- 
prisoned by the English, through no fault of his own, but because they thought it 
likely that his father might take a notion to rebel, and therefore held the son as the 
pledge for the behavior of the elder ODonnell. Red Hugh was confined in Dublm 
castle, and in some way escaped and found his way in safety back to his tribe. His 
father resigned the chieftainship to him and filled with bitter hatred to the English, 
he became°their most dangerous enemy among the Irish. Hugli O'Neill, a relative 
of Red Hu>rh, was one of the cleverest and most talented men of his time. He had 
found much favor at the court of Elizabeth, and she trusted him. He had been edu- 
cated in Encrland and was a Protestant in religion. Nevertheless, when he returned 
to Ireland, and learned of the outrage that Red Hugh had suffered, he headed a re- 
bellion in which all the bravest Irish chiefs joined. Without excusmg the atrocities 
committed by the Irish chiefs, we can sympathize in their struggle for freedom. Eng- 
land seemed to them to have no right in law or nature to Ireland, and the English rule 
had been one long story of blunders and crimes. The English made no attempt to 
pacify the Irish, or adapt themselves to their prejudices. They had made their yoke 
unnecessarily heavy, and had not even pretended to be just to the unfortunate nation, 
that needed but wise guidance, to make it great, rich and happy. 

O'Neill's rebellion suffered the fate of the others and was made the occasion of 
new desolation, new grants of Irish lands to Englishmen, and another horrible famine 
occurred in Ireland because the crops w^ere repeatedly burned by the English. In 
1641 the most dreadful of all the revolts in Ireland happened. Hatred to England 
and the Protestant religion, that had been forced upon the Irish, the cruel murders 
of thousands of innocent people, the oppression and wrongs of centuries, and the 
secret influence of Charles I. all operated to rouse the Irish to take revenge. We 



SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 



547 




Daniel O'Connell. 



know that the Irish were originally a high-spirited, 
impulsive, brave race, but long centuries of worse 
than slavery, had brutalized them, and their wrongs 
and miseries goaded them to desperation. They rose 
up and slew nearly one hundred thousand Protest- 
ants and English. Cromwell took a dreadful revenge, 
when with his Ironsides he captured Drogheda and 
Wexford. He put every inhabitant of both cities 
to death, and settled English farmers on the confisca- 
ted lands of the Irish. The people were compelled 
either to pay rent for the lands that had been theirs 
for ages, starve or emigrate. 

The Irish Parliament still existed, but as it had 
usually been the tool of English oppression, the peo- 
ple had little faith in it, and though Swift, Grattan, 
Flood, and other gifted patriots and orators lent 
all their powers to the task, they could not 
accomplish much in the way of liberty. During the Revolutionary War in America, 
a large force of volunteer troops was raised in Ireland, to protect the country from 
the assaults of the valiant Paul Jones. These men were led by Flood and Grattan, 
and when the war was finished, with these soldiers at their command to support their 
cause, they demanded liberty for the Irish Parliament from the King of England. 
He was obliged to grant their demands, and for several years, Ireland had a free 
Parliament. In the year 1800 the Irish Parliament was joined to that of England, 
bought, it is said, from the members who were willing to sacrifice their country for 
British gold. Since that time Ireland has been wholly under English rule. There 
have been revolts, wrongs and oppression since the union as before, but in the last 
fifty years there has been more of a spirit of tolerance shown on both sides. Emmett, 
O'Connell, O'Brien and Parnell have been the heroes of the Irish struggle since iSoo, 
and the result of their labors and sufferings is still to be reaped by Ireland. 

The famine of 1845 tlrew the attention of the world to the unhappy condition of 
Ireland's peasantry. Sunken in ignorance and poverty, taxed unjustly, dwelling by 
sufferance on the land that is their own by right, they have the sympathy of all 
liberty-loving people. The contest for Home Rule, which has been the feature of 
the Irish struggle in our day, and has shared with the Land Question the attention of 
the Irish Party, seems likely to have an early solution. The industries of the country, 
ruined by the long wars, have in a measure revived, and Ireland may yet be the home 
of a free, independent and happy nation. 




^ 




I 




,"'' 



■i '!&-::-- '!• ^' TELLING you the story of France, England, Scot- 
land and Germany, I have from time to time mentioned 
*^ the Danes and Northmen, the people who formerly inhab- 
ited what is now known as Scandinavia. We usually include Denmark, Norway, 
Sweden and the Peninsula of Jutland, in Scandinavia, and though these countries 
occupy but little space upon the map of Europe, the Northmen influenced the world's 
history as strongly as did the Greeks anil Rt)mans, though in a very different 
manner. 

When the people of Central Asia, long ago when the world was jounger by 
many centuries than it was when written history first made its appearance, set out 
upon their wanderings in search of new homes, the}' traveled for some time in a large 
body, but when this horde came to the Caspian Sea they probably halted and a 
discussion may have occurred concerning the route. At all events it is certain that 
it here split up into two streams, one going northward and the other southward, and 
that the Carjjathian, Alps and Caucasus mountains further divided these two streams 
of humanity. One of these divisions, the Germanic-Gothic, settled along the shores 
of the Baltic and Black Seas, but they were not the first inhabitants of the country, 
and were obliged to conquer the people they found there, as they had, in their turn, 
long before conquered the first inhabitants. The Celts were the dwellers upon the 
shores of the German Ocean, in the Peninsula of Northern Europe, in the days when 
the Phcenicians went roaming about the ocean, touching upon strange coasts and 
trading with savage people. The Celts had also come from beyond the Black Sea, 
but when, I can not tell you. Like the Celts of Ireland, they wt'lcomcd the Phoeni- 
cian traders, and learned from them their worship and some rude idea of the use of 
metals. They worshipped light, heat, sun and fire, but how, or with what ceremonies, 
history does not tell us. These Celtic tribes were pushed farther and farther North- 
ward until only Lapland and Finland, the coldest inhabited parts of Northern 
Europe, were left to them, and there their descendants live to this day. 

These pe(ii)le must have all left Asia about equal in ci\ilization, but the countrj' 
in which they settled had its influence upon them. In the South the people had less 



SCANDINAVIA. 549 

to do in order to make a living. The climate was mild, and their need of shelter 
and clothing was not so great as it was in the North, and could the more easily be 
provided. Therefore, in the .South art, music, literature and poetry had their home, 
and civilization grew and flourished. In the North the people had to struggle against 
the elements. They were obliged to face the fierce storms, the cold and the mist, 
and they became rude and savage, wild and rugged like the mountains about them, 
and with passions as uncontrolable as the icy winds that swept across the gorges. 
They had poetry, it is true, but the very poetry was fierce and savage, unlike the 
beautiful fancies of the land.s of the South, where the soft air and the blue sky made 
the imagination refined and graceful. 

When the Goths entered Scandinavia they brought with them a written language. 
Their alphabet had sixteen letters called Runes, antl these Runes could at that time 
be easily read by all the nations of Northern Europe, who, you will remember, were 
from the same stock, but there are few persons now living who can read the queer 
old Gothic characters, and the Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and Icelanders, who at 
first spoke exactly the same language, have had their speech so changed by the 
nations with whom they have come in contact, that they can not understand one 
another much better than they can understand the speech of the English and French 
people, who in their turn owe a great deal to the old Gothic languages. 

As the sea surrounding the Greeks in the south of Europe in a great measure 
influenced their character and pursuits, so it had a share in shaping the minds and 
habits of the Northmen, who loved the sea with its raging waves and wild tempests, 
and dared its dangers with undaunted hearts. The Northmen were rovers by nature. 
They scorned working like the more civilized races to the south, and when the warm 
weather came and the impulse to wander became strong within them, they would leave 
their homes, and pushing out to sea in their rude but strong and light vessels, would 
swoop down upon some more civilized community, rob them of the fruit of their toil 
and either return with it to their own land, or hide themselves securely in some camp 
defended by the sturdy arms of their warriors. 

They were pirates, too, on the seas, as they were robbers on the land. They 
would lie snugly in some secluded bay, or Vik, as it was called in their own language, 
and wait for some unwary vessel to appear, when they would dart forth, seize the 
craft, plunder it of everything of value, kill the members of the crew, or make them 
captive, and then retreat to watch the seas as before. From this habit they received 
the name of Vikings, a name which they bear to this day. From early spring until 
late autumn they thus roamed, plundering whoever fell in their way, but when the 
frost began to close their harbors they would bring their vessels home, and during 
the long, cold winter of the Northland, they would feast in their dwellings, run, fling 
clubs and javelins, wrestle, sing songs, tell stories and sacrifice to their gods. They 
were very particular to give to Odin and Thor their just share of the plunder, fearing 
that otherwise their gods would desert them and their next season be unprofitable. 

The Northmen had no charts, nor compasses to guide them on the seas, but they 
cared little where the winds and waters bore them, if they only found there plenty 
of plunder, and they could read the direction by the stars or when the weather was 
stormy and they wanted to reach the land, they had only to loose the tame ravens 
they carried on board for the purpose, and follow their flight, being sure that they 
would conduct them to the nearest shore. 

I have told you that the language of the Northmen was written in Runes and 



550 SCANDINAVIA. 

that there was a time when it was understood in most of the countries of Northern 
Europe, but you must not suppose that this writing was known to the common 
people as is our own. The priests and great chieftains alone learned the meaning 
of the Runes and how to write them. They engraved them on their sword 
handles, on the rutlders of their vessels, and upon stones set above the graves 
of their dead, for they supposed the letters to hold a charm or magic which would 
depart from them were they to become generally known. You will remember that 
among the Celts this reverence for written language was nearly as deep, and indeed, 
written language is the most wonderful of the inventions of man, though, of course, 
the rude Northmen did not revere it on that account, but because they knew so little 
of writing Notwithstanding that there were no books, and that only a few persons 
could read the Runes, the Northmen, like most people, who are fond of war and 
adventure, loved song and story, and had a wonderful fund of traditions and legentls 
that were full of wild poetry and beauty, abounding in tales of the deeds of gods and 
heroes, and the adventures of mighty champions. 

In the story of France I have told you something of the religion of the Northmen, 
and how they worshipped Odin and Thor. Their religion was really founded on a 
historic poem, told by the Scalds, as the bards of the Northmen were called. The 
Odin, whom they in the course of time came to regard as the creator, — and whom 
they supposed rewarded the good by taking them to dwell in Gimli the golden, and 
the evil by flinging them down into a place, made of serpent's bones among the wicked 
and lost — was a real person, a mighty king who was born and lived in the mystic North- 
land nearly a hundred years before our Saviour was born^and ruled over the North- 
men. When he died his kingdom was divided among his sons, and they, too, came 
to be regarded as gods. From the days of the PlKi-nicians the nations of the South 
of Europe were in the habit of sending merchant ships to the shores of the Baltic 
and Black seas to trade with the men of the north for tish, fur and amber. There mer- 
chants also carried back lumber for which they had bartered arms, armor and other 
things with the Northmen. I-"ish, fur and amber were hard to procure, and the Northmen 
were eager to gain the things they coveted without working for them. They learned 
from the cargoes of the merchant ships what the lands of the south offered in the 
way of plunder, and as their necessities increased, they were driven to the trade of 
robbery, for which they were well inclined by the knowledge that is was impossible 
to produce in their own country what they wanted. Again they were fond of fighting 
and experience had taughtthem that though they might gain fame among themselves 
by lighting with hostile tribes of their own countrymen, there was little plunder to 
be expected, while the nations to the South were their natural prey. Indeed as I have 
said they had conquered the Finns, but had received in return for the conquest only 
the country that had once been their home. I must tell you while I am upon the 
subject that the Laplanders and Finns were of a widely different branch of the 
human family from these Norsemen, and were more like those tribes of early Ireland 
that were conquered by the Celts of Spain, than any other people that are known to 
history. They were of the Tuaranian branch or Ugrians as they are sometimes called. 
They were then hideous of face and form as they are still, and the word Ogre, which 
you have no doubt heard used to designate a monster, comes from the ancient name 
of the Finnish people. The Laplanders were even lower than the Finns as savages 
and they were already conquered by their less savage neighbors when the Northmen 
came into the country. The first people then to feel the weight of the arms of the 



SCANDINAVIA. 



5SI 




'^t^i 



Northmen were the Finns 
but they were jmallgame 
when compaied to that 
which the sturdy Vikings 
.afterward pursued. 

It was not likely that a 
race, whose only fear was 
that they Avould not die 
in battle and thus be 
granted a home in Val- 
halla, that would be de- 
nied them if they died a 
natural death, would hes- 
itate at anything in the 
way of attempted con- 
quest, and we hnd them 
in the very earliest days vikiusship. 

sailing to the coast of France and Germany, attacking strong castles and fortified 
cities and terrorizing the whole of Western Europe as their Germanic ancestors in 
olden times terrorized the civilized nations of Southern Europe and Western Asia. 

The history of Denmark, Norway and Sweden up to about 843 A. D., is so mixed 
with fable that it would take a more clever person than I claim to be to unravel the 
truth from falsehood, therefore I will ask you to read again what I have told you in 
the story of France about their religion and exploits, to recall what has been said of 
their connection with England, Scotland and Ireland, and you may have a fairly clear 
idea of the habits and customs of the Scandinavian nations, up to the time when 
their authentic history begins. 

Regner Lodbrok, who commanded some of their expeditions against the British 
Isles, was one of the early heroes of the Northland. It is said that he received his 
name Lodbrok, "leather breeches," from the fact that once when he was courting a 
Gothic princess for his bride, he donned leather leggings in order to outwit a huge 
serpent that guarded the bower where the fair one dwelt. He won her, because the 
serpent's teeth, which had proven fatal to all the other suitors tor the princess, could 
not pierce his leather leggings. This Regner Lodbrok was one of the fiercest of the 
old Vikings. He led many expeditions into Britain, but at last fell into the hands of 
Aella, King of Northumberland, who threw him into a nest of venomous serpents. 
The davmtless Northman made no complaint, and simply declared that "The young 
pigs at home will grunt aloud when they hear what has befallen the old boar, their 
father." The Sagas say that the sons of Lodbrok not only grunted aloud, but they 
swore by all the gods of Valhalla they would take a dreadful revenge on Aella. It 
was years before they were able to fulfill their vow, but they did not forget it. They 
gathered a fleet of Vikings, landed on the shores of Northumberland, plundered the 
whole country, took the king captive, and amused themselves by cutting his back 
open and tearing out his heart while he was still alive; then after he was dead they 
carved the figure of a raven upon his corpse and took possession of his kingdom. 

After the reign of the sons of Regner Lodbrok, Scandinavia was split up into 
many little kingdoms, each ruled over by its own king and chieftains, and many of 
them engaged in constant war. Every year bands of plundering Danes invaded 



SCANDINAVIA. ' 555 

England, carrying death and destruction before them, but finally the great and good 
Alfred came to the throne, and not only beat them out of the island but kept them 
out. It was then that they became such a terror to F"rance, which was ruled over 
by the degenerate successors of Charlemagne. 

Between the year S60 and 936, a king or chieftain Ijy the name of Gorm suc- 
ceeded, by conquest and purchase, in uniting all that part of Scandina\ia, afterward 
known as Denmark, under his rule. This Gorm was a chieftain who commanded the 
respect of the Vikings for his deeds of bloodshed and robbery. He had been brought 
up to the life of a Viking rover, though not at first a man of any prominence among 
his people, raised himself to the station of king by his bravery and his talents. 
When he was quite a young man, he went with a band of rovers into Russia and 
traveled as far as Kief, probably learning then facts about the country that afterward 
led to its conquest by Rurik. He next entered the German Empire, which was then 
under the rule of the emperor, Charles the Fat, and marking his way with the fiame 
of burning churches, convents and towns, crossed the country to Aix la Chapelle. 
There he and his band sacked the church where the body of Charlemagne was 
buried, and even stripped the ornaments from the tomb of the great emperor. 
Charles the Fat raised an army to beat off the Danes, but Gorm succeeded in per- 
suading him to pay them 2,000 pounds of silver to leave the country, promising no 
longer to persecute Christians and to be baptized. When he had the money safely 
on board his vessel, he and his men refused to leave the coast of the Frankish 
emperor's dominions and hovered about harassing the cities, burning and destroying 
until they wrung treasures enough to fill two hunilrecl ships from the cowardly 
emperor, then they departed to their own country, and he congratulated hin:self that 
at last he had bought them off. When tlic Danes showed their riches to their 
countrymen, they were all eager to go out and plunder the Franks. The emperor 
was so anxious to win their friendship that he made laws condemning to death any of 
his subjects that should kill a Dane, and when the Northmen heartl this you may be 
sure they were not slow to take advantage of it. Gorm was the leader of that great 
band of Northmen that settled down before Paris, and with another chief named 
Siegfried, besieged that city for fifteen months, the siege being raised in SS5, when 
Count Eudes placed himself at the head of affairs and beat them off. Arnulf of 
Carinthia, in Germany, was next attacked by the Danes, but he, too, defeated them, 
and they returned to their own country. 

Gorm's wife, Thyra, conducted his home affairs when he was absent on his plun- 
dering expedition, and she ruled wisely and well. A good Frankish monl: named 
Angasarius had preached the Christian faith in Denmark long before, and had made 
some converts. Queen Thyra treated these Christians kindly, and even had some of 
her children signed with the cross as a token of baptism, though she, herself, like her 
husband, was a Pagan. When Gorm was at home, however, his Christian subjects 
were made to suffer most cruelly. Henry the Fowler, the gallant .Saxon, Emperor of 
Germany, who came to the throne of that empire in the old age of Gorm of Den- 
mark, was much enraged because the Pagan monarch treated the Christians in his 
dominions so harshly. P'inally he sent a message to Gorm telling him in plain words 
that if he did not stop his persecutions of Danish Christians the Germans would 
invade his dominions in such numbers that he could not stand against them and 
would wrest his kingdom from him. Gorm evidently thought it prudent to allay the 



554 SCANDINAVIA. 

anger of the Germans, for he allowed the Christians peace afterwards, though he 
himself remained Pagan to the last. 

When Gorm died in the year 936 he left his son, Harold Bluetooth, as his heir. 
His eldest son, Knud, or Canute, had died some time before, and Harold Grayskin, 
his nephew, desired to share the kingdom with his uncle. 

At this time Norway was divided into thirty-one little kingdoms, each ruled over 
by a chief, earl, or jarl, as they called them in that country. One of these chieftains, 
a Viking with such long, beautiful bright hair, that he was called Harold Fairhair and 
Gold Harold, fell in love with a fair princess who was as ambitious as she was 
beautiful. Instead of carrying off the maiden of his love by force as the gallant 
Vikings had more than once done, Harold Fairhair sent a messenger to her telling 
her how dearly he loved her, and asking her to be his bride. The princess was flattered 
by the offer, but she knew her power over her fierce lover, and replied that she "Would 
not wed Harold Fairhair as long as he was no more powerful in Norway than the 
other one and thirty jarls, and if he desired to have her for his wife he must make 
himself really King of Norwa3^ and not share his authority with one and thirty 
more." The words of the princess were repeated to Harold, and he immediately set 
to work to reduce the petty jarls to subjection. He soon brought all of Norway 
under his yoke. The fair princess married him, and no doubt lived happily ever 
after, for Harold was a noble and thoughtful king, valiant, wise and much less of a 
savage than were the people that he ruled. He had a mind that could pierce through 
the mists of superstition that shrouded his nation, and see the truth that was hidden 
to them. He had never heard the story of the Divine Babe of Bethlehem, His 
beneficent life and blameless death for the sins of the world; neither had he been 
told of the True God, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, but he knew that the 
absurd fables of Odin, Thor and the other Gods of the Northmen were but inventions, 
and he told both priests and people that they were false. He assembled them on 
one occasion and solemnly declared that he would never worship the gods to whom 
his people offered sacrifices of horses, sheep, cattle and even human victims. He said 
that he felt in his heart that such offerings were vain, and that there was one Great 
God, the Maker of all things, and him only would he worship and serve. This was 
in the year 932, long after he had brought Norway under his rule and had endeared 
himself to the people by his wise and good reign. 

There lies in the ocean to the northwest of Ireland an island, whose greatest 
breadth is three hundred miles, and whose length is about two hundred miles. Its 
coasts is deeply gnawed by the icy ocean about it, for it is nearly upon the Arctic Circle. 
It is the home of Fire and Frost, a strange, wild land, whose skies are pierced by lofty 
volcanoes, and snow-capped mountains, and in midsummer for seven days the sun 
hangs above the horizon, without once setting, and in midwinter for seven days does 
not once show its face. This is Iceland, a part of Scandinavia, and to the dwellers 
in the Western World the most important part. It was from Iceland, without doubt, 
that Columbus obtained information that led to the discovery of America, for he 
visited that country in 1477. The interior of the island is filled with desolate rugged 
tracts of naked lava, thrown from the volcanoes in the unrest of long ages, antl in 
many places vast ice fields connect the tops of mountains, forming glaciers that e.xtend 
to the very edge of the ocean, making it impossible to go by land from one part of 
the island to the other. There are certain level and shelterd districts along the 
coasts in which grass, and the various food-plants of the north can be grown, and the 



SCANDINAVIA. 



555 




Bridal Costume of Norwegiau Peasantg 

The Norsemen 



island has fine fisheries of salmon, herring cod, and other fish. 
The mountains abound with iron and sulphur. You have doubt- 
less read of the famous Geysers or hot springs of this island of 
volcanoes and that the inhabitants use the water for washing 
clothes and for bathing. 

The Norwegians knew of this island, long before the time of 
Harold Fairhair, for in their voyages they had sailed over nearly jj 
every part of the six hundred miles of ocean intervening between 
Iceland and Norway. When Harold Fairhair conquered the 
jarls and gave them to understand that henceforth he would rule 
all Norway as king, many of them took their families, friends and 
even their whole tribes, and sailed away to Iceland to find free- 
dom in its sheltered valleys. Fifty thousand people were soonj 
settled there, and as they had brought with them sheep, cattle and 
horses, and seeds of the vegetables that they used for food, they 
formed successful colonies, that soon had a trade with the mother 
country in oil, butter, skins, fish and minerals. Iceland had been 
colonized long before the Norsemen settled there, by some pious 
and learned Irish monks, who wished a retreat from the world 
found them there, and it may have been from them that they learned to write their 
own language in Latin text. They did not learn their faith of the monks, however, 
for Iceland remained heathen until the year looo, and Christianity was only intro- 
duced with much difficulty. 

The Government of Iceland was a sort of aristocratic republic, and under the 
freedom and prosperity of the country, a remarkable literature grew up, which is 
even now the admiration of the world. The records of the doings of the early 
settlers was kept carefully, and poetry of rare worth was written in Iceland before 
the North of Europe had developed anything really worthy of the name of litera- 
ture. Two years after the Norsemen settled in Iceland, one of the settlers who was 
accustomed to sail back and forth between the island and Norway, carrying cargoes 
to trade with the mother country, was driyen by foul weather far to the westward and 
sighted a strange land. His ship was frozen fast in the ice not far from its coast, and 
for several months, until warm weather came and melted the ice about his ship. 
Gunnbjorn, for that was the name of the mariner, was held a prisoner to the Frost 
King. As soon as his ship was loosened from the ice, he sailed back to Iceland, and 
gave an account of his experience, which was much talked of at the time, but soon 
became a seldom-related tradition. 

Eighteen years after Gunnbjorn's voyage, Eric the Red, a settler on O.x Island, 
near the mouth of one of the fiords of Iceland, killed a man in a brawl, and was 
outlawed. Eric at once took ship with a few bold comrades, and set out to find the 
land that he had heard of to the westward, although he had only the vague directions 
that he had gathered from the traditions of Gunnbjorn's voyage. The adventurers 
sailed with favorable winds, and after an uneventful voyage reached the shores of the 
new land. They anchored their vessel in a fiord that cut deeply into the land and 
was admirably sheltered, and in a green little valley built seventeen huts, of rough 
blocks of the sandstone that abounded in the vicinity, chinking up the crevices with a 
mortar made of clay and gravel. For three years those huts were the homes of Eric 
and his crew, and they explored the coast for a considerable distance on both sides 



556 SCANDINAVIA. 

of Cape Farwell. A thousand years ago, the climate of Greenland was much milder 
than it is now, though even then the coast of the winter-land must have been grim 
and desolate enough. Yet there were sheltered valleys whose climate was sufficiently 
affected by the warm current far awa3^ to make them for a few weeks in the brief 
Arctic summer, exceedingly verdant. This was, perhaps, the reason that Eric called 
the country Greenland, for as we know, it was even in his day more of a " white 
land" than a green land, a treeless, desolate waste, for the most part. 

In 9S6 Eric and his companions ventured back to Iceland, and persuaded a num- 
ber of their countrymen to return with tb.cm in five-and-twenty ships, to the green 
land of the west. The voyage was a cruel one, beset with dangers and disasters. 
Nearly one half the fleet was crushed under giant icebergs, which like huge demons 
of winter, wander over the northern seas, until the warm currents dissolve them. 
Five hundred of the colonists arrived safely, and formed a settlement on the south- 
western coast. In course of time this settlement grew and prospered. It kept up a 
communication with Iceland, and for four hundred years, played an humble part in 
the history of the Norsemen. 

One of Eric's colonists, Bjarni, the son of Herjulf, or Bjarni Herjulfson, as he 
was called, made a visit to his native Iceland, and upon his return was driven out o*^ 
his course by the wind and discovered a country lying to the west of Greenland. Its 
shores, as seen from his vessel, were heavily wooded, and somewhat hilly. He told 
of his discovery when he reached Greenland, but no one paid any attention to it. 
Finally Lief, the son of Eric the Red, or Lief Ericson, as he is better known, heard 
of Bjarni's discovery and pondered much upon it. Four years afterward Lief made 
a voyage to Norway, which had by this time come under the influence of the Catholic 
missionaries in the North. Me was much impressed by the Christian doctrine, and 
brought back to Greenland with him, several priests to convert his heathen country- 
men. In the year 1000, Lief Ericson selected a crew of five-and-thirty men, andset 
out to find the land that Bjarni Herjulfson had sighted. He took the course into 
v.'hich Bjarni had accidentally drifted, and it brought him to the coast of a heavily 
wooded land, probably Nova Scotia. He called the land "Mark-land," "Mark," 
being the Norse for forest, and the land was one of forests. He and his companions 
e.xplored the country near the sea, and thus were probably the first white men to set 
foot on the American continent. From Mark-lanil, Ericson and his crew coasted to 
the southward, sighting land at different times, and finally anchored at a point where 
a clear river entered the ocean. Just where this was, I can not tell you, but it may 
have been on the coast of Massachusetts or Rhode Island. 

The Norsemen went ashore and rambled about. They were charmed with the 
autumnal beauty of the forests, and noticed that a sort of wild wheat grew on the 
river banks. Among the company was a German, and as he was wandering through 
the forest, he was rejoiced to see hanging in purple clusters from wild vines that coiled 
about the branches and trunks of the trees, grapes like those of his native valleys. 
To be sure they were smaller, and many of them were very sour, but he knew that 
was on account of their uncultivated state. He told Eric of his discovery, and as 
they afterward found that grapes grew wild in great profusion in the whole district, 
they gave the name "Vinland" to the country. They were so pleased with Vinland 
that they spoke of it as "Vinland the Good," and thus it is mentioned in the chroni- 
cles of Iceland, that record the doings of Lief Ericson and his friends. 

Lief and his crew cut a ship-load of timber from the forests of Vinland, and in 



SCANDINAVIA. 557 

the year looi sailed back to Greenland, where their friends were, no doubt, overjoyed 
to see them. On the way back Lief rescued some shipwrecked sailors from death, 
and from the good fortune that had attended him, he received the name of Lief the 
Lucky. In the year 1002 Lief's brother Thorwald sailed to Vinland, found the huts 
in which the crews of his brother's ships had passed two winters and explored the 
land. He spent two years in sailing up and down the coast, and rambling about 
inland. I am sorry that Thorwald did not keep a record of his discoveries, but it is 
not likely that he could either read or write. At all events no record was made until 
long afterward and the details of the adventures of the Norsemen in the new world 
are a sealed book Thorwald was killed by the Indians, and his crew sailed back to 
Greenland in 1004. Thorstein, another son of Eric the Red, attempted a voyage to 
Vinland, taking with him his wife. He failed to discover land, and died on the return 
voyage. Soon after Thorstein's death, a rich jarl came over from Iceland and settled 
in Greenland. He saw the widow of Thorstein, wooed and won her. When they 
had been married a short time, Gudrid, the wife, persuaded her husband in 1007 to 
take a colony from Greenland and settle in the pleasant land to the south, which her 
former husband had failed to find. A hundred and sixty men and several women 
were willing to venture, and these and a cargo of cattle were taken to Vinland and a 
colony settled in the country. In the same year Gudrid's little son Snorro, was born, 
and was probably the first white child born in America. From him in after-times 
were descended many brave and learned men of Denmark and Norway. 

After three years spent happily and profitably in Vinland, the Indians who had 
traded freely with the Norsemen, and shown themselves friendly, became sullen and 
quarrelsome. An occasion for strife arose, and the Norsemen were attacked. Many 
of them were killed, and the rest were driven from the land. It is claimed that 
Gudrid some years afterward went to Rome, and related to the Pope her experience 
in the New World, and that it was on this account the Pope later encouraged Col- 
umbus to make the voyage upon which he determined after a visit to Iceland, where, 
as I have before said, he learned of the Greenland colony, and the experiences of its 
members in Vinland the Good. It would seem that Columbus must have received 
from some source definite knowledge of a land beyond the Western seas, or he would 
not have mapped out his course as he did, and held to it so persistently. The fact 
that the continent had been discovered centuries before his time by Europeans, does 
not detract from the fame of the gallant Genoese, and what he did for mankind. 

One more attempt was made to colonize Vinland by the Greenlanders, but it was 
foiled by the wickedness of a woman, who set the crew of the vessel to quarreling 
and in the fight that followed half of them were killed, among them the husband of 
the mischief-maker, and the other half put back to Greenland. While the Norse- 
men were colonizing Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland, others of the jarls, who refused 
to yield to Harold Fairhair were sailing in their staunch, well-built crafts, to other 
foreign countries. Algiers, Constantinople, and the shores of the White Sea were 
visited, and in the year 875 Rurik, a Scandinavian, of the tribe of Russ. founded the 
kingdom of Russia. 

The kingdom of Sweden was founded in the year goo by a chief named Yingling, 
of whom I can tell you little, for the real history of .Sweden did not begin until some 
years later, when Olaf the Lap-king, so called because he was crowned while still a 
babe, began his reign. Harold Fairhair was followed on the throne of Norway by 
Eric, who was so cruel that he earned the name of Blood-axe. He killed all of his 



558 SCAXniXAVIA. 

brothers but one, Hacon, a mere child, wlio was sent to the protection of Athelstane, 
the Saxon kinjr of Enghmd, who treated him with kindness, and reared him as his 
own son. This Hacon returned to Norway when he was twenty-one years old, and 
was elected kingr. Eric was compelled to fllee to the Orkney Islands, which had loui^ 
been in the possession of the Norsemen, and in after-days his sons united with the 
Danes and made fierce war on the good Hacon. Eric had been so cruel that the 
people had looked on Hacon as their deliverer, and he did not disappoint their 
expectations of a good reign. He made wise and just laws, and imitated the virtues 
of Athelstane. Harold Grayskin, one of the sons of the banished Blood-axe, came 
with a large fleet to Norway in the year 963, attacked and defeated Hacon's warriors, 
killed the king, and had himself crowned as monarch of Norway. 

The kingdom of the Danes at this time was not merely the little Denmark of 
to-day. Jutland, Schleswig, and all of Soutlicrn Sweden were included in the 
dominions of Gorm the Old, who reigned there in the days when Harold Eairhair 
and Eric were kings of Norway, and Olaf, the Lap-king, reigned in Sweden. When 
Gorm died, his son Harold Bluetooth, one of the fiercest sea-kings of his day, (and 
there were many very savage Vikings in the Northland,) was called to the throne of 
Denmark. It was he who joined with Harold Grayskin to drive out Hacon. Gray- 
skin promised to pay him well for his services, but after Hacon's death, and Gray- 
skin's victory over his enemies, he refused to pay Bluetooth tlie sum agreed upon. 
That refusal cost Grayskin his ill-gotten kingdom and his crime-stainetl life. Blue- 
tooth invited him to a conference on a certain river, and w'hen he came, caused him 
to be treacherously murdered, and gave Norway to his own nephew. Hacon Jarl, or 
Earl Hacon, of Denmark, soon afterward murdered the king's nephew, not without 
the sanction of Bluetooth, who then again divided Norway between the murderer 
and a Norwegian prince. When the Norwegian prince died, Hacon Jarl became the 
ruler of all Norway, doing homage for his dominions to Harold Bluetooth. Thus 
Norway became a province of Denmark, and so remained for long ages. 

Harold Bluetooth became a Christian, which his savage son Sweyn took so ill 
that he armed himself and a large number of heathen Danes, and waged war against 
his father until the latter fell in battle for his new creed, and Sweyn was made king. 
This Sweyn was the pirate chieftain who harassed the British Isles for so many years, 
and committed so many atrocities on the coasts of France and Germany. By these 
piratical excursions the people of Denmark had gained much gold. It is said that 
Sweyn was once taken prisoner by a chieftain named Sigvald, who wanted to make 
the country along the Baltic free from Denmark, and had taken up arms to effect his 
object. To secure his liberty, Sweyn paid to Sigvald, in pure gold, twice his own 
weight when fully armed. The women of Denmark, with whom Sweyn, in spite of 
his fierceness and savage cruelty, was a great favorite, melted down their golden rings 
and ornaments to contribute to the king's ransom. When Sweyn returned to Den- 
mark and learned of the generosity of the women, he is said to have made a law that 
henceforth forever the women of Denmark should inherit the property of their father, 
equally with their brothers. Women in most of the countries of Europe were at a 
disadvantage in respect to inheritance, for with the exception of a dower given to 
their husbands upon marriage, they had no rights in the estates of their father, which 
even in most highly civilized lands, usually descended to the male relatives of the 
family. 

Sweyn levied heavy tribute on England, during the days of Ethelred, and many 



SCANDINAVIA. 559 

of the Danes were settled in the country, which they regarded as tributary to the 
Danish crown. When Ethelred perpetrated the horrid massacre of St. Bryce's Day, 
of which I have already told you, Sweyn took a fearful vengeance, for his own sister 
fell a victim to the treachery of the king, and many of his relatives suffered a like 
fate. I have told you in the Story of England, how Sweyn died and Canute became 
king of England, and his brother inherited the Danish crown. Harold died in the 
year loiS and Canute ruled both Denmark and England thereafter as long as he lived. 
He established churches and schools everywhere throughout Denmark and Norway, 
and from his time the Christian religion may be regarded as prevailing in that por- 
tion of Scandinavia. 

Canute was as fierce in his temper as most of the Vikings, though as a Christian 
he had more sorrow for his misdeeds. While he was in England governing that 
country, he left the affairs of Denmark in the hands of a tried and trusted friend by 
the name of Ulf. This Ulf was a loyal fellow a Norwegian noble, but he allowed him- 
self to be deceived by Emma, Canute's queen, of whom you have learned something 
of in the story of England. Emma was called the Pearl of Normandy and there have 
been pretty stories written about her but this " pearl" was a false wife and a cruel 
mother. You will remember how she brought aljout the death of her own son un- 
happy Prince Alfred, whose father Ethelred the Unready, had been driven from Eng- 
land by the Danes. She became the wife of Canute afterwards and one of her sons, 
Hardicanute was her favorite. She was much older than her husband, but she did 
not have the influence with him that she wanted and she pleaded in vain with him 
to make Hardicanute the king of Denmark. When she found that she could not 
persuade her husband to give Denmark to Hardicanute, she sent messengers to Ulf 
declaring that Canute was anxious to have his son crowned king but feared that the 
Danes would not consent. Ulf at once caused Hardicanute to be crowned and Canute 
was exceedingly angry about it. He did nothing, however, for he was at war with the 
Swedes and during the war Ulf regained his good-will by coming with a large force 
of Danes and Norwegians to the aid of Canute when he was on the point of being 
beaten by the Swedes. After this Canute's distrust of Ulf revived and he wanted 
very much to get rid of him but could find no means oi so doing, One evening 
Canute and Ulf sat down to play a game of chess. Canute made a false move in the 
game, and Ulf took advantage of it and captured one of the king's chess-men. 
Canute thereupon refused to let the move stand. Ulf was angry at this and spring- 
ingupdeclared thathe would notfinishthegame. Onthis, Canute called outrudelythat 
" the cowardly Norwegian Ulf was running away." This was unkind in the king, for 
though Ulf was a Norwegian he had served Canute long and faithfully and the only 
fault that could be laid at his door was committed in his anxiety to please that hot- 
tempered monarch. 

There had been as many Norwegians as Danes in the force that Ulf had brought 
to aid Canute in his battle with the Swedes, and Ulf was justly angry that any slur 
should be thrown upon his gallant countrymen. He answered with spirit that Canute 
and his Danes would have run away fast enough in the recent battle if he and his Nor- 
wegians had not come to their aid and that they would have been beaten like a pack 
of curs. He then left the room in high dudgeon. Canute brooded over the words of 
the jarl all that night. That they were true probably caused them to cut deeper than 
they would otherwise have done. The next morning when Canute arose from his 
bed he called one of his Danish guards to him. "Go and kill Ulf Jarl," he commanded 



560 



SCANDINAVIA. 



him. The guard trembled and turned pale. " My lord King. I dare not," he answered 
"Ulfjarl is at prayers in the church." This did not remind Canute that he himself pro- 




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fessed to be a twurisciau and 10 nciu-vi- uk- doctrines of love gentleness and for- 
giveness. He looked fiercely about him and spying at a little distance a young man 



SCANDINAVIA. 561 

who had long been in his service, a Norwegian, he called to him and told him to 
go to the church where Ulf was at i^rayers and thrust his sword through his body. 
It was done, and when Ulf was out of his way Canute pretended to repent and paid 
his widow a large sum of money, After a time Canute caused Robert the Devil, 
Duke of Normandy, the father of William the Conqueror, to marry this Norwegian 
widow, but tiring of his new wife, he soon sent her to the Court of England to get rid 
of her. Ulf left a son Sweyn or Svend, and he became ancestor of a line of royal 
princes from which Queen Victoria traces her descent on the female side and the 
princes of Oldenburg, Denmark, trace their claim to the throne from Ulf's wife Es- 
tride, for Estride was the sister of Canute of Denmark, and Ulf was nearly related to 
the royal house of Norway. 

After the death of the two sons of Canute, and the coming of William the Con- 
queror, the Danes lost their hold on England. William did, indeed, pay them tribute 
while he was busy fighting the Saxons, but it was only to gain time. When he had 
established himself in England, the Danes began piracies in the expectation of being 
bought off as usual, but he chastised them so severely that they never again 
attempted to harass England. At the time when Harold Hardrada, the tall and 
stately king who fell at the battle of Stamford Bridge, was King of Norway, Edmund 
Slemme was King of Sweden, and Sweyn II., the nephew of the great Canute, ruled 
in Denmark. The five sons of Sweyn II. successively sat on the throne of Denmark 
in the next fifty-eight years. I shall not attempt to tell you of the bloody quarrels 
and feuds that made the chief events of their reign. When the last of them laid 
down the crown, five kings of another line reigned in succession, in less than twenty- 
five years. The kingship of Denmark was evidently a dangerous office in those days 
of anarchy and confusion, and the chief business of the whole country seems to have 
been fighting, neighbor against neighbor, when there was no foreign foe to plunder. 

In Sweden the case was hardly better. The Goths and Swedes were incessantly 
quarreling and fighting, and Norway alone, of all the Scandinavian countries at this 
time, was well governed. Olaf III. and his successors ruled Norway wisely and well 
until Sigurd the Pious joined in the crusade to the Holy Land in 1 130, and Norway, 
too, then entered on a period of civil strife and dissension. Sverker I., of Sweden, 
restored that country to order in his reign of twenty years, and his son Eric the 
Saint, who became king in 1155, conquered a part of Finland and forced it to accept 
the Christian religion. Nearly at the same time Waldemar I., King of Norway and 
Denmark, gained great victories over the heathen Wends on the shores of the Baltic. 
His successor, Canute, also surnamed the Pious, conquered the Prussians, a Slavonian 
tribe, and subjected them and their neighbors, the Pomeranians, to Denmark. For 
the next hundred years the three Scandinavian kingdoms were engaged in settling 
their private civil quarrels, though the successor of Canute the Pious conquered 
North Germany and subjected it to his rule. In spite of all the disorders of the 
time, Christianity spread and no doubt softened the savage ferocity of the people. 
The Christianity was, however, tinged with the most absurd superstition, and was not 
always in those days the beneficent influence that it should have been. 

In the year 1320 Magnus Smaek became king of Sweden. He married his son 
Hacon, who was the king of Norway through his father's inheritance, to Margaret of 
Denmark. The Northmen had always been a liberty-loving people, and their 
"Things" or assemblies, had been more free and independent than those of any 
other European people. Magnus Smaek, like Charles Stuart of England in later 



562 SCANDINAVIA. 

times, had an idea that the will of the king should suffice the people, and that he 
should be above all laws, even those that he himself made for the government of 
others. He therefore attempted to abolish the Parliament of Sweden in 1363 and his 
in^ilignant people took the crown from him and gave it to a German Prince, Albert of 
Mecklenburg. Margaret of Denmark soon afterward succeeded to her husband's 
Norwegian crown, and not being satisfied with her two kingdoms, determined to 
possess herself of Sweden in her husband's right. She was called The Semiramis of 
The North, for she was a truly great queen. She won the love of the people of Den- 
mark and Norway by her wise and good government, and when she called upon them 
to aid her to the crown of Sweden, they responded with enthusiasm. She soon had 
a large army at her command and had little trouble in conquering Albert of Meck- 
lenburg. In 1377 Sweden, Norway and Denmark were joined under one crown and 
for more than a hundred years were ruled as one kingdom. Margaret was a wise 
ruler, and not even Elizabeth of England or Catherine II., of Russia, had more genius 
than she. She knew how to keep the great nobles in order to make the Danes, Nor- 
wegians and Swedes forget that they were nut all countrymen and to bring into 
system and harmony all of the discordant affairs by which she was surrounded. She 
was cruel, it is true, to a pretender to the throne who asserted that its former king 
Olaf, Margaret's son, who died in his youth, was not dead but had been spirited away 
to Norway by his mother, who was anxious to make herself queen. This pretender 
even succeeded as other pretenders in other countries before and afterward did, in 
gaining a large following. In vain those who had known Olaf well in life related the 
details of his death and how he had been buried with splendid ceremonies in a 
certain Danish church. Certain people persisted in following him until Margaret had 
him taken captive and burned to death at the stake. She did not show good judg- 
ment in the selection of her successor, for Eric the prince of Pomerania whom she 
chose was a weak, cruel and unworthy king and his subjects not only deposed him 
but made him leave the kingdom over which his aunt had ruled so well, and seek 
shelter in his own Pomerania. I ie wasted the kingdom by a long war with a personal 
enemy in which he was at last defeated. 

Christian II., "The Nero of The North," was the last sovereign of the three 
kingdoms. Christian was to Scandinavia what Ivan the Terrible was to Russia, 
Henry VHI. to luigland, and Ferdinand the Catholic to Spain. Like Ivan, he 
hated the nobles with a bitter hatred, and distrusted them most heartily. He had 
been brought up in the house of a tradesman of Copenhagen, and may there have 
imbibed some of this hatred, but he made a mistake in thinking that the common 
people would love and trust him if he showed severity to the nobles'. The injustice 
of the deeds that he had committed filled them with horror. Even his good qualities 
could not command their respect, and Christian II. had some good qualities. He 
made a few wise laws that showed this. He forbade the people to plunder wrecked 
vessels, and compelled them to send their children to school. He caused better 
methods of printing books to be used, and good books to be prepared for the public 
schools. He fined all parents who did not see to it that their children were taught to 
read, write and cipher, and when they grew older instructed in some trade by v^'hich 
they might earn a living. He caused the first post-ofiices to be established in Scan- 
dinavia, and inns to be built at certain distances along the post-roads. Travelers, 
could complain to the officers of the king if the people did not keep these roads in 
order, and the dwellers near it could be fined for allowing it to become impassable. 



SCANDINAVIA. 563 

Christian II. showed a decided leaning toward the reformed faith, but made a 
bargain with the Pope when he found that he was about to send a messenger to him, 
and afterward became willing to persecute the Protestants. Early in life Christian 
fell in love with the daughter of an inn-keeper. She died suddenly, and Christian 
suspected one of his nobles of whom he was jealous, of having poisoned her. He 
caused the noble to be arrested and tried. The judges could not find any evidence 
against him, but the king declared that he would have his head anyway, and have it 
he did. The mother of the dead girl gained a great influence over the king and 
lived splendidly in the palace, insulting and abusing the nobles, and conducting herself 
in an altogether scandalous manner. 

All these things made the Swedes hate Christian intensely. They had never 
relished their union with Norway and Denmark, and had more than once revolted. 
They had once since the union even succeeded in establishing their freedom and 
seating Charles Canute's son upon the throne, but had not been acknowledged as inde- 
pendent by the other two kingdoms. The life of Christian II. was such that the Swedes 
were filled with horror at the idea of being under his rule. From his childhood up 
he had been the scandal of the three kingdoms, and though he was handsome and 
graceful the Swedes could not trust him, and determined to make a brave effort to 
free themselves from him. Led by a patriot named Steno Sture, the Swedes 
surrounded one of their archbishops who had schemed to betray them to Christian II., 
and besieged him in his palace. Pope Leo X. hurled a terrifying curse upon the 
insurgents, and they abandoned the revolt and made their submission to Christian II., 
who made them give as hostages, for their good behavior, seven of their noblemen. 
Among these hostages was Gustavus Ericson, afterward the liberator of Sweden. 
Steno Sture would not yield to the king. He possessed himself of Stockholm, and 
held out for some time against the royal army. He was killed in 1520, and his widow 
Christine continued at the head of the party in opposition to the king, and bravely 
defended Stockholm until she saw there was no hope of success. She then surren- 
dered. Christian II. entered the city and was crownecf King of Sweden. He declared 
that he freely pardoned all his enemies, but on the third day after his coronation he 
showed the Swedes what the forgiveness of a tyrant is worth. He invited the chief 
Swedish nobles and clergy to a great feast, and when the mirth was at its height, he 
caused the doors to be locked and guarded, and the archbishop who had been besieged 
for his treachery, accused all the Swedish nobles and clergy there present, of being 
traitors and heretics, and demanded their punishment. The king at once condemned 
them to death, and ninety-four nobles, the whole -Swedish Senate, and many of the 
clergy were taken under strong guard to the market-place of the city, and beheaded. 
A poor, common man, who happened to see the dreadful spectacle, wept at the fate 
of his countrymen, whereupon the Northern Nero had him beheaded, too. Among 
the murdered nobles was Eric Ericson, the father of the hostage Gustavus. 

Christian II. marked his progress through .Sweden in blood. He murdered people 
without form of trial, if he suspected that they had taken part in the revolts, and 
showed himself a ferocious beast. He caused the dead body of the patriot Steno 
Sture to be dug from its grave, and when he saw the remains flew at them like a wild 
animal and tore them with his teeth and nails. While these horrors were in pro- 
gress in Sweden, young Gustavus Ericson escaped from prison in Denmark and fled 
to Delacarlia. He had heard of the murder of his father and the other noblemen, 
and burned for revenge upon the inhuman tyrant who was plunging Sweden into 



564 SCANDINAVIA. 

such misery. He roused the peasants of Delacarliaby the story of his wrongs and 
those of his country. At first the peasants would have nothing to do with Gustavus 
although they allowed him to depart in safety from among them after he had coun- 
seled them to resist Christian II., but when they learned of the dreadful massacre of 
nobles in Stockholm and the cruelty of the inhuman king, they summoned Gustavus 
to lead them to liberty. The young Ericson adopted as the symbol on his banner, a vase 
which was the coat-of-arms of his house, and from this received the name Gustavus 
Vasa which he bears in history though he never called hini'^elf by that title. The army 
was largely increased as time went by, and Christian sent one of his bravest generals 
against the rebellious Swedes. He made a gallant attempt to restore the Danish 
power in Sweden but it failed. One castle after another was taken from the Danes, 
and finally Gustavus Vasa was crowned king of the country by right of his descent 
from Charles Canutcson. 

The Pope wasdisi)osed to contest the right of Gustavus to rule the country, but 
when Gustavus sent an appeal to the Emperor of Germany, the Pope and all the 
princes of Christendom, relating the causes that led to the revolt of the Swedes and 
telling how brutal Christian had been to them, how he had not only murdered their 
nobles but had carried the unhappy wives and children of his victims to Denmark 
where he either starved them to death or caused them to be poisoned in prison, the 
indignation of the European monarchs who cared for truth and justice was roused. 
Christian was so enraged at this bold appeal of his enemy that he openly gave orders 
to have every Swedish prisoner he held murdered. Some of the men to whom he 
gave these orders refused to obey and allowed their prisoners to escape; but others 
executed the orders — and the prisoners 

Gustavus soon won the love of the whole Swedish nation for he had such an in- 
terest in the welfare of the people that he de\oted his whole life to the betterment 
of their condition. He was crowned at Stockholm in the year 1523 and reigned over 
Sweden thirty-seven years. When he had been king for some years he succeeded in 
having a law passed making the crown hereditary in his family and when he died in 
the year 1560 at the age of si.\ty-four his son Eric became king of Sweden. Good 
Gustavus \'asa was much ve.xed by the quarrels of his sons for many years before his 
death, and to insure peace after he should be no more, he gave P'inland to John his 
secontl son, and his possessions that were hereditary in the Ericson family to his 
two younger sons, Eric of course as the eldest succeeding to the crown of .Sweden. 

King Eric was a strange, restless, half-crazy fellow, who never knew his own mind 
very long at one time, if indeed he kept to any resolution very long.. Before his 
father's death he had come to the decision to ask the hand of Queen Elizabeth and 
was upon his way to the coast to embark for England when the news of his father's 
death reached him. He was a handsome, graceful, educated man, a musician and 
painter as well as scholar and he had some hopes of succeeding with the Virgin 
Uueen. P^or a time after he became king he gave over the idea of wooing Elizabeth 
and spent large sums of money in buying jewels and ornaments of all kinds and in 
bringing into the country lions, camels and other strange animals with which he de- 
signed to amuse his people, somewhat in the manner of the old Roman Emperors. 
When his splendid and costly coronation was over, he again became eager to woo 
Elizabeth and to win her favor sent her eighteen piebald horses, several chests of un- 
coined gold and silver bars, costly furs, strings of pearls and other rare jewels. He 
sent, too, a large sum of money wherewith the PZnglish counsellors of .State were to be 
bribed, but before they could make up their minds how to answer him Eric sent to 



SCANDINAVIA. 



565 




^fe»' 



Swi'disli N'atioual Costume. 



Scotland to find out whether Mary the young queen was as beautiful 
as she was reported — for she was thought beautiful in spite of her cross 
eyes and bad figure — but not to be disappointed in a wife, had also sent 
to ask a French princess and a German princess if they would marry 
him. 

It had long been suspected that Eric was insane but his acts now 
convinced the Swedes that tlieir king was a madman. He was sus- 
picious of his best friends and destroyed them one by one and finally 
caused the death of a nobleman and all his family for whom he conceived 
a sudden dislike, though the unfortunate victims had been faithful to 
him in everything. After this he became a raving maniac for a time 
and the only person that had any influence over him was a poor low- 
born girl, by the name of Karen Mansdatter, and she could govern him 
in his worst frenzy. His brother Magnus went insane, too, and finally 
John became king of Sweden, as Eric was utterly unable to reign. John 
treated his brother Eric and Karen, whom he had married, with the 
greatest cruelty. He reigned many years over Sweden persecuting 
also his own brother Karl and winning the hatred of the neighboring 
Russians with whom he engaged in a war which lasted far into the next reign. 

In the meantime, during the life of Gustavus Vasa, the people of Denmark and 
Norway deposed Christian II., and called Frederick, Duke of Holstein, to the throne 
of the two kingdoms. In the course of time Frederick I. died, antl his son Christian 
III. came to the throne and after that every king of the two kingdoms, when he was 
crowned, either took the name Frederick or Christian. During the reign of Christ- 
ian III. the Pope lost all power in the Danish kingdom, as he had lost power in Sweden 
during the days of Gustavus Vasa. Great progress was made in learning and the 
arts in Denmark and Norway during the reign of Christian III. and he died in the 
first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was Christian III. who established 
Protestantism throughout Denmark and Norway, but he failed to convert the 
Catholic Icelanders to the new faith. Frederick II., who succeeded Christian III. on 
the throne of Denmark was a man who was so zealous for Lutheranism that he 
hated the followers of Calvin most heartily, and persecuted them with the utmost 
bitterness. He seemed to think that the king should have the keeping of the con- 
science of his people, and to make sure that the Danes believed, or professed to 
believe, in religion as he did himself, he caused twenty-five written statements of 
faith to be drawn up, and any person who desired to reside in Danish territory was 
obliged to sign these statements. During the reign of Frederick II. a remarkable 
man became widely known not only in Denmark, his native country, but throughout 
all Europe. His name was Tycho Brahe, and he was a member of an old Danish 
family, and in very early life, to the great disgust of his relatives, began the study of 
astronomical science. Frederick was deeply interested in the studies of Tycho 
Brahe, and that he might pursue them without being bothered by the curious, or 
persecuted by his hostile relatives, he gave him the little islanil of Hven, near Copen- 
hagen. Tycho built a great observatory which he called Uranienborg, and which 
was regarded by the ignorant common people as a sort of wizard's castle. There 
the astronomer constructed so many strange and hitherto unknown instruments for 
observing the movements of the heavenly bodies that it was considered a very 
remarkable place even by men of science. Tycho caused an ingenious underground 



566 SCANDINAVIA. 

-chamber to be constructed at Uranienborg, and through a narrow slit in its ceiling the 
observer was able to see the stars in broad daylight, which was thought magic by the 
common people. 

After the death of King Frederick, the relatives of Tycho Brahe succeeded in 
having his researches declared wicked, and that he so degraded his rank in thus 
studying astronomy, that he might be considered a traitor. To escape spending the 
remainder of his days in prison as a traitor and heretic, or worse yet, a lunatic, 
for his relatives declared that he was crazy, Tycho accepted the invitation of 
Emperor Rudolph of Germany, to make that country his home. Rudolph was 
deeply interested in astronomy and astrology, and gave Tycho every encourage- 
ment in his power. At Prague the astronomer found a pleasant home, and there, 
with the help of Kepler, another great student of astronomy, he made tables 
giving the results of his life-long work, that were really the foundation of the 
modern science of astronomy, and to him, next to Ptolemy and Hipparchus, we 
owe much of what we know of the movements of the heavenly bodies, though 
Kepler and Newton also should have great honor, for they carried on the work 
that Tycho Brahe so well began. The daughter of Frederick II. married that 
James who became king of England upon the death of Elizabeth, and they were 
the direct ancestors of Queen \'ictoria. 

During the reign of Frederick II. of Denmark and Norway, the youngest son of 
Gustavus \'asa reigned over Sweden. He was so watchful of the rights of his jjoor 
subjects that he gained the name of The Peasant's King. He did many good things 
for his country, but kept it constantly at war with Russia and Sweden, and his son 
Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North, who followed him on the throne, became 
so famous in history that he quite overshadows his father. Charles died at the end 
of the twelfth year of the long reign of Christian III., and Gustavus succeeded to his 
kingdom at the age of seventeen. Christian W. thought he would have small trouble 
now in gaining everything he wanted in Sweden since Charles IX. was dead and a 
mere lad was king, and he at once made active preparations for carrying on the war. 
He little knew the genius of Gustavus. 

From the time the Swedish king was ten years old he had attended all the 
Councils of State in his father's kingdom, and had been so carefully trained that 
there were few men in Europe who were better educated. He had learned all 
sorts of military matters, and it was well that he did, for Christian- lY. was a fine 
soldier and great general. Gustavus Adolphus soon brought the Danes to agree to 
peace, and then he marched his army into Russia and reconquered the territory that 
the Russians had taken from Sweden. Next he made war upon Poland, which ended 
to the credit of Sweden, and all Europe began to hear of the fame of the "Lion of 
the North." Gustavus was no less successful in managing the jjeaceful affairs of his 
kingdom than its wars, and his court was celebrated as the most learned and brilliant 
of his times. 

.All the time that Gustavus was fighting the enemies of his country, the terrible 
Thirty Years' War of Religion was raging in Germanj'. The brave Lion was a devout 
Protestant, and longed to aid the Protestants of Germany. When he had conquered 
Poland for the time, he was free to turn his arms against the Catholics, and sent 
envoys to treat with the great Catholic General Wallenstein for peace and freedom 
of worship for the (Germans. Wallenstein refused to come to terms, and so jealous 
was he of the fame of the Swedish king and anxious to meet him in battle and conquer 



SCANDINAVL\. 



567 




him, that he not only openly refused his terms, 
but sent a large sum of money to Sweden to 
be used in rousing revolt against Gustavus so 
that he might invade Sweden with a reasonable 
hope of success. I have told you in the story 
of Germany how Gustavus and his little army 
attacked Wallenstein, but as this battle of Lut- 
zen was one of the great battles of the world's 
history, 1 think I will tell you more particularly 
about it. 

You will remember that Gustavus defeated 
the famous Catholic General Tilly near Leip- 
zig, in 163 1, and that for nine weeks thereafter 
Wallenstein lay in sight of the Swedish camp, 

and though his own force largely outnumbered sw.ush ii,t,n„r 

the enemy he could not make up his mind to attack Gustavus, and so the two armies 
did nothing. It was Gustavus who finally assaulted Wallenstein's camp, and though 
he gained no advantage and was soon obliged to retreat on account of his sick and 
wounded, the attack had the effect of putting \Vallenstein's forces in motion. The 
Catholic army crossed into Sa.xony and cruelly ravaged the country, and in 1632 
Gustavus, with about eighteen thousand men, followed Wallenstein and came up 
to him on the plain between Lutzen and Leipzig. As Gustavus had marched 
through Saxony, the half-starved, cruelly-plundered people had crawled from their 
tireless hearths to bless him and pray for his victory, and his heart was filled with 
solemn resolve that they should not be disappointed in their hopes. 

It was a foggy day early in November, 1632, when the two armies found them- 
selves almost within hailing distance of one another. Every man of the small army of 
Swedes, Scots and Germans knew that the day was one heavy with responsibility, 
and with the dawn of light in the camp of the Protestants there was a solemn service 
of song and prayer. Have you ever heard that grand old hymn written by Martin 
Luther, "A Tower of Strength is Our God?" As its cadences roll to the roof of the 
church and float out into the air, it is easy to imagine that angels are listening to the 
song which is at once a prayer, a confession of faith and an anthem of praise. 
Imagine then how the words and music must have sounded as intoned by nearly 
twenty thousand deep voices it rolled upon the heavy mist like the battle challenge 
of the legions of light. When it had been sung to the last word the soldiers took up 
the hymn "Christ our Salvation," led by Gustavus' clear, strong voice, and when it, too, 
sank into silence, the Swedish king spoke earnestly to his army, telling them what 
were the results of the victory or defeat and commending their cause to the God of 
Battles. In Wallenstein's ranks there was deads ilence, his soldiers waited the Swedes 
like men of iron, fearing not the onset and feeling confident, too, in the victory as they 
were that their cause was just. They fought for the church that for centuries had dom- 
inated the minds of men, and had carried its creed to the bounds of the known earth, 
and had planted the cross in the tears and blood of its martyrs. Thus the two armies 
met and fought for what each considered the right. The Swedes took up the cry: 
"Jesus we fight this day for his holy name," and rushed forward. Some of the regi- 
ments caught up the old battle cry of the crusaders "God with us," as they rushed 
on the foe. Where the fight raged hottest there was the gallant Lion of the North, 



568 



SCANDINAVIA. 



his blue eyes flashing with energy of contest, his long golden hair streaming in the 
wind and his earnest face inspiring his men with resolution. Three batteries of 
Wallenstein's guns were taken at the first dash, and when a messenger galloped to 
the king with this cheering news he bared his head and uttered a brief prayer of 
thanksgiving then charged at the enemy leading his cavalry. A pistol-shot struck 




GVSTAV\^S ADQLPHVS D.G.KEX S\^CGOTS; 
FT ^ASSiD. 2\1AGNVS PRINCEPS F1NL;ANDIF..DVX:i:TC. 

his horse in the neck, another shattered the arm in which the king held the rein, 
Gustavus turned to one of his aids to tell him that he was wounded and ask him to 
help him from the field as another shot had wounded him in the foot and he was 
unable to dismount from his horse, but as he spoke a third ball struck iiim in the 
back and he fell with his foot in the stirrup. A German lad who knew and loved the 
king and was one of his cavalry, saw him fall, and rode forward to rescue him. The 



SCANDINAVIA. 



569 




king was still conscious and reached out his 
hands to him. The young man was about to 
lift the king from the ground when some of 
Wallenstein's men came up and asked the 
lad who the wounded man was. The boy 
hesitated to tell them, but Gustavus, con- 
fident that they would treat a wounded 
enemy of his bravery and rank with respect, 
told him that he was the Swedish king. 
Shame to relate it, but the men to whom 
he had trusted himself leveled their pistols 
at his head and shot him dead. Thus < n swuisi ujiiiLmtannou. 

perished the gallant Gustavus, but the day was not lost in spite of his death. 
When the Swedes heard that their king was dead, they demanded revenge. They 
rushed forward, and fighting like the fierce Northmen of old, bore down the enemy 
who outnumbered them two to one, and after a fight lasting until night-fall found 
themselves in possession of the field upon which twelve thousand men lay dead. All 
of Wallenstein's artillery and ammunition fell into their hands, and the news of 
the victory thrilled all Protestant Europe with hope. 

Christina, the daughter of the great Adolphus, who succeeded him, was unfitted 
by nature to reign. .She had been carefully educated, and knew many things that 
made her respected by the people, but she was never able to govern herself antl was 
thus unfitted to govern others. She was under the influence of favorites and squan- 
dered the money belonging to the .State to that degree that Sweden was nearly 
bankrupt. She spent all her private fortune in silly amusements and filled the court 
with dancers, singers and actors, and even took part herself in the ballets that 
used to be performed there. Several times she was obliged to close her kitchens 
because she had not money enough to buy food for herself and her servants. Her 
silliness in frittering away her time and opportunities and in conferring titles on 
undeserving people disgusted the .Swedes with her. Worst of all in their eyes she 
even renounced the religion for which her noble father had lost his life and the 
principles of conduct that had governed him. She had been betrothed very early 
in life to her cousin Charles, but she refused to marrv him being too much in love with 
an unworthy favorite. In the year 1654 Christina told her council that she was de- 
termined to give up the crown to her cousin. .She was only twenty-eight years old 
and her sole excuse for her abdication was, that she was tired of the throne. She 
therefore resigned it and left Sweden, visiting by turns many of the European coun- 
tries and everywhere conducting herself in such a manner that she was an unwelcome 
guest. She was always in debt, always begging money from the princes, in whose 
dominions she happened to be, and always spending what was given her with the 
wildest extravagance. She died in Rome in the year 16S9 at the age of sixty-three, 
a pampered, selfish, vain old woman, whom nobody mourned. 

The prince to whom Christina resigned her throne had great dreams of conquest. 
Under Gustavus Adolphus and the generals who came after him, the Swedish army 
had won many laurels, and the .Swedish soldiers were counted the best in Europe. 
Charles X. knew the great history of the Gothic race, and imagined that the 
conquests they had reaped twelve centuries before under the gallant Alaric, 
might be repeated under his own generalship. From what he knew of his neighbors 



SCANDINAVIA. 



he thought that it would be an easy task to conquer the North, and then the world 
was before him. He accomplished little. He lost East Prussia to the Great Elector 
•of Brandenburg, and when he afterward attacked Denmark, which had been at the 




Quern Marijaret. Tlie SemlramlB of the North. 

time for twelve years under the rule of Frederick III., he lost his lite. The war with 
Denmark continued when Charles XI. sc:t on the Swedish throne, and Christian V. 



SCANDINAVIA. 



5/1 



was king of Norway and Denmark. It was brought to a close by the peace-making 
of Louis XI\'. of France, who, as you will remember, claimed the right to settle 
European quarrels. 

When Charles XII., a lad of eighteen, came to the Swedish throne, Frederick IV. 
of Denmark, allied _ 

himself with the 
King of Poland ami 
Peter the Great of 
Russia, to wrest from 
the boy-king of Swe- 
den the conquests of 
his ancestors, who, 
for more than a hun- 
dred 3'ears, had grad- 
ually enlarged the 
bounds of Sweden, 
until it was the great 
power of the North. 
Frederick IV. had no 
idea that the young | 
king had any military ' 
genius, and knew? 
that Peter the Great | 
was a valiant ally,and § 
was, therefore, ex- r 
ceedingly surprised i 
when Charles XII. - 
made an alliance with = 
England and H o 1- ' 
land, landed an army 
in Denmark and be- 
sieged Copenhagen, 
which was totally un- 
prepared for siege. 
In six weeks' time 
Frederick I\'. was 
convinced of his folly 
in making war upon 
Sweden. His capital 
was only saved from 
destruction on the 
payment of a large 
ransom ami his arm}' 

hemmed in on ever)- side. He was compelled to give up his allies to the wrath of 
the warlike young king of the Swedes, and to make peace on the terms offered him, 
which were not much to the advantage of his kingtlom. 

Taking advantage of the absence of the Swedish king in Denmark, Peter the 
Great had marched into Swedish territory with eighty thousand men, and besieged 




572 SCANDINAVIA. 

Narva. Charles XII. hastened to the relief of the city. He had but eight thousand 
men to hurl against the eighty thousand of Peter the Great, but they were much 
superior in arms and training. In fact the Russian army was unskilled in the arts of 
modern warfare, and Charles XII. made short work of its defeat. He drove the 
Russians out of his territory, and then set about punishing Poland for the part she 
had taken against him in the alliance. While he marched to Poland the Russians again 
attacked his provinces that were the most convenient to them. To retaliate, and to 
gain for himself the crown of Russia, to which the Swedish monarchs had often made 
claim, Charles XII. in 1708 invaded Russia. Peter the Great wanted to treat for 
peace, for he was alarmed for the safety of his crown. Like Napoleon a hundred 
years later, Charles haughtily replied, refusing the terms of peace, "I will treat with 
the Czar in Moscow." The pitiless cold of the Russian winter vanquished his army. 
The Russians had wasted the country before the enemy, and they could hardly get 
food enough to sustain their lives. Weakened by cold and hunger, the Swedes were 
attacked at Pultowa, and terribly defeated. Of the large army that Charles led into 
Russia, only three hundred retreated with him from the field of Pultowa, and took 
refuge, with their king, in Turkey. 

The Sultan at first treated the Swedes with magnificent hospitality, gave the king 
a handsome house to live in, and supplied all his needs. The Czar bribed him to 
order Charles and his followers to leave the country. Charles resisted the Sultan, 
and pitted his three hundred Swedes against the twenty-six thousand soldiers of the 
Turkish army. Of course Charles was defeated, and with the loss of many of his 
faithful men, was captured and thrown into prison, where he remained for nearly a 
year. 

Charles was forced to make peace, and returned to his kingdom in 1714. Two 
years later he made war against Denmark, antl in that contest, lost his life. Before 
Charles XII. ascended the throne of Sweden, the Parliament had conferred almost 
unlimited power upon its king. Now it saw what a grievous mistake had been made, 
Charles XII. had plunged the nation into a series of unsuccessful wars, and almost 
ruined it. The Parliament now revoked the laws that gave unrestricted power 
to the sovereign, ami when Ulrika Eleanor, the sister of the late king, was crowned in 
1718, her authority was not very great. Small as it was, she had not the ability to 
wield it, and after two years gave her crown to her husband, Frederick of Hesse- 
Cassel. He had no more itlea of government than his predecessor, and under hisweak 
rule, Sweden, which had been raised to such a proud height among nations, by its 
gallant Lion of The North, the noble Gustavus Adolphus, sunk low indeed. 

The country was distracted by the quarrels and fights of two factions, called the 
"Hats" and "Caps." The "Plats" favored France, and the "Caps" were eager to 
make an alliance with Russia. The king who followed the inglorious Frederick of 
Hesse-Cassel, was no more able than he. The strife between the "Hats" and "Caps" 
waxed furious. The nobles really ruled, or rather misruled, the country, and the king 
was without respect or authority. The members of the Parliament, who were all 
nobles, sold themselves to France or Russia, according to the price they could receive 
from those foreign masters, and had neither patriotism nor honor. Poor Sweden, 
abandoned to these shameless demagogues, was unspeakably miserable. It was with 
joy that the people hailed the accession of Gustavus III., a brave and resolute Prince. 
The Swedes gladly rallied around him to suppress the Parliament anil bring the 
nobles to order, and under his firm government the industries of the country revived. 



SCANDINAVIA. 



5; 






Gustavus III. reformed the laws, 

and for several years was a wise 

ruler, then he began to ape the 

splendor of the French court, and 

soon undid all of his good work. 

He impoverished his kingdom, and 

lost the affection of his subjects. 

'When the French revolted, and 

> made Louis X\'I. agree to rule by 

'; a constitution, Gustavus III. de- 

- termincd to yield to the entreaties 

'< of the fugitive French nobility who 

. had come to him for protection, 

"and lead an army into France, to 

restore Louis XVI. to his former 

', power. His plan was not carrietl 

out, for he was murderetl at a coui't 

;. ball by an officer of his army in 

' 1792, and was succeeded on the 

throne, by Gustavus IV. 

Frederick 1\ ., of Denmark, 
died in 1730, ami after him Chris- 
tian \'I1., an imbecile, became 
king. His wife, a high-minded, 
talented woman, an English royal 
princess, was the real ruler of the 
country. She had for her prime 
minister a German doctor, named 
Struensee. The Danes were jeal- 
ous of the Germans, and because Struensee wrote court documents in his native 
tongue, and made German thus the court language, they were bitterly hostile to 
him. Certain reforms that Struensee made further excited the wrath of the Danes. 
The nobles finally seized him, accused him of various crimes, convicted and beheaded 
him. The innocent queen was divorced from her husband, and died three years 
later a broken-hearted captive. 

The plot for the murder of Struensee, and the disgrace of the queen, had .been 
formed by the king's mother, and she held the reins of government until the Crown 
Prince Frederick VI. was old enough to take charge of affairs. He called to his aid 
the gallant and wise Bernstorf, and Denmark and Norway were firmly and well 
governed for many years. 

During the upheaval in Europe resulting from the French Revolution, the three 
Scandinavian kingdoms remained unshaken. I have told you elsewhere how the 
royal line of Sweden failed, and the brave Marshal Bernadotte was made king. In 
1814 Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden, and since that time the two kingdoms have 
been united under the Bernadotte kings. Since the fall of Nappleon Scandinavia 
has had an uneventful history. Peace and prosj^erity have dwelt in the home of the 
Northmen of old, and war is but a memory, sad but not humiliating, for braver people 
never unsheathed sword nor fought for liberty, than those whose cradles were rocked 
by the Northern seas, and whose mother-tongue was the language of Canute, 
Hardrada and Olaf the Lap-king. 





LL of the countries of Western Europe whose story I have told 
you or shall tell you in the course of this volume, only occupy a 
little more than one half of that Grand Division of the surface 
of the earth. Extending eastward from the borders of CJer- 
many, Austria and Scandinavia and frt)ni the Arctic Ocean on 
the north to the limits of the continent on the south, and 
through Northern Asia to the edge of the Pacific Ocean, Russia 
is as different in surface and the character of the country from the rest of 
Europe, as the West of Europe to day is different from the Europe of 
Caesar's time. You will remember that in reading the story of the old 
Empires of the East, from time to time mention was made of savages who 
swept down from the heart of Asia, and desolating the rich lands to the south, 
struck terror everywhere. The best drilled and disciplined armies of those days 
melted away before these fierce savages who were called Scythians. 

The Scj'thians were wanderers by nature. People who live in a mountainous 
country are, as a rule, so fond of their homes, that tliey are unwilling to leave them, 
and tending their flocks and herds upon the hills where their fathers for ages built 
their dwellings and watcheil their herds, grow strong, hardy, liberty-loving, and 
l)atriotic. There is hardly a country of Western Europe that has not its hills and 
mountains, and is not washed by the waters of the ocean that is a highway of 
commerce with other lands and a bound to the migrations of their people if they 
were inclined to wandering. 

In Russia the greater part of the vast territory is a level plain, either covered 
heavily with forests, or with prairie. Such a surface is not favorable for settletl homes, 
and the fart that there is little building-stone in the Empire and that the cheap 
dwellings of wood are easily put together and extremely perishable, has made Russia 
slower in the development of civilization than any other European country. Indeed 
it can not be said that Russia is yet civilized, in the true sense of the word, though 
it has a written history that goes back to the days of the Byzantine Emperors. 



RUSSIA. 



575- 



Asia is called "the mother of barbarians," and the Scythians no doubt came from 
Asia long after the other Aryan races settled Western Europe. They roamed over 
the plains tilling the soil where they found it fertile, leaving their lands whenever the 
whim seized them, and carrying terror to their civilized neighbors. They were 
Pagans but their religion was different from that of the Druids, and its practices were 
nearly as bloody. To know what are the characteristics of a people we must under- 
stand the nature of their gods, for as you have no doubt noticed, they only worship 
gods who possess the qualities they most admire in men, and which they think it 
noble to imitate. Being a warlike people, of course the god of war was the great 
god of the Scythians. His emblem was a huge sword, which was set on the top of a 
tall mound, and to this sword they sacrificed the unhappy captives they took in their 
numerous raids. The first of these captives taken, was the one considered particularly 
sacred to their war-god, and was not only slain at the foot of the huge sword, but his 
blood was saved and solemnly drunk as an offering to the deity. 

When a Scythian died, his friends all showed their grief by making themselves 
as drunk as it was possible for them to become, drinking for the purpose mead, or a 
fiery liquor made of grain and mare's milk, and for ten days they bewailed him as well 
as they could when their first duty every morning was to get drunk. At the end of 
this time, they asked one of the men-servants of the dead man, which of them would 
accompany his master to the other world, and if no one was found willing, they 
selected one, and immediately strangled him. Then one of the women-servants was 
asked to join her dead master, and as the lot of these slaves was exceedingly hard, 
it was usually not dil^cult to find one ready to lay down her life with all its suffering. 
If the woman consented she was washed and dressed in fine clothing, treated with 
the greatest politeness, and allowed to get drunk with the other mourners until the 
day arrived when the body of her master was to be burned. Then she, too, was 
strangled, and the dead bodies of the slain servants, the favorite horse, dog or other 
pets of the master, were all burned together on a huge funeral pyre while the mourners 
beat their shields with their war-clubs, sang songs and danced about it, the most 
sorrowful leaping the highest and shouting loudest. Beside the god of war the 
Scythians worshipped Peroun, the god of thunder, lightning and fire, who was sup- 
posed to be the avenger of wrongs, and the spirit who made the grass grow and the 
trees send forth flowers and fruit. Peroun was supposed to be tall and beautiful, with 
long black hair and a golden beard. He rode above the earth in a flaming car, grasp- 
ing in his hands a quiver of arrows, and a bow. Sometimes, too, so the Scythians 
said, he rode abroad on a great mill-stone, supported by the mountain sprites, who 
obeyed his slightest wish, and who had the power to make stones float in the air as 
lightly as thistle-down. This Peroun had a statue at Kief, a city of which I shall tell 
you something shortly, that was made of carved wood. Its legs were of iron, and its 
head was of silver, with golden ears, and a long golden beard. 

Like the Indians of North America, and some other savage tribes in other lands,, 
the Scythians scalped their fallen foes. They also pretended to drink the blood and 
eat the flesh of the slain, but I am inclined to think they only claimed to do so in 
order to frighten their enemies. They did make hideous drinking cups out of the 
skulls of those they had killed in battle and lined them with leather or gold. These 
they slung at their saddle bows when they went forth to war, and they carried their 
arrows in quivers made from the skin which had been flayed from the bodies of their 
captives or those whom they had slain in battle. 



576 



RUSSIA. 




Hy/.aiitlm- llnskct rapltal. 



:=^=4 These Scythians were the ancestors of the Slavonians, 

who were the inhabitants of Russia in the latter days of 
the Roman Empire, and afterward, and who settled in the 
north of Thrace, along the shores of the Adriatic, in 
I'omerania, Hungary, Poland, and the land between the 
Balkan Mountains and the Danube, and between the 
ri\cr Dnieper and the upper reaches of the Wilga. The 
Germans called the Slavonians Wends, and their early 
( niperors were much troubled by them. The Romans 
called them the \'enetae, but the Slavonians called them- 
selves Sirbi, and afterward Slavs, which means that they 
were glorious in battle. 

They trained their young men for war from their 
early bojhood, and a lad of eight was considered old 
enough to have his hair cut in the manner of the men, 
to have a horse of his own, and to go forth on the raids of 
the tribe. Girls were thought to be a necessary nuisance, 
but when there were more of them born to the family of 
a Slav than he thought useful to perform the work of the 
house and fields, he caused them to be strangled. In 
spite of their rude customs and their fierceness, their filthy manner of life and their 
Paganism, the Slavs had some virtues." They were kind to strangers and considered 
it a virtue to steal from some wealthier neighbor, in order to supply the wants of 
any chance traveler who happened to apply to them for food. Even an enemy 
was safe from the wrath of a .Slavic warrior, had he eaten bread and salt beneath his 
roof, and they w^ould often bind themselves by the most solemn vows to a guest, and 
would lose their lives in his defense. 

These Slavic tribes were divided into two great classes whose names as given 
by the Russian historians are so difficult to remember, that we will simply call them 
the Field Folk, and the Poorest Folk. The Field Folk were peaceablj' inclined, though 
they could and did fight fiercely when attacked, linking their cars together to form 
a sort of stockade for their horses and the women and children. They tilled the soil 
in a rude way, and raised large herds of cattle and horses which supplied the ne- 
cessities of life that they were not able to raise. Their food was not only that of 
savages, however, but they were savages in most of their manners as well as their re- 
ligion. They took their wives by force, married as many women as they wanted, 
were debased idoalters; performing the most revolting and unclean acts in honor of 
their gods, and treacherous, crafty and ferocious. In spite of all these traits, strangely 
enough they loved music and poetry, and in every rude village of the Field Folk 
there were harpers and singers who were honored as the Celts of Wales and Ireland 
honored their bards, and who like them sang to stimulate the courage and i)atriotism 
of the people. 

The P^ield Folk were far in advance, in civilization, of the Poorest [""oik. who lived 
in the woods and mountains fishing and hunting. 'Phe people of the woods were as 
fierce as wolves, and were constantly at war with the P'ield Polk. All the .Slavs could 
endure pain and hunger to a remarkable degree, and thought it cowardly to protect 
the body with armor. They fought on foot, and had for weapons long poles tipped 
with iron or stone. Large shields made of hides or plaited willows, were their only 




RUSSIA. 577 

armor, and they were very skillful with their wooden bows, from 
which they shot poisoned arrows, and with the lasso, which they could 
cast with a skill unequaled by the cow-boys of our western plains. 
The javelin, too, was a favorite weapon with the Slavs. 

The Gauls were, as you know, a light-haired, blue-eyed people, 
white-bodied, large and muscular. The Slavs were of very different 
appearance, having coal-black hair, tall, well-formed, slender and sup- 
ple figures, brilliant complexions and gray eyes. Swift to anger, treach- , 
erous and fierce, yet with the love of poetry that usually distinguishes; 
a war-like people, they were slow to adopt new or foreign customs 
and religion, and were proud of their very savagery and ignorance. p..„«,„is m n.^tume. 

In the fifth century, the Slavs built a city near Lake Ilmen, in Western Russia. 
Long before this they had many villages, for little groups of families would settle 
together. These families were governed by their elder or head, and the elders formed 
a council for public affairs. A number of such villages would unite for the common 
defense and elect a chief. Each confederacy of villages, or canton, had at least one 
fort or village-enclosure, built of earth and protected by ditches, walls of osier or 
logs. These forts were commonly erected on the banks of a stream, the steep shores 
of some little lake, or on the crest of some hill surrounded by thick woods. In time 
of danger or alarm the people of the different villages of the canton retired to the 
forts, for safety. The city built on Lake Ilmen, was on the site of a very ancient town 
whose people had all been carried off by a plague, and in after-time it gained fame 
as Novgorod The Great. About the same time the Field Folk built a city on the 
Dnieper, and named it Kief, in honor of one of their chiefs. These cities you must 
remember would not be called cities in this day, but were most likely a collection of 
huts, made of mud and sticks, and surrounded by a wall, and formed a retreat for 
the bold Forest Folk, from which they could harass the people of the fields more 
successfully, for after a long period of war and turmoil they did conquer them and 
not only established a sort of government, but made themselves well known to other 
people of Europe. They traded with Greek and Roman merchants, and were friendly 
allies of the Arab rulers of Spain and the famous Caliphs of Bagdad. 

It is not until the days of Harold Fair-hair, that Russian History first begins to be 
made plain. You will remember that about that time the Northmen were wandering 
to different portions of Europe in search of adventure and plunder, the Slavs 
were in a sad state of disorder. They had, it is true, a very loose sort of 
government, but the Forest and Field Folk were constantly at war, and at last, though 
neither would give it over, both were willing that it should cease. To this end it is 
said they invited a Varangian or Scandinavian prince and his three brothers to come 
and rule over them. I am not inclined to believe this story, but rather that the Scan- 
dinavians saw what confusion affairs were in among the Slavs and decided to take 
advantage of it. At all events they guided their crafts across the Baltic and took 
up their march to Novgorod, no doubt leaving behind them the desolation that 
marked their footsteps in England and Ireland. 

The Northmen wore helmets and shields of metals, and the Slavs, who always 
met their enemies naked to the waist, were no match for these brave bloody-minded 
plunderers, and perhaps yielded to them on the condition that the Northmen should 
govern them in the Slavic manner, which they undoubtedly did. 



57'^ 



RUSSIA. 




% 




Bridal Costume. 



The leader of the Xorthmen who invaded Russia, was Rurik, of the 
tribe of Russ, and it is thought by some people that it was on account 
of his name and family that the country of which he made himself the 
master is called Russia to this da)% and he did, undoubtedly, found the 
present empire of Russia. 

Rurik brought with him his two brothers and their families and 
followers, but as his brothers soon died he claimed the whole country 
and divided the land among his men. Of course, it was not his to 
divide, but that made no difference to Rurik, who, whether he was invi- 
ted to rule the Slavs, or came among them without invitation, was not 
inclined to let their wishes interfere with his own. lie fi.xed his camp 
in the city on the shores of Lake Ilmen and built a castle there, and thus 
Novgorod became the first capital of the Russian empire. Two of 
^ Rurik's captains were dissatisfied with the division of land and spoil 
made by their chiefs. They concealed their displeasure, but selected 
their time, and with a few of their companions, greedy like themselves 
for plunder, set off secretly from Novgorod, and journeying in their 
crafts down the Great Waterway of the river Dnieper, came to Kief, 
which was, as I have told you, ruled over by the forest conquerors. As 
they voyaged, they plundered every village on the way, and the people of Kief heard 
of the ferocity of the approaching host. Wishing to gain their favor, for they felt 
it madness to withstand them, they sent their elders out to meet them, and invite 
them into the city to become their masters. The Northmen, you may be sure, did 
not refuse an invitation so much to their taste, and the two captains, Ascold and 
Dir, became the princes of Kief. 

Rurik had far more difficulty with his subjects at Novgorod, than had Ascold 
and Dir with those of Kief. 1 le found them treacherous and perpetually planning 
revolt, and only brought them into subjection at the end of seventeen years. It is 
probable that Rurik would then have ventured to Kief to punish Ascold and Dir 
for their desertion and to conquer the city, but he died, and the task was left to Oleg, 
the guardian of Igor, the four-year-old son of the illustrious free-booter. In the 
meantime Ascold and Dir with their Normans and some adventurous spirits from 
among their new subjects, had taken two hundred long-boats, and sailed down to the 
Bosphorus to attack Constantinople, the proud capital of the Greek Emperors, which 
had so long withstood the onslaughts of Asiatic and European barbarians. The Em- 
peror was absent from the city, beating off the Arabs that had invaded his dominions, 
when the news was brought to the patriarch, or head priest of the Greek Church, 
that the Ni^rmans were approaching, murdering his subjects, and plundering his do- 
minions, lie hastened back to Constantinople, and it is said spent a night in prayer 
with the patriarch. The legend goes on to relate that the ne.\t day the patriarch 
took the wonder-working robe once worn by the Mother of Christ, and while the 
astonished Pagans looked and listened, chanted with his priests some mysterious 
words, and dipped the garment into the calm blue waters of the Bosphorus. Imme- 
diately there arose a great tempest that so shattered the vessels of the Normans 
that they were obliged to put back to Kief. The story ends as it should, for it further 
states that Ascold and Dir were so impressed by the miracle they had witnessed, that 
they sent to Constantinople for missionaries to tell them of the religion that was held 
by the Greeks, and that learning of it, they were converted to the faith. You may 



RUSSIA. 



579 




Bishop iu tilt- Casiila, 



accept the legend with "a grain of salt." A storm did 
arise which drove the Russians back, and the rest of 
the story was probably invented by the priests, who 
were too clever to allow such an opportunity for 
impressing a moral, to slip by unimproved. 

Novgorod was a great city, with commerce with 
Persia and India, and Rurik firmly established his 
power in the North. This did not satisfy Oleg, who 
felt that the schemes of conquest of his prince were 
but partly carrietl out. He decided to make the South 
a part of the dominion of young Igor, and' for that pur- 
pose gathered a great army of Finns, Normans and 
Slavs, and set forth in the footsteps of Ascold and Dir. 
He conquered Smolensk and other important places on 
the way, and took Kief by a trick. When he neared 
the city, he hid the main body of his army, and with 
a couple of galleys filled with soldiers, who were con- 
cealed from view, approached Kief, and sent a herald to 

Ascold and Dir, telling them that a merchant from the land of the Northmen desired 
to show them his wares. The two princes came out to view them, and when they 
were near the galleys, Oleg brought out the little prince Igor, and sternly telling 
Ascold and Dir that they were neither princes nor nobles, but that their city belonged 
to the son of their master, Rurik, commanded his soldiers to kill them both. It was 
done, and they were buried in one grave. 

Thus Oleg became master of Kief. He then conquered all of the country 
between the city of Novgorod and Kief, and made the tribes that dwelt to the far 
South pay him tribute. He was so much pleased with Kief that he decided that it 
should be "the mother of Russian cities" and his capital. When Igor was a well- 
grown lad, Oleg determined to attack Constantinople. He had heard much of its 
wealth, for many of the people of Kief were Christians, and had visited the city on the 
Bosphorus. With a body of cavalry that marched on land, as his galleys were rowed 
down the Dnieper, he therefore advanced on Constantinople. When he came into 
the Greek dominions, he treated the subjects of the emperor with great cruelty, and 
ruthlessly plundered towns, burned churches and convents, and desolated the land. 
The inhabitants fled before him to the shelter of the walls of Constantinople, and as 
the emperor knew that he could not withstand an army of eighty thousand men, that 
threatened to besiege the city both by land and water, he determined to treat with 
the invaders. The legend tells us that Oleg fitted wheels to his galleys, and waiting 
for a favoring wind, was wafted thus over the fields, to the very gates of Constan- 
tinople. The messengers of the emperor met him with a show of friendship, and 
brought costly presents of food and wine, which were found to be poisoned, 
and in revenge, when the emperor entreated that the Normans would accept a 
ransom and depart, Oleg named six pounds of silver for every man of his eighty 
thousand soldiers as the least that he would accept, and for himself costly stuffs, gold, 
silver and jewels. The emperor was obliged to accede to his request, and the Nor- 
mans returned to Kief, laden with riches. Afterward Oleg made a treaty with the 
emperor, and ruled over Russia for thirty-three years. 



58o RUSSIA. 

It is sa'ul that Oleg once asked a sooth-sayer — for Pagan that he was, he had the 
firmest faith in witches and wizards — to tell him how he would come to his death. 
The wizard said that the Northman's favorite steed would be his master's doom. 
Oleg at once sent the animal away, and for five years did not ride it or see it. At 
length word was brought to him that his horse was dead, and to convince himself 
that it was true, he went to view the carcass. It was indeed his favorite, and as he 
looked upon the body he scoffed at the prediction of the sooth-sayer and his own 
foolish fears. "There lies the cause of my an.xiety," he said, "the horse is dead, and 
1 am still alive." So saying he spurned the dead brute with his foot, whereupon a 
poisonous snake crawled out of the skull of the animal, stung Oleg on the foot and 
caused his death. I must tell you that the story is an old Iceland legend, and that it 
•was probably "cut to fit," as most such stories are, but it teaches that one should never 
boast that danger is past, until no trace of it remains, though the sooth-sayers drew 
the lesson that man can not escape his destiny, and that sooth-sayers are always to 
be believed. 

Igor, the son of Rurik, was thirty-eight years old when Oleg died, and he began 
his real reign. He made a new e.xpedition against Constantinople, treating the 
people of the dominions of the emperor with even greater cruelty than Oleg had 
<Jone. He was driven off by the Greek fire that the defenders of Constantinople 
showered upon his army, and with a loss of nearly his whole force, returned to Kief. 
He afterward made another more successful raid on. the rich empire to the south, 
and after exacting heavy ransom concluded a treaty. In 945 when he was seventy- 
three years old, he made an expedition against the Forest-folk to the w-est of the 
Pripet, a wild, fierce race of men whom he had conquered. When they yielded to 
him it was only on the condition that they should pay a certain tribute of furs and 
skins. Igor now wished to increase the tribute. He came upon tiiem unexpectedly 
with an army, and they were obliged to yield to most unreasonable demands. Igor 
was returning with his tribute to his capital, when he began to feel downcast and 
sorry. He was afraid that he had not been severe enough, and that he had left the 
unhappy forest people too much of the product of their labor. At last he determined 
to go back and wring more tribute from them. Taking but a small force, he re- 
entered their village, and demanded more tribute. The P'orest-folk were justly 
angry, and falling on the avaricious Norman, killed him. and all his men, and very 
properly, too, I think you will agree. 

Igor had a fair, brave young wife, taken from among his Norman countrymen. 
This princess, Olga, was made guardian of the little prince, Sviatoslaf. She was as 
crafty and wise as she was beautiful, and though she determined at once to avenge 
the death of her husband, she knew how to bide her time. The Poorest-folk fully 
expected that the Russians from Kief would come out against them, and made alli- 
ances with neighoring tribes and prepared for a stubborn resistance. Time passed on 
but Olga made no movement against them, and they were deceived into thinking 
that she was glad that Igor was dead, and she was ruler in his stead. She appeared 
so friendly to them, that at last the elders made up their minds that it would be an 
excellent thing for their prince to marry Igor's widow, and thus they would come into 
the possession of the city of their enemj'. A number of the head men of the Forest- 
folk were accordingly sent to Kief with the proposal for the hand of Olga, who heard 
them through, then had them seized and buried alive. -She sent a message to the 
Forest-folk, telling them that their head men were enjoying tbemselves right royally 



RUSSIA. 



581 




Byzantino Emperor. 



in Kief, but if they would succeed in gaining the Prin- 
cess Olga as a bride for their prince, they must send 
the noblest of their chiefs to speak of the matter, for 
with them only would she consult. The Forest-folk 
were highly flattered and sent their greatest chief- 
tains to the cruel princess, who met them with a show 
of pleasure, and pretended that she was causing a 
banquet to be prepared for them. Perhaps she held 
the prospect of the banquet out to induce them to take a 
bath, for she did persuade them to do so, then parboiled 
them to death in the water which she caused to be 
gradually heated. Still the Forest-folk did not know 
what had happened to their countrymen. To further 
deceive them, Olga commanded them to assemble to 
meet her, as she, herself, would visit them, and 
learn their wishes. They came to the number of 
hve thousand. She caused them to be made drunk 
with mead, then she killed all of them except such 
as her attendants desired for slaves, and marched 
against the town where Igor lost his life with a large 
army. The brave Forest Folk made a most heroic 
defense, and seeing that she would not be able to take the place. Olga offered 
to depart in forty-eight hours and molest them no more, if the elders would send 
to her camp two sparrows and two pigeons from every roof in the city. This was 
considered a very strange request, but the Forest-folk were glad to be let off so 
cheaply, and at once sent the birds. Had they been wiser, they would have refused 
to do anything that Olga demanded, for they were no match for the cunning and 
revengeful princess. No doubt you will wonder what harm could have been done by 
rendering such tribute. Olga caused rags or tow soaked in oil to be fastened to the 
tail of each bird. At sunset, she had them set free, after the rags had been lighted, 
the swallows flying to the roofs of the houses set them on fire, while the pigeons 
seeking their nests in the barns spread the conflagration. The frightened people 
opened the gates of the town and as they Bed from the fire, were cut down by 
Olga's soldiers. 

Olga ruled over the Slavs for twelve years, and she was as firm and wise as Rurik 
himself, perhaps even more so. Those were not the days when gentleness or soft- 
ness of character were appreciated, and Olga was a heroine suited to the times. She 
kept her quarrelsome subjects in strict order, and caused them to build many new 
towns and villages, to lay out roads through the fields and forests, and decided their 
quarrels with fairness. She even made provision for the administration of the laws, 
and did so many other things for the country, that Russians now look upon her as 
the mother of civilization in their country. She was the first Christian ruler of 
Russia, though there is nothing to show that she was Christian except in name. 

It seems that Olga had heard much of the faith of the emperors of Constan- 
tinople, not only from the missionaries that from time to time made their way into 
Russia, but from converts to that faith among her own subjects. She was not satisfied 
with the Pagan gods of the Slavs, and after her son was old enough to take charge 
of his kingdom himself, she made a journey to Constantinople to learn from the best 



582 RUSSIA.. 

authority concerning the Christian faith. She succeeded in convincing the patriarch 
that she was in earnest in desiring to learn of the new doctrines, and he baptized 
her, giving her the Greek name Helen. She made a long visit to the city, and 
when she set out upon her return, the emperor loaded her with valuable gifts. She 
promised to send in exchange fur and wax. which were articles most commonly 
exported to other countries from Russia, and which were highly prized by the Greek 
emperors, and what they desired most of all, some of her stout, brave, fierce, young 
soldiers, to be recruits for the not over-valiant army of the Eastern emperor. 

The Emperor waited a long time for Olga to send him these, and finally mes- 
sengers were dispatched asking especially for the soldiers, for the Emperor was sorely 
pressed by the Turks. Olga made all manner of excuses, but did not send the Em- 
peror any men, neither did she present him with wax and furs, so her conversion to 
the principles of truth and honesty that lie at the basis of Christianity may well be 
doubted. Sviatoslaf was more sincere than Olga. He was a Pagan and a frce-booter 
by nature and did not pretend to hide it. He loved his mother, but she tired him 
with her talk about the new religion and about what he ought to do for the country. 
He cared little enough for the country so that he was kept busy fighting and secured 
a reasonable amount of booty. He hated wooden walls and loved to live in the open 
air. He therefore dismissed all of the servants that his mother had kept about him, 
when he took charge of affairs and placing himself at the head of a few bold, fierce 
fellows like himself, spent his time in raids and forays, eating horse-flesh raw for 
his food, and drinking the milk of mares as did the Scythians of the days of Cyrus 
The Great. 

Olga, finding that the kingdom was neglected, took charge of its affairs again 
and carried them on as vigorously as she had done before. After she died, her son 
was several times on the point of losing the new posessions that he had gained by his 
sword. Through his whole life Sviatoslaf had a contempt for the Christian religion. 
He could not understand how gentleness, love and forgiveness, could be rightfully 
considered as worthy of warriors. Revenge, hatred and conquest were, he thought, 
the more honorable, and while he believed that the religion of Christ might "be good 
enough for women and children," and in spite of the fact that Olga was a Christian, 
he discouraged the religion and it diil not spread rapidly in his kingdom. 

Upon one occasion while Sviatoslaf was absent from his capital, the Petchenegs, 
a wild tribe whom he had once subdued and made pay tribute, appeared before the 
walls of Kief, and besieged the city, reducing his mother and his three sons to great 
extremity. He was absent at the time on one of his plundering expeditions, and 
when he returned, punished the Petchenegs, then set forth to conquer the Bulgarians, 
and make their city his capital. He had his eye on Constantinople, and desired to 
abandon Kief so that in time he might come into possession of the Queen of the 
East, the fair city of the Bosphorus. The Greek Emperor knew what the barbarian 
prince designed, and when he saw him established in the Bulgarian capital, sent him 
a stern message to approach no nearer his dominions. Sviatoslaf returned an 
insolent answer, and the Emperor gathered a large force and marched against the 
Russians. They fought with the utmost bravery, but were driven back towards Kief, 
after a long siege in which the barbarians suffered severely. Weakened by famine, 
they were passing through the country of the Petchenegs, when those inveterate and 
savage foes fell upon them and killed nearly all of Sviatoslaf's army, and the prince 
himself. It is said that the chief of the Petchenegs had the skull of the Russian 



RUSSIA. 



583 




prince fashioned into a drinking-cup, upon wiiich was 
inscribed in golden letters this sentence: "In striving 
to grasp what belonged to another, thou didst lose 
what was thine own." 

Sviatoslaf was killed in 945, and as Olga was dead, 
the government was divided between his three sons. 
Vladimir was made Prince of Novgorod, Yaropolk 
Prince of Kief, and Oleg was made ruler of the Forest- 
folk. Oleg was a passionate lover of the chase, and 
because the son of one of his nobles was found hunt- 
ing in the forest that he had reserved for his own sport, 
he killed the youth. This deed so angered the father 
of the young man, that he persuaded Yaropolk to 
bring an army against Oleg. The Prince of the Forest- 
folk was slain. Vladimir feared that his brother, ^n. 
would seek his life also, and fled to Norway. Yaro- _" 
polk then conquered the Petchenegs, and became the 
ruler of all Russia. Vladimir remained' two years in 
Norway and then returned with an army. Before his Byzuntim> \v;iiri..r. 

return he heard that his brother was about to marry a beautiful princess named 
Rogneda, whose father, a Norman, had made himself prince of Polotsk. He sent 
to her and demanded her hand, but she replied that she would never marry the 
son of a slave. Vladimir's mother was a bondmaid. Vladimir came against Po- 
lotsk, killed the father and the brothers of the haughty princess, and forced her to 
become his wife. He then advanced against Kief. He persuaded his brother to 
come to him to hold a parley and to simplify matters, had him murdered. This 
clone, he entered Kief. He afterward subdued the Poles, brought all the tribes 
under tribute, and made himself Grand Prince of all Russia. 

Vladimir was as fierce and bloody a prince as ever sat upon a throne. He had 
not only murdered his brothers to gain the crown, but his wife's father and brothers 
had fallen victims to his revengeful fury. It was not because he was really in want 
of a wife that he had demanded her hand of Rogneda, for he had four wives already. 
\Vhen he had established himself on the throne of Russia, he followed the example 
of some of the ancient kings and kept harems. Nearly four thousand women were 
enslaved by this savage prince, who was fond of magnificence and pleasure. He 
made the tribes on the borders of Russia pay tribute and carried matters with a 
high hand. Up to this time the Russians had really been only a number of petty 
tribes paying tribute, it is true, to the rulers of the country, but counting themselves 
as nearly independent. Vladimir, like Clovis of France really united the kingdom 
under one rule, but he did more than that, for he made the Russians in name at 
least, a Christian people. 

One would hardly think that a man of the stamp, of Vladimir would give much 
attention to the subject of religion, but he nevertheless did so. When he had been 
a little while on the throne he caused new ornaments to be made for the god Peroun, 
and gave a great feast to him. There is a legeml that relates that Vladimir, accord- 
ing to the ancient custom of the Pagan Russians, determined to sacrifice a human vic- 
tim to Peroun of the golden whiskers. He chose for the purpose a young man, a 
descendant of the Northern conquerors, whose father was a Christian. Enraged at 



584 



RUSSIA. 




the choice of the king, the father of the intended 
victim came boldly to Vladimir, reviled Peroun as a 
log of wood with neither sense nor power, and de- 
clared that the gods of the king were senseless idols 
and that the Greeks worshipped the true god. The 
people of Kief were so enraged at the boldness of 
the Christian in mocking at their gods, that they set 
upon him, killed him and his son, and tore down his 
dwelling. These were the first Christian martyrs of 
Russia, and I am happy to be able to relate that they 
were the last, though it may be that if the people 
had believed earnestly enough in Christianity to die 
for it, Russia would not have remained at heart Pa- 
L^an until nearly the close of the twelfth century. On 
he spot, where these two Christians lost their lives a 
great Church was afterward built, and I will now tell 
you how Russia became converted. 

X'ladimir, in spite of his personal cruelty, jealousy 
Byzantine Emperor and iTiiicss. ^^^j savagery had thought Very much concerning re- 

ligion. When he found that he gained no peace of mind by decorating Peroun and 
worshipping him with the ancient ceremonies, he began to look about him for a more 
satisfactory religion. There had been a few Christians of the Arian faith in Russia, 
since the days of Ascold and Dir, and near to the country, in Bulgaria, there were 
many Mohammedans. In a southern province there were Jews, and many Catholics 
had in the course of time entered the Empire from Roman Gaul and Western Europe. 
Vladimir had thus been brought more or less in contact with the principal religions 
of the world, but had not studied them. He now determined to send some of his 
most trusted advisers forth to study all these creeds and to decide upon the one that 
was suitable for the Russians. When they came back to Kief they told Vladimir that 
they had visited the Catholic churches of the West had inquired of the Jews and 
Mohammedans concerning their faith, but the ceremonies of the church at Constan- 
tinople impressed tliem most favorably of all. Of course when it became known that 
Vladimir was searching for a faith, missionaries from all the creeds flocked to him 
to convince him that theirs was the only good religion. He asked the Catholics 
about the Pope and his authority, and what they told him determined him to have 
nothing to do with that religion, for he was suspicious that the Pope might meddle 
with the affairs of the kingdom and had no desire to have him thundering curses into 
his ears as he had from the earliest times cursed the monarchs of Western Europe 
when they went contrary to his will. Next he inquired of the Mohammedans con- 
cerning their religion. He knew something of it already and was half inclined to 
accept it, for the Koran allowed him many wives and the heaven it promised with its 
beautiful houris, its feasts and pleasures, exactly suited the taste of this luxurious bar- 
barian, but when he learned that the Koran forbade the drinking of wine, he rejected 
the Mohammedan faith declaring that he could not, on any account, do without wine. 
The first question he asked of the Jews was "Where is your country?" The 
Jewish teachers sadly answered that they had no longer any country, but that they 
had lost their visible kingdom through their disobedience to the commands of their 



RUSSIA. 



585 




Byzantiiip Deacon. BUliup ttinl Levite. 

He called together his 



God, and were suffering under his curse. "Get 
you gone," thundered Vladimir, "How dare you 
seek to bring me and my people too, under the 
curse." The counsellors now again reminded him 
of the gorgeous ritual of the Greek Church at 
Constantinople and told him that there was in it 
no Latin service to perplex the people, no Pope with 
unlimited power to vex him. Furthermore they re- 
minded him that the wise Olga, his grandmother, 
had been baptizetl a Christian of the Greek faith, 
and if it had not been the best religion in the whole 
world she would not have chosen it. This decided 
him to be baptizeil in the Greek faith. 

It was not in the nature of XHadimir to sue hum- 
bly to the Patriarch of Constantinople and request 
him to send him teachers of the religious faith of 
his grandmother. He cared for nothing that he did 
not win by his own sword, and the blood and 
suffering of others. He wanted to seize upon 
religion as he had grasped upon everything else 
that he valued as worth possessing, antl take it by force 
fierce warriors and marched to the Crimea to besiege the only city, excepting Con- 
stantinople, that was still held in the East by the Greek emperors. The name of this 
place was Korsun, and when the people heard that the terrible Slavs were coming 
against them, they shut themselves up behind the walls of their town and defended 
themselves with the greatest bravery for six months. Finally a traitor shot an arrow 
into the Russian camp, and to the arrow was attached a letter, telling Vladimirwhere 
the pipes were from which the people of the city drew their supply of water. 

Vladimir caused the water to be at once cut off from the town, and tortured with 
thirst, the people were compelled to surrender. He treated them with dreadful 
cruelty, and, made prouder than ever by his conquest, he sent to the Emperors Basil 
and Constantine, who ruled at the time over Constantinople, and demanded that they 
should give him their beautiful sister Anna in marriage. 

Anna had a good excuse for refusing her barbarous suitor, who already had more 
wives than King Solomon of old married. She declared that she would never marry 
a heathen, and the ambassadors from the Slavs returned this answer to their king. 
Vladimir had expected this reply, and while the ambassadors were absent at Con- 
stantinople, he had compelled the priests of Korsun to baptize him a Christian. He 
therefore replied that he was no longer a heathen, Init a son of the true church, and 
knowing that if they refused to give Anna to the Northern king he would probably 
come and take her by force, and their city as well, the Emperors of Constantinople 
chose rather to win his friendship by agreeing to the marriage. Poor Anna was 
unwillingly compelled to go to Korsun to marry Vladimir, and as she left Constan- 
tinople behind, she sadly said to one of her friends, "I go into sad captivity. Better 
far were it that I should go to my grave." Vladimir was charmed with his beautiful 
bride, and they were married with the most splendid ceremonies by the priests of 
Korsun. The king returned to Kief, carrying with him the captive priests, and among 
other articles of plunder the holy vessels from the churches of Korsun, which he 
caused to be placed in the churches he afterward built in Kief. 



586 RUSSIA. 

No sooner had X'ladimir arrived at his capital, than he sent forth word that the 
Russians must be baptised Christians, or be considered as enemies, and punished. 
Then he assembled the people at a certain day, to receive baptism. He caused 
Peroun to be thrown down in their presence, belabored with the cudgels of a dozen 
brawny soldiers, and cast into the Dnieper. The idol was carried by the tide to the 
•shore, and the people were about to rush to it and worship it, when the prince com- 
manded them to pause, and again had the image cast into the stream. It sunk, and 
as the sky did not fall, as the Pagan Russians at first supposed it certainly would, 
they lost faith in Peroun on the instant, and when Vladimir commanded them to wade 
into the water up to their necks while the priests said the baptismal service, they did 
so. All over Russia similar scenes were enacted, and thus the nation from being 
Pagan, became Christian. 

Vladimir the fierce, now became Vladimir the gentle, and won the name of The 
Beautiful Sun of Kief. He built churches and convents, established schools, where 
he compelled the people to send their children to learn what the Slavs considered the 
unholy magic of reading and writing, invited artists and architects into the country 
to improve the cities, made good laws and ruled with wisdom. In fact he was so 
mild that the bandits began to take advantage, and the priests themselves, counseled 
him to go out against them. He did so, and scourged them into good behavior. In 
the latter year of his reign, the Petchenegs became troublesome. There is a legend 
that relates that the Petchenegs proposed that one of their champions shoukl meet a 
champion of Kief in single combat, and if the issue was with Kief, there ^hould be 
peace for three years. If the victory was with the Petchenegs, then there should be 
instant war. The champion of the Petchenegs was a huge giant, and \'aladimir was 
troubled in his mind about whom he should send against him. An old tanner of the 
city went to the princeand told him that he had a young son who should be the 
David of the city. The prince had the youth brought before him, and to demon- 
strate his strength, the tanner's son, tore a mad bull in pieces. Of course he went 
out against the gigantic champion of the Petchenegs and vanquished him. These 
warlike Petchenegs were once nicely fooled by the dwellers in the White City on the 
Don. They had closely besieged the place for a long time, when the citizens invited 
a few of them into the town, and showed them that they could draw dough and 
honey from their wells, and it would be useless longer to besiege a town where the 
€arth gave such a natural store of food. At first the Petchenegs were incredulous- 
but when the citizens whom they asked about their wells, one and all invited them to 
witness that they could really draw food from them, they were convinced. The fact 
was, that this plan had been agreed upon, and every citizen had lowered cauldrons of 
dough and of honey into their wells, to deceive the credulous enemy. 

There are hundreds of legends about Vladimir and his companions. In fact he 
is the King Arthur of Russian story. He battled with the heathen and monsters, and 
was beloved by his people as a real hero. He made a peace with the Bulgars that 
was to last until mill-stones float, and hops sink in the water, but it did not continue 
until that time. He subdued the unruly, but was imposed upon by his large family, 
who fell to quarreling about his dominions. He died in 1015. as he was on the march 
against one of his unruly sons, and Russia was in dire confusion lor some years 
thereafter. 

Vladimir had adopted as his son, the son of his brother a Varopolk, who not 
unnaturully. thought himself entitled to the kingdom, after the death of his uncle 



RUSSIA. 587 

He murdered his adopted brothers Boris and Gleib, and then the Prince of the 
Forest-folk fell by his hand. Yaroslav, the son of Vladimir, was so incensed at the 
murder of his brothers, that he raised a great army, and marched against their mur- 
derer. The forces of the two princes met on a winter day, on the banks of a river. 
There was a dreadful battle, in which Yaroslav was the victor, and his cruel cousin 
Sviatopolk, fled for his life to the protection of his wife's father, the king of Poland. 
Soon he gathered an army of I^oles and Germans, and about a year after he was 
driven from Russia appeared before Kief. Yaroslav was defeated and escaped from 
the city at great peril. He went to Novgorod, and was about to take ship for Nor- 
way, when his countrymen burned his vessels, and thus compelled him to accede to 
their demands to stay and again try his strength with Sviatopolk. 

He gathered an army and again marched to meet the usurper. On the banks of 
the river Alta, the forces of the two princes met. In the meantime Sviatopolk had 
quarreled with his father-in-law, who had left him in a huff, and gone back to 
Poland. The cruel Sviatopolk then fell upon his Polish auxiliaries and massacred 
them. He was alarmed when he heard that Yaroslav had not left the country, but 
was approaching with an army, and secured the Petchenegs to aid him. The em- 
ployment of these savages, angered the .Slavs who were of his force, and they were 
unwilling to fight with them against their lawful prince. There was a great battle 
on the Alta, and near the place where Boris was slain, Sviatopolk was hopelessly 
defeated. He fled almost alone from the battlefield, and died a miserable wanderer, 
crime-haunted and nearly mad, in the deserts of Bohemia. 

Yaroslav was a great and good ruler. He conquered many cities, founded con- 
vents, churches and schools, and brought Russia in touch with Western Europe. One 
of his daughters married the King of France, another became the wife of gallant 
Harold Hardrada, another married the King of Poland. His own wife was a Swedish 
princess, and his sons married the daughters of European kings. One of the greatest 
works of this son of Vladimir, was the translation of the Bible and other sacred 
works into Russian. He also had a written code of laws, which are rude, to be sure, 
but show that the idea of justice for the weak against the power of the strong, was 
beginning to take root in Russia. Kief, in the days of Yaroslav, became a magnificent 
city. It had walls and gilded towers, and a golden gate. It was divided into three 
parts, each with its own churches, schools and fortifications. There were eight 
markets in the city, and in those markets merchants from Germany, Holland, Sweden 
and the South sold their wares. 

Yaroslav, like most of the early princes of Russia, made an attempt on Constan- 
tinople. He sent his. son against the city with a fleet, but the Greek fire of the 
defenders of the city burnt a part of their vessels, the rest were scattered by a storm, 
and with a loss of more than eight thousand soldiers, the expedition was abandoned. 
It was about the time that Yaroslav sent this force against the city of the emperors, 
that there was an inscription found on the boot of the statue of Bellerophon in Con- 
stantinople, that prophesied that men from the North should capture the city. The 
Russians to this day covet Constantinople, for to them it is the closed gateway to the 
commerce of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, but the prophecy of the inscrip- 
tion remains to be fulfilled. When Yaroslav died, in the year 1054, after a glorious 
reign of five-and-thirty years, he repeated the mistake of his father, and divided his 
dominion among his four sons. 

The next century of Russian history is one long story of broils and dissensions, 



588 



RUSSIA. 



following the bad policy of dividing the Empire among the heirs of the rulers, the 
country in time became only a confederation of provinces, whose quarrels often dis- 
placed the Grand Duke or Prince, and worked untold misery. In the year 1168 
Andrew, the prince of SouzdaI,a large province of Central Russia, determined to put 
an end to the anarchy that prevailed, and unite the provinces under one rule. Of course 
he intended that rule to be his own, and patiently schemed to make himself strong 
enough to attack Kief, lie won ten princes to his aid, and they successfully attacked 
the old city on the Dnieper, ruthlessly sacked it, burned it, and carried many of its 
treasures away. V ladimir, the capital of Souzdal, became a large and beautiful city, 
and the decline of Kief was thus hastened. Having conquered Kief, the ambitious 
Andrew made an attempt on Novgorod. 

The city of Rurik had discarded its hereditary princes, and become a sort of a 




The MoDgoUan Hordes Croftslnff Tlip VotKa. 

republic. The citizens were a fickle and unruly sort, that possesed power to choose and 
dismiss their governors at will. In the hundred years following their democratic organi- 
zation, Novgorod had thirty-four rulers, but in spite of their fickleness, the people were 
still brave, and they had not only built up a great city, but had the largest commerce of 
any Russian town, and they were determined that neither should fall into the hands of 
-Andrew, whose ambition was known to them. It is said that when the Prince of 
Souzdal marched against Novgorod, the priests took from the church of Saint Sophia 
a picture of the Virgin that was able to work miracles, and carried it around the walls 
of the town. The legend relates that one of the soldiers of Andrew's army shot an 
arrow and struck the picture, where upon it turned its head and shed a flood of tears. 
The people were so incensed at the insult offered to their "ikon," or wonder-working 
picture, that they rushed upon the invaders with much fury and completely routed 



RUSSIA. 589 

them. Some time afterward, however, a descendant of Andrew of Souzdal, captured 
the city and held it for a brief period. It then broke away, and until the year 1553 
was a free and flourishing community, a member of the Hanseatic League. 

Andrew of Souzdal never realized his ambition of uniting the provinces of Russia 
under one rule. He was murdered by his enemies, and his schemes caused his 
descendants untold trouble, for without the cleverness of Andrew, they inherited his 
ambition, and in striving to make themselves supreme, deluged the country with 
blood, and distracted the energies of the people so that they were unable to resist 
the Poles, Lithuanians, Livonians and Finns, who invaded its borders. In 1223 a foe 
appeared in Russia more formidable than any of these, and for a time it seemed that 
not only the civilization of the Slavs, but the old and rich civilization of the Latins, 
and the nations of Western Europe, must also fall before the power from Asia, that 
remorselessly scourged the countries of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. You will 
doubtless remember the exploits of Attila the Hun, and how the Romans and bar- 
barians united to break his power, and bound his conquests. The new "Scourge of 
God" was of the same Mongolian origin, and his followers in every essential were 
like those of Attila. Their home had been for ages at the foot of the Altai moun- 
tains, where they were divided into a number of fierce and warlike tribes. In the 
early part of the twelfth century, one of their chiefs, named Termudgin, united these 
tribes, and began a career of conquest. When Termudgin died, he left his son thir- 
teen years old, the chieftain of fifty thousand families. Some of the chiefs, who had 
been conquered by his father, attempted to throw off their subjection, but the lad 
had seventy of them drowned in scalding water, and showed even at that early age 
such an indomitable spirit, that the others were afraid to resist him. When he had 
firmly established his power over the tribes, he threw off his allegiance to the Em- 
perors of China, and breaking through the Great Wall, desolated the rich Empire, 
and made himself its master. Then the Tartars, as they were called, after subduing 
•every country to the East, until their progress was stopped by the Pacific, turned 
Westward, and, conquering as they went, killing multitudes of people, sacking cities, 
and carrying desolation and terror before them, entered Western Asia. Their leader 
had taken the proud title "Zinghis Khan" the lord of the earth, and even the fierce 
Turks, who occupied the lands where once flourished the old Empires of which I have 
told you, could make no headway against him. For three years he devastated their 
lands, then suddenly his hosts appeared west of the mountains that separated Russia 
in Europe from the country that is now known to us as Russia in Asia, though at that 
time, it was the boundary of European possession and civilization. 

The tribe of Polovtsi, always the foes of the Slavs, were the first to feel the wrath 
of the conquerors, and fleeing to Kief, they carried the news of the invasion, and 
warned the Slavs of their impending doom. The princes realized the imminence and 
gravity of the danger that threatened them, and laying aside for the time their 
mutual quarrels, united for the common defense. They resolved that they would 
not wait to be attacked, but would seek the foe, and drive him out of the country. 
Accordingly they collected a large army, and marched against the two Tartar 
leaders who had been sent by Zenghis Khan to subject Europe. They found the Tar- 
tar host encamped on the banks of the river Kalka, and at once gave them battle. 
The Polovtsi had joined with the Slavs, but in the hour of danger, either from fear 
or treachery, rendered no aid to their allies. The prince of Kief, also betrayed the 
cause, and refused to aid in the fight, and the Slavs were routed with great slaughter. 



5QO RUSSIA. 

This was in the year 1225, and thereafter the Tartars ravaged all of Southern 
Russia, to the banks of the Dnieper, carrying thousands of the population away into 
slavery, burning cities and towns, and committing untold atrocities. The Tartars 
suddenly left Russia, and hied them back to their far-away homes. For the next 
dozen years they made no trouble. Instead of profiting by their experience, and 
preparing against any future invasions by raising armies and training them for the 
common defense, the Russian princes weakened themselves, and wasted their strength 
in quarrels as usual, and when the Tartars came again in 1239, they found them even 
a more easy prey than before. 

Zenghis Khan was long since dead, but his grandson. Baton, had inherited his 
power and his ferocity. He attacked and subdued Bulgaria, and then invaded the 
Russian province of Raizan. The prince of that province implored the aid of the 
other Russian princes to beat off the Tartars, and though he represented to them 
how much easier it would be to keep them out than to drive them out after they had 
once entered the Empire, the other princes seemed utterl)^ indifferent, and left him 
to his fate. The invaders overran Raizan, and advanced into the heart of the Em- 
pire, burning and sacking Moscow, \'ladimir, and many other rich cities. .At Vladi- 
mir, the people made a stubborn resistance. When the nobles saw that the place 
would be taken, they shut themselves up with their wives and children in the prin- 
cipal church of the town, and set it on fire, perishing in the flames. The citizens, to 
the last, refused to open the gates of the town, and breaches were made in the walls, 
the Tartars entered, and killed every man, woman and child that they could find. 
Novgorod was spared. The Tartars advanced to within si.\ty miles of the city, when 
they learned that the spring rains had so swollen the streams lying in their course, 
that they were impassible. They therefore turned back, and spent the ne.\t two 
■years in ravaging southern Russia. 

The desolation of former Tartar raids was merciful compared with that which 
Baton visited on the defenseless communities of southern Russia. The land over 
which the Tartars passed was left an absolute desert. Tchernigof fell, then Kief was 
attacked. More than a hunilred years before. Kief had been taken and burned. 
Andrew of Souzdal struck the second blow at the "mother of Russian cities" and 
the Tartars gave it the death wound. The place was strongly garrisoned, and made 
a stubborn defense. When the people saw that the battering rams that were kept 
busy night and day at the defenses would at last succeed in breaking them down, some 
of the nobles built a strong wall around a church, and resolved to sell their lives 
dearly, when the besiegers should gain an entrance. Others retired to the Church 
of Saint Sophia, but they crowded it so full of their treasures, that the floors gave 
way, and in the confusion of this disaster, they fell an easy prey to the Tartars, who 
turned Kief into a heap of ruins, and ruthlessly murdered all its people. The com- 
mander of the garrison was taken alive, and brought before Baton. The Tartar chief 
was struck with the noble and fearless bearing of the prisoner, and asked him many 
questions. The captive told the Khan, that there was nothing more to be gained by 
ravaging Russia, that the people were impoverished and the chief cities in ruins. 
He pointed out to him that Poland and Hungary were better fields for operation, 
and Baton perceiving the good sense of the advise, at once took it. He left Russia, 
and passing westward into Bohemia and Hungary, continued his career of plunder. 
Just as the rulers of the German Empire, France and Bohemia were about to lead a 
crusade against him. Baton heard of the death of his uncle, the second ruler of 



RUSSIA. 



591 




Bnyar.— Czar. — Bttyar 



the vast Mon.tjol Empire, and turned back to Asia. 
On his way he founded the city of Sarai on one of the 
lower branches of the Volga, as a home for "The Gol- 
den Horde" as the conquering Tartars called them- 
selves. It was from that city that Eastern Europe was 
ruled for some time. The Mongol Empire then em- 
braced all of Russia, Eastern Europe, China and nearly 
the whole of northen and central Asia. 

In 1294, after the reign of Kubla Khan, the grand- 
son of the great Zenghis, and the cousin of Baton, the 
Mongolian Empire fell to pieces. The possessions 
won by Baton for the Golden Horde called the Kipt- 
chak, existed for two centuries, and continued to rule 
Russia. The Tartars did not change the tlivisions of 
the provinces, nor the administration of the laws, but 
they appointed the Grand Princes, and kept up a con- 
tinual strife and rivalry for that office, knowing as long 
as there was division among the people, their own 
power would not be in any serious danger. Novgorod 
had to pay the intolerable ta.xes that were levied by 
the conquerors. At one time, it seemed that a brave 
man of that city, who had gained the name of Alexander of the Neva, because he had 
beaten off Swedish invaders who intended to force Novgorod to accept Catholicism 
at the point of his sword would free Russia. He also delivered Pskof from The 
Knights of the Sword, and drove off the Lithuanians, who had an ambition to make 
Novgorod tributary. This hero visited the Great Khan in his palace in Asia, and 
convinced himself that it was useless for his countrymen to refuse to pay the tribute, 
for they had not the strength to cope with the great Empire of the Mongols. 
He was made Prince of Kief and Grand Prince of Vladimir. 

The Tartars soon found that it was a troublesome business to collect the taxes 
that they had levied on the people of Russia, and they delegated that work to a class 
of men called Baskaks. These Baskaks were insolent fellows, and revolt after revolt 
was organized against them, but the Russians soon found that if they did not pay the 
taxes, the Tartars would come and plunder them of their all, and thus they submitted. 
For nearly two hundred years the Russians were abject vassals of the Golden Horde. 
One of their Grand Princes, Ivan of the Purse, even became a Baskak, but as he 
made Moscow one of the important cities of Russia, and annexed to it much territory, 
he deserves at least passing mention. He died in 1340, and was followed by two 
weak princes, and then by Dimitry, one of the bravest Russians of his time. Dimitry 
paid tribute to the Golden Horde, as so many of his ancestors had done, but unlike 
them he refused to receive the ambassadors from Sarai as though he was a slave. 
Other Grand Princes had spread sable furs for the horse of the ambassadors to tread 
upon, had offered the messenger of the Khan a cup of mare's milk, had licked 
off with the tongue any stray drops that might happen to fall upon the animal's neck, 
and had fed the steed from the royal cap in the open street. Those who had refused 
these petty degradations, were put to death, and there were few who dared to anger 
their conquerors, by refusing the most unreasonable and humiliating requests. 
Dimitry, who came to the throne of Moscow in 1.^62, told the Khan of the Golden 



592 



RUSSIA. 




Horde that he would render tribute only 
on the condition that the Russians were 
free from violence and humiliation, and 
when the Khan sent for him to come 
to Sarai, he refused to go. In 1374 the 
Tartar tax-gatherers made a disturbance 
in a Russian town. The Khan sent a 
force to punish the Russians, but the Tar- 
"^Upland swKh. tars w^ere defeated. The Tartar chief- 

tain then vowed that he would surely inflict on poor unfortunate Russia all the 
terrors with which Batou had visited them so long before. He. collected a vast army, 
but he could not frighten Dimitry. The Russian prince knew how to fight, and 
allying with him all of the princes except one, who aided the Horde, he marched 
against the Tartars with 100,000 men. At Kuilikovo he encountered the Golden 
Horde and their allies. A terrible battle was fought in which the Russians were the 
victors. Eight years later the Tartars had their revenge. The Russian princes fell 
to quarreling among themselves, and dissolved their league. Dimitry could gather 
no force to oppose the Tartars, and they invaded the country, swept everything 
before them, advanced upon Moscow which they took and burned, leaving twenty- 
four thousand corpses behind its walls. 

One of the successors of Dimitry, known as Ivan the Great, though he was not 
a great man in any sense of the word, had the good fortune to gather the provinces 
under one rule, and make himself Tzar, or as we usually write it. Czar. This prince 
was a mean coward, a liar and a hypocrite, yet he knew how to form large plans and 
hold to them. He contrived to set the Khan of Crimea and the Khan of Sarai 
against each other, for the Tartars of the Golden Horde were then divided, and 
when the Khan of the Crimea, who was his ally, defeated the other Khan, Ivan 
claimed the honor of the victory himself. This division and strife among the Golden 
Horde broke their power in Europe. It was not until thirty years after the death of 
Ivan that the Tartars ceased to be a menace to Russia and Europe. They split into 
parties, quarreled among themselves, were harassed by the Russians, lost all of their 
power, and gradually withdrew from Europe, except in the Crimea, or were absorbed 
into the nations among whom they had lived for two centuries as masters and 
conquerors. Their capital city disappeared from the face of the earth, and no man 
even remembered where it had been. About fifty years ago, an engineer who was 
mapping the country on which it stood, noticed some strange hillocks. He had his 
workmen shovel off the mold and sod, and brought to view the ruins of the proud 
Tartar city so long dead and forgotten. 

Of course this long time when the Tartars held the rule over Russia greatly in- 
fluenced the character of the people. Although the Tartars are Mohammedans, 
having been converted, as I have told you, in the early years of their wanderings in 
southern Europe, they were not so set upon having every nation that they conquered 
become Mohammedans as were the Saracens. Indeed, if they had been, the story 
of Russia would have been greatly different and perhaps the story of the rest of the 
world might have been changed too, for had the Russian Empire been converted to 
Mohammedanism it would have been an easy thing for the Saracens to have conquered 
Western Europe. The Khans allowed the Russians to worship in their own way, and 
it is said that some of the Khans allowed Greek Churches to be built in their own 



RUSSIA. 



593 




•capitals, and made no objection to their daugh- 
ters becoming Christians and marrying the 
Russian princes. Yet in another way the Russ- 
ians were sadly changed by the Tartars. I must 
tell you that for centuries the cruel laws which 
allowed people to be killed or lose their hand 
or limbs for slight offenses, were not known 
in Russia. Neither was it the custom to torture, 
persons to make them confess to crime as it was 
in Western Europe then and at a much later day. 
In fact punishment by death, even for murder, 
was unknown, and a Slav who committed any 
offense against the king or his fellow-men, was 
allowed to pay in money for the offense, the 
sum being set down by law. The Tartars and 
the Greek Emperors of Constantinople taught 
the Russians to be cruel in their laws, to .torture 
flog, and burn at the stake, their unhappy crim- 
inals, to prostrate themselves in the dust before 
their superiors and to wear the turbans, long 
robes and strange dress that even now is seen in 
some parts of Russia. 

The first ruler of Russia after the fall of 
the Golden Horde was also the grandson of 
Ivan the Great, known in history as "Ivan The Terrible." 

"terrible" ruler of Europe at that time, for when he sat on the throne of Russia, 
Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain was burning, slaying and torturing the unhappy 
Protestants of Spain and the Netherlands, Henry VIII. and Bloody Mary were filling 
England with terror, and The wicked Catherine de Medici was the ruler in spirit if 
not in name of France. Ivan's father had married a woman who was very different 
from most Russian women at that time, for the Russians kept their wives very closely 
at home, and women were not educated as were men, and were not supposed to have 
any interest in public affairs. Ivan's mother, Helena Glinsky, was clever, firm, crafty 
and cruel, would stop at nothing that threatened her power, and knew better how to 
hold the quarrelsome nobles of Russia in check than did her husband. When he 
died he left his two sons to her care and she crushed out every opposition to her re- 
gency of the young princes, by simply taking the head off any one who objected. 

Ivan was only a baby when his father died, and was only four or five years old 
when the strong-minded Helena was poisoned. She had caused her own brother and 
her husband's brother to be thrown into prison where they mysteriously died soon 
after, and the nobles hated her most heartily but she had a friend in the master of 
her horse, and he stood by her and her two little boys most faithfully. Indeed, the 
poor fellow lost his life for his friendship to the little princes, and they were left 
among the quarrelsome nobles without friends, for their beloved nurse too had been 
executed, Ivan and his weak-minded, frail brother had a hard time of it and were 
often cold, hungry and miserable. The greedy nobles, headed by one named Shou- 
isky, plundered the palace of its silver-ware and furniture, and insulted the little 
princes in every way. Ivan was a brave lad, and in his loneliness and neglect he 
formed a taste for reading. 



Ivan The Terrtble. 

He was not the only 



594 



RUSSIA. 




He learned from his books what the power of a kinjj was, and was 
patient, for he looked forward to a tune when he could revenge himself 
upon his enemies. He noticed that the nobles who were so insulting to 
him when they were alone in his presence, were extremel}^ polite to him 
in public, and made a great show of kneeling before him, kissing his hands, 
and the like. He observed, too, that powerful as they were to cause him 
suffering, they could make no law unless he signed it, and though he often 
signed laws that he knew, child though he was, were unjust to him and his 
people, he only did it through ff^ar that he would be murdered if he refused. 
Helpless against the men who harried him and abused him, Ivan developed 
a cruel temper in very early life, lie could not torture his nobles when 
they offended him, but he could, and did, torture his pet dogs and rabbits 
to death, and watched their sufferings with great delight. 1 le was taught very little 
that he should have known, and no one attempted to curb in him his cruel temper. 
He made no friends, for when any person showed a desire to please the little em- 
peror, that person at once fell under the suspicion and displeasure of the nobles. 
Thus Ivan grew up a strange, moody boy, with faults uncommon to his youth, and 
a nature warped and blackened by vices. On Christmas, of the year 1543, when he 
was thirteen years old, Ivan surrounded himself with his dead mother's relatives 
and called his nobles before him. He stood up proudly in their presence and told 
them that he was no longer satisfied with their w\ay of governing his empire, and wan- 
ted no more of their help. He reproached them with their crimes, and told them that 
if he should treat them as they deserved he would kill them every one, but for the 
present he would content himself with making an example of one of them. He 
then commanded the guards to seize Shouisky, the man who had played the mas- 
ter so long in his palace, and who had caused the death of the master of the horse, 
the nurse, and perhaps of Helena, herself. He told them to throw him to some 
fierce dogs in the palace yards. It was done then and there, and .Shouisky was 
torn in pieces. 

The Glinskys who were now raised to power by the young emperor, were very 
little better than the Shouisky's. They made themselves rich from the Czar's 
treasury, plundered the people and causetl every one who opposed them to be put out 
of the way. They were so cruel that the people of Moscow, which was then the 
capital of the empire, would not endure them, and in the year 1547 there was a great 
revolt and a great fire in the capital. The people declared that one of the Glinsky 
ladies was a witch, and that it was through her magic that the city had been burned. 
They circulated a story that was believed l)y the superstitious and ignorant Russians 
who had fi'-ni faith in magic. This story was to the effect that Anna Glinsky had 
taken human hearts from living bodies, soaked them in water, and with it sprinkled 
the houses of Moscow, thus causing them to burn at once most fiercely. The Czar 
had married a beautiful and good woman, Anastasia Romanoff, some time before, 
and her relatives were in high favor with him, and the Romanoffs too, came in for 
a share of the fury of the people. Ivan knew very well that his old enemies, the 
nobles, had secretly inspired these foolish stories in order to get him back again into 
their power, but he did not yield. He beat off the mob that attacked the palace, and 
restored order in the city. Seeing that the people were opposed to his friends, Ivan 
took a certain priest and a noble whom he thought faithful, into his confidence and 
through them ruled his kingdom well for some years, gaining brilliant victories over 



RUSSIA. 



595 




the lintj^ering bands of Tartars in the south, and turn- 
ing their mosques into Christian churches. He made 
wise laws for his people, that left them less at the 
mercy of the nobles, and did many things that en- 
deared him to the Russian people, and made them 
proud of their young ruler. His good young wife, 
Anastasia had great influence with him. and he nevor 
once, as long as she lived, showed the cruelty that 
afterward marked his character. 

In the year 1553 Ivan fell sick, so sick that all of 
his friends thought he would surely dje and Ivan 
himself gave up all hope of ever recovering. His two 
counsellors had secretly been enemies for a longtime, 
and each had gained a large number of followers. 
They had kept their schemes and their quarrels from 
the Czar, but now when they thought him upon his 
death bed, they were careless of his feelings. One of 
these faithless counsellors had even conspired to place unsfian nwpiiins. 

upon the throne of Russia instead of Ivan's infant son, a cousin of the Czar who 
had always been ambitious of gaining the crown. The other sided with the nobles 
who declared they would never obey the Romanoffs. The angry quarrels and dis- 
cussions of these counsellors and lords were carried on almost in the very presence 
of the sick Czar, and in his plain hearing. He had a few faithful friends whom he 
begged and beseeched to care for Anastasia and the little prince and told them to 
take his loved ones, and carry them away to some foreign country where their lives 
at least would be safe. He appealed to the angry nobles and asked them to swear to 
obey his son and to protect him in his rights, which they refused, and when Ivan arose 
from his sick bed, for he did not die, he remembered most cruelly the suffering his 
counsellors and lords had caused him. Anastasia died by poison soon after and Ivan 
had thus another injury to revenge and if he did not then become insane from the 
effect of illness and sorrow, there is no explanation that I can give 3'ou that will 
account for his after cruelty. 

Just after Ivan recovered from his sickness, the Poles, who had for ages been the 
enemy of Russia, and constantly at war with the Slavs, began to trouble the empire. 
Fifteen thousand Russians under one of the great lords, were sent against them, but 
the leader, who hated Ivan, allowed himself to be beaten by fifteen hundred of the 
enemy, then deserted and went over to the Polish king. From the Polish camp he 
sent a letter. to Ivan. The Czar had heard of the conduct of the general, and when 
the messenger arrived with the letter, he cast one look at him, then with his iron staff 
pinned the foot of the unhappy man to the floor, while he calmly read what the 
letter contained. It w&s a foolish, boasting insulting missive, but of course the mes- 
senger knew nothing of its contents. 

Ivan determined to resign his empire, or pretended that he had made up his 
mind to do so. The people had tasted the cruelty of the nobles while Ivan was 
growing up, therefore when Ivan took his family and all his friends and left Moscow, 
they sent after him and implored him to come back. He came on the condition that 
he should have absolute right to punish his enemies and to govern the empire in a 
new manner. They agreed, and then began the strange and terrible tale of cruelty 
that is not equaled in the history of any king of modern times or of the dark ages. 



596 



RUSSIA. 




-v.<Tv 



l{ii!«Mlun CoMtaek. 



He dismissed all of the counsellors who 
had aided him in the government, and ap- 
pointed in their places the most cruel and de- 
praved men of his dominions. Any one who 
uttered a word against the acts of these men, 
were put to death. He surrounded himself 
with a body of six thousand desperate warriors 
called Strelitzes. who plundered and oppressed 
the people, and if any one resisted, he was 
considered by the Czar as his personal enemy, 
and put to death. The lands and goods of 
the rich were divided among these guards who 
destroyed princes and nobles in crowds at the 
command of their master. Ivan was usually 
present at the scenes of murder and torture, 
and seemed to take a gloomy delight in view- 
ing the sufferings of the poor victims. He 
would vary the wildest excesses of drunken- 
ness, crime and debauchery, with seasons of 
retirement and prayer, and from these periods 
of spiritual refreshing he issued so much more 
cruel than was his wont, that the whole nation 
trembled, when they learned that the Czar was secluded from the world, and praying 
for his soul. He devoted whole cities to destruction on the most trifling pretexts. Two 
large Russian towns whose people had made some objection to being robbed by the 
Strelitzes were totally destroyed, and their inhabitants, young and old put to the 
sword. He charged Novgorod with conspiring to deliver itself to Poland, and 
declared his intention of dealing with the people. He entered the place with his 
hated body-guard, and for five weeks, put from five hundred to a thousand citizens 
to death every day, the most revolting and horrible forms of torture that the diseased 
brain of the mad Czar could invent, being used. Sixty thousand persons fell under 
the hands of his executioners, and the glory of the city was forever extinguished. 
To this day there is a huge mound near one of the principal churches of Novgorod, 
that is pointed out to the traveler, as the burial place of some of Ivan's victims, and 
at one place in the river, the waters never freeze in the most severe winters of 
Russia, and it is said by the peasants, that it is because there was shed so much inno- 
cent blood by the tyrant Ivan, that the waters bear silent witness against his crimes, 
to men of all ages. 

His cruelty increased as time went on, and at the word of the Czar his people 
trembled and turned pale. He married eight wives in succession and in his old age 
even asked for the hand of Oueen Elizabeth of England aad desired to make a 
treaty with her, that allowed him, in case his people at last driven to desperation 
should rebel, she should allow him to find refuge in England. Elizabeth politely de- 
clined the offer of marriage and the Czar next proposed for her cousin but again the 
queen declined, but Russia and England made a commercial alliance and trade was 
carried on between the two countries. It was during the reign of Ivan that Siberia 
was discovered, explored and conquered, but the latter days of the Czar were not 
successful in the South and West, for he was defeated by the Tartars and the Poles. 



RUSSIA. 



597 




A Boyar Lady. 



It was in 1581, when Ivan was an old, man that he 
committed the act that caused him the most bitter 
regret, though it was not more cruel than thousands 
of others that he had done. He had three sons, the 
oldest a handsome but wayward youth, the second 
almost an idiot, and the third a mere baby. One day 
his oldest son came to him and remonstrated with him 
because he had insulted and abused his daughter-in-law 
the young man's wife. This made Ivan terribly angry 
but according to his custom he concealed his wrath for 
the time. Very soon after this, the prince asked his 
father to put him in command of some troops that were 
being raised for their invassion of Poland. Ivan's rage 
then broke out: He declared that his son wished to 
use the troops to dethrone him, and catching up his 
iron-pointed staff, struck the youth down and beat him 
so terribly that he died three days afterward. When 
Ivan realized what he had done he was wild with grief. 
He fell upon his knees beside the boy and wept and 
lamented. He cursed the surgeons becaus'e they could 
do nothing to relieve the lad's suffering, and as long 
as the poor fellow lived never once left his side, 

and when he died, declaring with his last breath that he was a true son and a 
faithful subject, Ivan realized that with his own hand, he had struck down what it 
nad taken years of blood to build up and that when he should die, he would leave no 
one who could wield the power that he had gained. From this time forth Ivan was 
more terriole than ever. Woe to the unlucky subject who offended him. No torture 
was too hideous to be inflicted even for slight faults, and if the Czar had been insane 
all these years, as he is said to have been, his insanity was now more dreadful than 
ever. 

At times he would sit by the hour, counting the gold that he had gathered 
together by his horrid murders, and gloating over the treasures piled up in his strong 
rooms. At others he would walk the floor weeping, cursing and raving over his sins 
and beating his head against the wall, would call upon God to have mercy upon him. 
One moment he would give directions that State prisoners should be set free, at 
another he would sign the death-warrant of some unlucky wretch. At last he became 
convinced that his death was near at hand, and consulted some astrologers, for he 
was extremely superstitious. These, it is said, prophesied that on a certain day the 
Czar would die. The Czar told them that if they breathed a word to anybody of 
the prophecy before the day came, he would have them roasted alive. Time passed 
on and the day came round. Ivan arose in the morning, so runs the tale, feeling 
better than he had felt for a long time, and was unusually gay. He declared that he 
was perfectly well and commanded one of his trusted friends to go and have the 
astrologers hanged for prophesying falsely. This friend told him to give the prophets 
fair play and wait for the setting of the sun before they were led out to death. The 
Czar consented, and as the day wore away amused himself as usual. In the after- 
noon he called for the chess-board, and his friend sat down to play a game with him, 
but the Czar could not, by any means in his power, make the king of his chess-men 



598 RUSSIA. 

stand upright. Whether this roused his superstitious terror and made him faint, or 
whether some one had resolved to verify the prophecy of the astrologers by placing 
poison in his food, or whether the prophecy was invented to cover the suspicious 
circumstances of his death, certain it is that Ivan died suddenly in 1584, in the fiftv- 
fourth year of his age, and it is a wonder that his people did not stab or poison him 
long before, and rid the world of a monster. 

The Czar who now came to rule over Russia was- Feodor, the weak-minded son 
of Ivan the Terrible, but he was only ruler in name. The man who really conducted 
the affairs of the empire was a noble who had been trusted by Ivan, and whose name 
was Boris Goudounouf. Boris was the son of Christian Tartar, a man so clever and 
intelligent that Ivan had given him his daughter in marriage. You will remember 
that Ivan had a little son who was the child of his seventh wife and a mere baby at 
the time of his father's death. This little lad showed such brightness, and possessed 
such winning ways that Boris foresaw that he would probably grow uj) to be a favorite 
with the people of Moscow. 

This would not suit Boris, at all for he'was ambitious and a sooth-sayer had told 
him that he would one day became Czar of Russia. He wanted to gain the confidence 
of the nation, and as Feodor had no children he thought perhaps when the people 
saw how well he, Boris, could rule them they might desire him to succeed the son of 
Ivan, it there was no one else to whom the crown could be offered. He pretended 
that he was afraid that the relatives of the mother of Dimitry, the little prince, woukl 
attempt to murder Feodor, so he caused the child and his relatives to be banished 
from the court and sent to a far-away portion of the country in which the Czar Ivan 
had owned a castle. There he sent secretly some cruel murderers who stabbed the 
little fellow as he was playing one day in the garden. 

The Russians were horrified when they heard of the murder, and Boris pretending • 
also to be greatly shocked caused an "investigation" to be made into the death of 
the prince, and the people whom he sent for the purpose declared that the child had 
cut his own throat in a fit of insanity. 

When Boris had thus cleared a way for himself to the crown, he set about winning 
the support of the people. 

Since the earliest days the villages had owned the soil in common, and a new 
division or allotment to each person was made every nine years. The peasants could 
hire to the lords who owned estates for any number of years or for life. Usually they 
hired only for a year, and upon St. George's day. annually, there was a general shift- 
ing of peasants. For many years the peasants of northern Russia had showed a ten- 
dency to hire their services to the proprietors of land in the south, and the conse- 
quences finally became serious. Large estates were left without laborers, and became 
waste-land. Boris ordered all of the peasants back to their own villages, and made 
a law that hence-forth they should hire their services to the lord on whose soil they 
dwelt, giving him three days in the week for the use of the land, or else pay a 
certain rent. 

The small farms as a rule belonged to the lesser nobility of the limpire, and a 
was these who were the strength of the Russian army, for the law provided tiiat from 
these estates should come the cavalry, each man armed and accompanied by his 
followers. They were growing so poor that they could not furnish the horses and 
arms, and Boris sought to please them, and at once to make sure of them for the 
armv 1)V forbidding the labores to leave their lands. He cared little for the poor 




PETER THE GREAT AT THE BATTLE OF POTTAWA. 



599 



6oo 



RUSSIA. 



peasants themselves, for the nobles of Russia looked upon the laborers as we do 
upon horses and cattle, and could even kill them and not be punished for it, but woe 
to the peasant who committed the slightest offense against a noble. There were so 
many cruel and inhuman ways of punishing them, that it makes the blood run cold 
simply to read them. 

The peasants dared not protest but they sometimes succeeded in stealing away 
to a place on the river Don, where they formed a camp and lived free of any govern- 




Cnthnrlnc II. 



ment gaining a livelihood as best they might. It was thus that the people called 
Cossacks formed their republic. 

In the course of thirteen years. Feodor never showed a trace of the firmness and 
ability of his father. .At the end of that time he died without children and his widow 
Avcnt into a convent. Boris had made many powerful friends among the priests, and 
they now urged upon the nobles the fact, that, since the man who had really ruled 
Russia during the lifetime of Feodor could be induced to take the crown, they ought 
to offer it to him. Finally the did so and he refused but only to give his friends 



RUSSIA, 



60 1 



a chance to urge it upon him. The death of the 
murdered child Dimitry had nut been forgotten, 
but nothing could be proven against Boris. The 
widowed empress joined with the people in urg- 
ing Boris to take the crown, and after a great 
pretense of unwillingness he finally accepted. 
Boris was a firm and wise ruler, and while lie 
wore the crown Russia became respected by the 
nations of Western Europe. For a time he had 
no trouble with the nobles, but they soon became] 
ashamed Oi being ruled by a Tartar instead of al 
prince of the ancient line of Rurik, for there were! 
several Russian princes who could still claim al 
right to the crown through the great founder c tf 
the Russian Empire. Boris watched these di: 
satisfied nobles closely, and put them down with 
strong hand. In the year 1601 when he had bee 
four years the Czar of Russia a dreadful famin 
raged in the Empire and the peasants left the 
soil by the thousands, and joining the camp on 
the Don harrassed the southern provinces. For 
three years they created great disorder, and Boris 
was obliged to send an army against them. No 
sooner had he reduced the Cossacks to order 
than a new danger threatened him. 

In a certain convent near Moscow a young monk grew up, and being bright and 
clever he was employed by a priest, who was a great friend of Boris as his secretary. 
This was before Boris became Czar, and the young monk, it is said learned many of 
the secrets of the ambitious Goudenouf and his friends. Among other things he 
learned all about little Dimitry, who was about the age of the youth. It was there 
that the bold young monk formed an idea to pretend that he was Dimitry and that 
he hatl escaped death because his niother had placed him in a convent for safety as 
soon as she had been banished from Moscow and had taken another lad in his place 
to deceive her enemies. When Boris had ruled Russia for six years this false Dimitry 
made his way to Poland and told his story. The King of that country believed it, 
indeed there are many historians still who declare that the young monk told the truth 
and he was the true Dimitry and no pretender. He gained a great following in Po- 
land, and with an army at his back advanced upon Russia. A fire about this time did 
great damage to Moscow and the soul of Boris was oppressed by a sense of calamity 
for an astrologer had told him long ago that he should reign only seven years as Czar 
and the seven years were nearly finished. Dimitry the false or Dimitry the true, as 
the case may be, nevertheless came swiftly on and the cities of the Empire opened 
their gates to him and hailed him as Czar, the son of Ivan. Boris attempted in vain 
to reason with the nobles, and priests were brought from the convent where the sup- 
posed Dimitry was educated, who gave a full account of his history, liut no one would 
fight against him. Before the Poles and Russians, who had joined the claimant to 
the throne reached the capital, Boris died, begging the nobles of Russia to have 
pity upon his wife and child and spare them. When the great army that now ac- 




Czar Alexander III. 



6o2 , RUSSIA. 

knowledged Dimitry as the Czar came near Moscow, the people of the city who fa- 
vored his claims rose in revolt, murdered the innocent child and beautiful wife of the 
<]ead Tartar Czar and welcomed the supposed descendant of the old line of Rurik 
with open arms. Thus the crimes of Boris Goudenouf were visited upon the guiltless, 
and the rule which was planted in the blood of an innocent child, and watered by the 
tears of a bereaved mother, withered away and left no mark upon Russia, except one 
which was the cause of untold misery to the nation. The slavery that the Tartar 
Czar established among the peasants lasted almost to our own day. 

Dimitry had espoused the Roman Catholic faith, and soon fell into disfavor with 
the Russians. He filled the court with foreign favorites, adopted foreign manners, 
and set at naught all the traditions of the people. To crown all, he married a Polish 
bride, who flaunted her Catholic religion and Polish nationality in the faces of the 
people. Russia had long striven with Poland, and would not endure any insolence 
from that quarter. The people were soon as eager to rid themselves of the false 
Dimitry, as they had been to secure him. He was accused of magic and the people 
set upon him in his palace, murdered him, burned his body, mixed the ashes with 
gunpowder, and fired them from a cannon. 

Vassili Shuiski was next crowned Czar, but in spite of the fate of the first false 
Dimitry, pretenders like him, sprang up all over the country. One of these gained 
the support of the Polish king who gave him an army. Vassili formed an alliance 
with the Swedes who deserted him in his hour of danger. The Poles marched to 
Moscow which was obliged to surrender to them in 1610, and the Czar was taken 
prisoner, and sent to a Polish fortress, where he soon after died. The next year the 
Russians attacked the Poles inMoscow, and massacred thousands of them. Russia was 
then in a deplorable state. The Swedes had made themselves masters of Novgorod, 
the Poles were threatening to invade the country and divide the Empire, taking part 
themselves, and giving part to the Swedes, who had become their allies, the 
Crimean Tartars were overrunning the southern country, and the Cossacks, the brave 
republican community made up of Russian refugees and rovers who were located on 
the Don, supported the claims of the pretender. A gallant butcher of Novgorod 
saved Russia. He harangued the people of his native city and eloquently urged 
them to rouse themselves, choose a ruler, and drive the foreigners from Russia. An 
army was raised, the Poles driven out, and Michael Romanoff, a descendant of Rurik 
through the female line, was chosen as Czar. The new Czar was only fifteen years old 
when he came to the throne, and reigned thirty-two years. He was obliged to make 
peace with Sweden, with the loss of two large provinces, and to Poland he lost 
Smolensk, Tchernigof and Novgorod, with all their vast territory. With those ex- 
ceptions his reign was prosperous. He made treaties with England, France, Persia 
and China, and extended the Russian possessions to the Pacific. He revived the 
trade of the Empire, and ruled strictly' by the agreement he had made when he was 
elected, which was in fact a virtual constitution. 

Michael Romanoff was followed on the throne by his son Alexis, in 1645. The 
second Romanoff, like the first, was a just and able ruler, who extended the dominion 
of the Empire. He recovered most of the territory lost in the former reign, and 
raised Russia to an honorable place among the nations of Europe. His successors 
were firm rulers. Feodor III, his son, did away with hereditary rights of the nobles. 
and made himself absolute ruler. 

Feodor though strong of mind was weak of body, and his cares soon wore him 



RUSSIA. 603 

out. He died childless in 16S2. His father, Alexis, had been married twice. By the 
hrst marriage he had two sons, one Feodor, the Czar, and the other Ivan, an idiot, 
utterly unable to rule. Therefore, Feodor left his empire to his half-brother, Peter. 
Sophia, one of the six sisters of the dead Czar, chose to pretend that she was injured 
because her idiot brother had been passed over. The fact was that she was a clever 
woman, and she had made up her mi ml that she would not be compelled to wear out 
her life in seclusion as most Russian women did, but that she would be the ruler of 
the empire herself. She did not dare ask the people to give her the crown, for she 
knew well that they would have been shocked at the idea of being ruled by a woman, 
so she secured the aid of the Strelitzes, and caused her step-mother to be banished 
from the court, antl her two brothers, Peter and Ivan, to be proclaimed joint Czars. 
She hoped to gain much by this action, and indeed for a long time she was the ruler 
of Russia, but at length she became dissatisfied with being the power behind the 
throne, and wanted to be empress in name as well as in fact. She showed herself in 
public with her face uncovered, which was contrary to the Russian custom for women, 
and marched at the head of the soldiers as though she were a man. The Strelitzes 
knew that they had really been the means of giving Sophia all of her power, and 
behaved haughtily toward her. She succeeded in keeping them in a good humor for 
some time by bribes, for she was very rich, but she incurred their displeasure by 
engaging in a church quarrel, and they murmured openly against her. 

The regent, for Sophia was really regent for Peter and his idiot half-brother, 
learned of their discontent and that they planned a revolution. She did not wait for 
them to make an attack upon her, but retired to a strongly-fortified convent, sum- 
moned the nobles about her, and proceeded to try the Strelitze. She convicted the 
ring-leaders and executed them, then made bold by her success, she ruled the empire 
by the help of two favorites. After a time the Strelitzes came again into favor, and 
were again encouraged to revolt by the conduct of Sophia towards them. This time 
the empress-regent banished them to the frontiers and scattered them so she had no 
more to fear from them. 

All this took some years, and little Peter was growing up to take his place as 
one of the greatest rulers that the world has ever seen. Sophia disliked the boy, 
and hoped that he would be an idiot like his half-brother. She did not concern her- 
self much about his education, but gave him for companions some wild young fellows 
as "amusers," who she hoped would ruin him. He spent his leisure time roaming 
about the streets of Moscow, and as Moscow was then one of the most wicked cities 
of Europe, this in itself was enough to have given him a schooling in vice that would 
mar, if not ruin his character. Like Ivan the Terrible, Peter was naturall}' very 
bright and clever, and had a fondness for books. One of his "amusers" taught him 
to read, having first interested the lad in some bright-colored pictures of soldiers that 
were brought from Germany. Peter loved muskets and drums and everything war- 
like, and from the time he could walk alone, nothing pleased him better than playing 
at war. He had heard from his earliest years about the battles and campaigns of his 
father, and of Ivan the Terrible, and soon learned Latin, German and Dutch, and 
devoured with interest all the stories of heroism and battles in the classics of those 
languages. 

Among those who had sought the friendship of young Peter, was a man of about 
thirty-five, by the name of Lafort. He was a Frenchman, who had spent an adven- 
turous and romantic life. Born at Geneva of French parents, he was placed in a firm 



604 



RUSSIA. 




of French merchants, 
but he soon tired ot 
the hum-drum Hfeof 
the counting-house 
and ran away. He 
joined the I'Vencli 
armj-, but liked it 
even less than mer- 
cantile life, for there 
was no fighting being 
done, and the drill 
and routine of the 
garrison was not suit- 
ed to his taste. He 
deserted, found his 
way to Holland, then 
went t o Archangel 
where he joined the 
Russian army, just 
before the death of 
Alexis. The regiment 
to which he belonged 
seemed to have been 
forgotten by the gov- 
ernment, and Laiort, 

as was his wont, took French leave, went to Moscow, and soon became a great favorite 
in the society of the capital. He won the affections of an heiress, married her, and 
attached himself to the young Czar. They soon became the best of friends, and 
Peter learned from Lafort of other countries, of his own importance, and the designs 
of his sister against him. The Czar imbibed an interest in military affairs, and or- 
ganized his "amusers" into four regiments, and witii them lived a life as much like 
that of the camp, as he could devise. He kept them under the strictest discipline, 
and himself enlisted among them as a drummer, and worked his way up to the supreme 
command. There were mimic sieges, battles, and marches and all were conducted 
as though the operations were real. The Czar studied military science, mathematics 
and other things that would make him a good general, and never spared himself or 
others in carrying out his plans. In the intervals of these studies, and militarj' drill, 
he drank to drunkenness, and practiced every vice with which his comrades were 
familiar, and Sophia was thus deceived as to his real character. 

When Peter was about seventeen Sophia sent her favorite officer upon an e.xpe- 
dition to the southward against the Tartars. Peter objected strongly to this and 
before the council showed such spirit, such knowledge of the art of war and such 
good judgement, that Sophia was frightened. This was not the wild dissipated lad 
that she had thought her half-brother to be, but a rival before whom she might well 
tremble. She determined to put him out of the way at once, and you have no doubt 
noticed that a tie of blood was no barar to the murder of a Czar, and that Russian prin- 
ces and princesses were given to no scruples on that account. It was not an unusual 
thing tor a prince to die suddenly, Peter should die. She turned to her old friends 



Count Klch Sfllm In bnttlp nsnlnst the Turks. 



RUSSIA. 605 

the Strelitzes, They had helped her to power, surely they would help her keep it. 
True she had been cruel to them. She had condemned every tenth man of them to 
death on a former occasion, when they had been too insolent in their demands, but 
she thought she still had power over them. She confided to some of the most in- 
fluential of them her intention to sieze the throne, and two of these went straight to 
Peter and told him the plan. Peter fled to a convent, called his battallion of playmates 
to him there, and waited. Sophia was confident of success, and ordered the Strelitzes 
to arrest him, and he only saved himself, by fleeing to a convent. From this retreat 
he called upon his subjects to support his authority, and they assured him that they 
would do so. Forsaken by her friends, Sophia tried to escape to Poland, but was 
captured, and thrown in prison. Peter then assumed the throne, and at once set 
about forming an army. Lafort enlisted a large number of fugitive b'rench Hugenots, 
and a Scotch officer named Gordon secured the services of about three hundred of 
his countrymen. These, with the four regiments of well trained "amusers," formed 
the beginnings of the Russian army. 

One day in rumaging about a lumber room, Peter found the hulk of an old 
pleasure boat. He secured the services of a Dutch ship carpenter, that happened to- 
be in Moscow, and caused the little craft to be rebuilt. The Czar himself was exceed- 
ingly afraid of the water. When he first went sailing in his new boat, he broke 
out in a cold sweat, and was seized with a fit of trembling that ended in convulsions. 
He was determined to conquer this weakness. He took cold baths, that at first almost 
ended his life, so severe was his antipathy to water, and sailed every day in his boat, 
until he completely overcame his nervousness. He knew that Russia could never be 
a great nation without a navy, and as soon as his army was organized, began thinking 
of a navy. The White Sea is frozen over the greater part of the year. The Caspian 
is an inland lake, but to the south the Sea of Azov with the outlet to the Black Sea, 
promised better for Russia. On that little sea was the strong fortress of Azov, which 
was the key of the Don, and had been famous for centuries as a seaport. It was 
ruined by the Tartars, rebuilt by the Turks, destroyed by the Cossacks, in the reign 
of the first Romanoff, and again rebuilt and fortified by the Turks, who had also 
blockaded the mouth of the Dnieper by five strong forts. 

Peter determined to attempt the capture of Azov, and enlisting in his own army 
as a volunteer gunner, he placed the command in the hands of Gordon and Lafort, 
and marched against Azov. The expedition failed, but Peter was not d'scouraged. 
He hired Dutch and Venetian ship-builders, and caused a flotilla to be built, and 
floated down the Don. The building of that flotilla was not an easy matter. The 
workmen deserted constantly, the winter was uncommonly severe, and Peter himself 
handled saw and plane, and worked with the common laborers, until it was completed. 
He was amply repaid by the capture of Azov. Soon after, an attempt was made by 
the Strelitzes to murder the Czar, and place Sophia again on the throne, but it was 
not successful. The ring-leaders were executed, and all engaged in the plot were 
severely punished. 

In i6q7 Peter started on his travels, to learn the best methods of ship-building. 
He went to Holland and hired himself to a ship-carpenter in Amsterdam, studying 
surgery and navigation in his spare moments. He wore the clothes and lived the life 
of a humble laborer, and from his cottage ruled his great empire, through the ofticers 
he had left in charge, being in constant communication with them, and superintending 
their policy. When he had completed his studies in Holland, he went to England, 



6o6 



RUSSIA. 



and on the various English and Dutch vessels, learned to perform every duty of a 
seaman. He was recalled to Russia by another revolt of the Strelitzes. 




Crosslnc the Rcrzcna, 



When Peter was quite a younij; man, he had married a woman, who was from one 
of the old princely families of the empire, and a narrow-minded and ignorant wife 



RUSSIA. 607 

she proved to be. She had no sympathy with the efforts of the Czar to improve his 
people, and believed his reforms were not only bad for Russia, but that education 
was evil. She openly expressed her contempt because Peter had taken an interest 
in the army, ship-building, and practical matters, and thought it low and common for 
a Czar to thus put himself on the level of ordinary people. She ridiculed him when 
he talked of building a capital on the frontiers of his empire, and made herself alto- 
gether so unpleasant, that when the Czar came back from Europe, full of his new 
reforms he was certain that she hated him and he in turn hated her. He thought he 
had good cause for so doing, and divorced her. It was almost certain that it was she 
who had roused the rebellion against him, for her relations were powerful and 
unscrupulous, and were bitterly opposed to Peter's idea of making the Russians some- 
what more like other civilized nations, and enlightening and educating them. Worse 
than all, this undutiful wife, though the mother of Peter's son and the empress of a 
great realm,- was unfaithful to her marriage vows, and lavished the love that belonged 
to her husband upon another man. She desired to seize the throne for herself, her 
son and her lover, and to aid her plans she had instigated a revolt of the 
Strelitzes. 

Peter had something within him of the nature of Ivan the Terrible. He knew 
how to be generous, but he knew, too, how to be revengeful. After he divorced his 
wife he caused her head to be shaved as he had caused that of his sister Sophia long 
before, and sent her to a dreary convent, first impaling upon a sharp stake the 
wretched man who had been her lover. He also caused two thousand of the Stre- 
litzes to be beheaded, and it is said e.xecuted twenty-two of them with his own hand, 
swinging high and heavy the arm that had wielded the axe and shovel, and smiling 
as he saw the corpses roll all bloody and dreadful at his feet. 

When the Czar had shown his power, he proceeded to make himself more feared 
than Ivan the Terrible had been, and perhaps more hated. He could not wait for his 
people to grow into ideas of education and enlightenment by contact with the rest of 
Europe, he almost forced them to do so. He compelled them to cut their long 
beards and hair, and to discard their long-skirted garments, their turban-like caps, 
and other old-fashioned and absurd apparel, and dress more like the other people of 
Europe. He also compelled them to entertain their neighbors, both men and women 
together, an unheard of thing before his time, and established schools of various 
kinds, compelling the nobles to send their sons there to be educated. He sent a large 
number of young men abroad to study in other parts of Europe, opened mills and 
factories for the weaving of woolen goods, making of leather and other things, and 
encouraged artists, historians and literary men to come to Russia. 

Peter's ablest general, though not a person who was. either grateful or. true to 
him, was a man named Menchikoff, whom he had raised to the nobility. Menchikoff 
had been a baker's boy, but was so clever that he attracted the notice of Peter, who 
made him an officer in his army. In one of his campaigns against Eastern Prussia, 
Menchikoff captured a young girl who became his servant, and who, after a time, was 
the mistress of his house, though not his wife. Peter saw this woman, whose name 
was Catherine, at the house, of Menchikoff, and was so charmed by her brightness 
and wit that in the course of time he took her to live with him in the palace. 

On one occasion when Peter and his army made an expedition against the Turks in 
the South, this Catherine saved him and his whole army. They were surrounded by 
the enemv and certain of defeat at Pruth, when Catherine's cleverness brought the 



■6o8 RUSSIA. 

Turks to terms. Peter married Catherine afterwards, greatly to the disgust of some 
of his nobles, for she was a slave and had no beauty to reccommend her. He had 
long had it on his mind to build a city on the Neva and as soon as the unsuccessful 
war with the Turks, and his final victory over Charles XII. of Sweden left him the 
leisure he began it. It is said that he sacrificed more than a hundred thousand lives, 
in nine years, in the building of this capital, St. Petersburg, but at last his dream was 
realized and he set out for Western Europe again, this time to study its laws, as 
before he had studied its practical sciences. He did not take Catherine with him, and 
cared as little for fetes and great entertainments as upon his first visit. 

He would ride about Paris in a hired carriage, go into the shops and laboratories, 
and tired every one of his guides out, so determined was he to see and learn those 
things that were for the good of his subjects. He visited most of the large cities of 
Europe, and was upon his way to Venice when news from Russia of the movements of 
his son caused him to return to Moscow. This son Alexis was by the unhappy first 
marriage, and had given him much trouble. The youth had boldly announced that 
when he became Czar, he would undo his father's work in a hurry. There should be 
no laws or customs that did not prevail in the olden days, and he did all that he could 
to foster a spirit of rebellion against his father. 

He was determined that he would do nothing that his father wished liim to do. 
He was sent abroad to study, but would sit idly all day doing nothing, and when 
urged to obey his father, said his health was to weak to study. He had the greatest 
contempt for all of his father's pursuits and plans, and gathered about him the nobles 
who wanted to see them all fail. He waited until his father was absent in Europe, 
when he began to actually contemplate overthrowing him and being made Czar in 
his stead. 

Peter was at Copenhagen when he heard of the plotting of his hopeful son. The 
young man had shown the possession of qualities much like those that made Ivan the 
Terrible so odious. He had broken the heart of his fair young wife by his cruelty, 
and had defied his father more than once. He now defied him again. When Peter 
summoned him to Copenhagen, he went off on a foreign trip, enjoying himself as long 
as he felt so disposed, but when he returned to Moscow, his father was there, and 
more angry with him than he had ever been before, for he had been making investi- 
gations which showed that the prince really contemplated the overthrow of those 
institutions that had caused the Czar so much time, patience and labor to construct. 
Alexis was twice punished by the knout, a terrible sort of a whip, and it is said that 
he died under a third infliction. Seven years after the death of the Grand Duke, 
Peter himself died, having contracted a severe cold in attempting to save from death 
the crew of a shipwrecked vessel. 

Peter The Great, was the ablest monarch Russia ever had. He civilized the 
country, and laid the foundations of its greatness. He never could quite civilize 
himself, and to the last, drank so much brandy and pepper that he was seldom sober, 
and in his age, was as vicious as in his youth. He was self-willed, obstinate, a bitter 
foe, and a loyal friend. He was more hated and feared by the Russians than was 
Ivan the Terrible, and more respected by the rest of Europe, than any of his prede- 
cessors had been. He left no heir except the son of the unfortunate Alexis. Ca- 
therine had been crowned Empress in 1784, thirteen years before Peter's death, and 
she was now made ruler of Russia, by the influence of the same prince who had made 



RUSSIA. 



609 




General VnQ Tatlelteiu. 



her Empress. MenschikotT. the baker's boy, who 
had been raised to the nobility by the Czar. 

Catherine ruled with much good sense 
for two years, then died of cancer and too much 
brandy-drinking, leaving the empire to Peter's 
grand-son, Peter II. The new Czar was but a 
boy, and was tyrannized over, and abused by a 
powerful set of plotters belonging to the Dol- 
gourki family. They encouraged all his vices 
and kept him busy amusing himself, while they 
plundered and oppressed the Russian people. 
Peter II. died in 1730, at the end of a reign of 
three years, and with him the male line of the 
Romanoffs became e.xtinct, though the descend- 
ants of the female line of that illustrious family 
still occupy the Russian throne. 

Anne, the daughter of the idiot half- 
brother of Peter the Great, was next chosen 
sovereign, and for ten years ruled with much 
firmness. She made treaties with foreign 
countries, established manufactories, but introduced so many German customs that 
she lost the affection of the people. When she died the son of her niece was 
appointed her successor, but he did not live to sit on the Russian throne. Eliza- 
beth, the daughter of Peter the Great, seized the throne, caused the little prince, 
his mother and father, to be imprisoned, though she told the people that she had sent 
them to Brunswick, which was the home of the young prince's father. The child was 
murdered, the mother died in prison, and the father lived a captive long after Eliza- 
beth had gone to meet her reward. Elizabeth reigned twenty years over Russia, and 
though she patronized the arts, built many schools, hospitals and colleges, she was so 
wicked, and resembled Ivan the Terrible so greatly in her character, that I will not 
dwell upon her reign. Never was there a more detestable tyrant than Elizabeth, and 
never was there a woman more impure in her life. When she died, in 1762, the son 
of her eldest sister took the crown, under the title of Peter III. 

This prince was so ugly of face, that when his destined bride was introduced to 
him, she fainted. This young lady was a German princess, who had joined the Greek 
Church in order that she might marry the Grand Duke and Elizabeth became her 
firm friend. She was one of the most beautiful and talented women of her day, but 
her husband was as hideous of character as of face. She led a sad life with him, for 
he was a beastly fellow, unquestionably mad, and better fitted for a padded cell in an 
asylum for lunatics, than for the throne of a great empire. Soon the fair princess, 
who took the Russian name of Catherine Ale.xyna, turned to evil ways herself, and 
became noted for her wicked life. 

When Peter III. became Czar he disgusted the people by abandoning the Greek 
faith, and by imitating Prussia in all things. He gave back to Prussia all the conquests 
that former Czars had won from their country, and behaved altogether in such a 
manner that Catherine seized the throjie for herself and her son, and put Peter in 
prison, where he was murdered, though not by her orders. Catherine II., called The 
Great, was one of the most remarkable women that ever lived. She was mistress of 



6io RUSSIA. 

statecraft, understood military affairs as well as the best of her veteran officers, was 
a true and loyal friend, ard had none of the cruelty that distjraced the character of 
Elizabeth. She made laws that deserve a place beside those of Lycurgus and Solon 
for their wisdom, and were formed on the best models and experience of the world. 
The splendors of her court rivaled those of the French court in its palmiest days, 
and the most noted personages of the world gathered about her. She added seven 
great provinces, among them Crimea and Little Tartary, to her empire, and opened 
to Russia the passes of the Caucasus. The greater part of Poland was added to 
Russia by her successes in war and treaty, and she improved the empire in every way. 
She founded huntlreds of towns and villages, tolerated every religion, caused her 
empire to be explored by geographers, and Russia became under her rule, one of the 
Great Powers. For thirty-four years she was autocrat, keeping her son and grand- 
sons at a distance, almost like prisoners. She died in 1796, and her son Paul came 
to the throne. 

Paul I. was like his father, a man who was repulsive of body, and unsound of 
mind. He reigned but five years, but that was quite long (;nough for the Russians 
to grow heartily tired of his tyranny, and atrocious cruelty. He was succeeded by 
his son, Alexander who was at first an enemy to Napoleon, but afterward met him at 
Tilsit and became his friend and admirer. Alexander was a weak, good natured man, 
who was so much busied in the struggle with Napoleon, for by another change of 
policy he became his enemy, that he had little time to devote to his empire. Ten 
years after Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena, Alexander died childless, and the 
crown being refused by his insane brother Constantine, was given to his younger 
brother Nicholas. 

The Czar Nicholas came to the throne in 1823, and for twenty-nine years, ruled 
Russia with great tyranny. He hlled Russia with spies, and sent people by the thou- 
sands to wear away their lives in the mines of Siberia, because they were accused of 
holding opinions against absolute power. The gallant Poles rose in a body, and for 
months kept the Russian army at bay. The Czar exiled the people of whole districts 
of Poland to Siberia, transplanted others to Russian soil, where they were made 
miserable serfs, forbade the Polish language to be spoken anywhere in his dominions 
and forced the unhappy vanquished people to abandon their religion. Thus while 
treating with the utmost severity any revolutionary opinions, by spreading the Poles- 
all over his empire with their past traditions of glory and independence, he laid the 
foundations for Russian liberty, for Russia will yet be free of the tyranny of Czars, 
and independent of the bondage in which for ages the mightest nation of the world 
has been held. Nicholas was Czar while the Crimean war was in progress, and it was 
he who was so anxious for the property of "the sick man" as he called Turkey, that he 
resolved to put the patient to death, and share the spoil with France and England. 
We have already seen how his plan failed. He died soon after the fall of Sebastopol 
and Alexander II came to the throne in March 1855. 

This Czar determined to withdraw his country from mixing in foreign politics, 
and to devote all his energies to develop and improve the Empire. He freed the 
serfs in 1863, and etablished many reforms. Socialism grew alarmingly under his 
mild treatment in the early part of his reign, and a plot was mad<! for his murder. It 
was discovered, and its author punished, though with none of the cruelty with which 
Russian Czars were wont to display on such occasions. The war which Russia waged 
with Turkey over the treatment of Christians in Bulgaria, and other southern pro- 



RUSSIA. 6ii 

vinces and because Turkey refused to grant independence to several of the Danube 
countries under its rule, has already been mentioned. Alexander was Russias most 
enlightened ruler, but in spite of all he did for the country, his life was attempted 
many times, and in March 1881 he was murdered by a bomb, thrown by Nihilists who 
had long sought his life. 

The murder of Alexander was a blow to Russia from which she has not yet 
recovered. Alexander III., the present Czar, attributed his father's death to his for- 
bearing policy, and in his reign of nearly thirteen years, has ruled Russia like the 
autocrats of the olden days. Secret police are busy everywhere in the empire, the 
roads to Siberia are crowded with victims, some of whom are exiled on mere suspicion 
of liberal ideas. The most tyrannical rule prevails throughout the vast empire, and 
the Czar lives in constant fear of assassination. The exile of the Jews from Russia 
has been the most important event of his reign. It excited the indignation of the 
world, for it was carried out with such cruelty that it recalls the days of the crusades. 
The famine which prevailed in 1892 has been the calamity of the century in Russia, 
and the people are still suffering from its effects.- 




PA: 



W^^MHi^ 



<1 




2> y] 






ONG ago. before ^neas made that memorable voyage that 
resulted in the founding of Rome, before the first stone was 
laid in Carthage, or the pyramids built in Egypt, Africa may 
have been joined to Europe by an isthmus, just as North and South Amer- 
ica are joined at the present time. Somewhere in this story of tlie world, 
I have told you that there w^as probably a great convulsion of nature, which broke oft 
from the main-land the little islands that lie sprinkled like jewels on the fair bosom 
of the Mediterranean sea. It may be that the same disturbance in the interior of 
the earth separated Europe from Africa, or it may be true, as trailition tells us, that 
the Phoenicians in times not so remote as those when the islands became fragments 
of the continent, cut a ship canal across the isthmus, and the angry waters of the 
Atlantic, yearning to clasp hands with the waves of the blue Mediterranean, gradually 
gnawed deeper and wider the channel hollowed out by the Phoenicians until they 
swept away altogether the barring land antl rushed gladly to the embrace of the 
inland sea. 

it is only a dozen miles across the Strait that now separates Europe from Africa, 
and it is therefore not at all strange that the early history of Spain in its most south- 
eastern portion, and of Mauritania the most northern portion of Africa, should be 
related one to the other. I must tell you that Spain, separated from the rest of Europe 
by the lofty and rugged Pyrenees, is very different from its neighbor, France, not 
only in the character of the soil, climate and productions, but in the nature of its 
people. In the parts of the country lying near the Mediterranean sea, the climate is 
almost as sultry as that of Africa, but in the Northern portion there are lofty plateaus 
crossed by mountains covered with perpetual snow, where the winds are keen and 
cold. The Greeks knew of Spain long ago, and told many fanciful stories about the 
land, riui frowning rock of Gibraltar, and of Ceuta on the opposite side of the 
Strait, they called the "Pillars of Hercules." and said that beyond them were the 
fair islands of the Hesperides, where there was no pain nor sorrow, no old age nor 
death. Nearly every poet of the ancients wrote of some such land, and taught those 
who listened to their song to look forward to the happy days when they should rest 



SPAIN. 613 

from their toils in tlie green fields and under the blue skies of a land where it was 
always summer. Homer described these Isles of the Blest, and his description is not 
very different from our idea of heaven, so you see that few of our ideas are really 
modern, and most of them are as old as the soul of man, I would have you remember 
the Pillars of Hercules, and indeed you will find it hard to forget them, for every 
time you see our sign for dollars ($) remember that it represents the Pillars of Her- 
cules surrounded by a scroll on which was originally inscribed "Ne plus ultra," which 
means "Thus far and no farther," for the Greeks ventured usually in their navigation 
of the waters no farther than the Pillars of Hercules, and supposed the seas beyond 
them to be peopled by strange monsters, among whom it was not safe for mariners 
to sail. 

I can not tell you who the first people of Spain were, though it is likely that they 
were of the same race as those that first peopled the rest of Europe, and were con- 
quered by the Celts. The Basques say they were the first inhabitants of Spain, and 
indeed they are so ancient that their origin is quite shrouded in the mists of the past, 
and it is only by means of their language, which is still spoken in Cantabria, a 
province of Spain, that we are able to trace the relation which they bear to the first 
people of Ireland and the Northern Peninsulas of Europe. It is said that this 
language is somewhat like that of Finland and Lapland, and from this fact it is 
supposed that the first dwellers in Spain, and perhaps the rest of Europe, were 
distantly relatetl to the Tartar hordes that in historic times descended upon Europe 
and threatened to wipe out its civilization. 

When the Romans first wrote of the people of .Sjiain they called them Iberians, 
or "River men of the Ebro." Whether these Iberians were Basques, or whether 
they crossed over from Africa when there was land between the two continents instead 
of the dividing straits, no one can tell. I am inclined to think that the Iberians were 
Celts, who left their homes in Central Asia long before the great horde of Celts 
poured down upon Europe and conquered the native people they found there. At 
all events, when the Celts found their way into Spain around the spurs of the 
Pyrenees or across its desolate passes, they conquered the Iberians, and the subject 
people took so kindly to them that in the course of a few centuries the two peoples 
were really one, and were known as Celt-Iberians. The Basques were crowded to 
the wilder and more inhospitable parts of the country, where they maintained for a 
long time their old customs and spoke their old language. They were very proud of 
their language, and to-day the Basques declare that their speech was that which was 
spoken by Adam in the Garden of Eden, though the ancient Ga;Is of Scotland say 
the same thing, and the Phrygians in ancient times asserted quite gravely that their 
language was the one first spoken by man. However that may be, if the Basque is 
not the oldest language on earth, it is certainly one of the most difficult to learn. It 
is said that only persons born and brought up among the Basques are able to speak 
it, and that it is an utter impossibility for a foreigner to learn its rules or to write it. 
The Romans declared that when they made the acquaintance of the Lusitanians, the 
ancestors of the Portuguese, they had a language and literature that were known to 
be at least six thousand years old. The Romans were probably mistaken in this 
statement, for if there had been such a literature among the ancient Portuguese, some 
traces of it would remain, and there is nothing to show that they were very different 
from their neighbors. 

The Celts of Spain were at first much like the Celts of the rest of Europe, but 



6i4 



SPAIN. 




Spuuiitrti lu.itc^lug. 



the climate and their surroundings intiuenced them greatly, and 
made them easier of conquest when their future conquerors 
came. They were Druids., of course, like all of the Celts, and 
knew something of navigation, for they had a coast trade with 
neighboring countries in very early times, and bartered with 
the dwellers on the Mediterranean islands the fruits, nietals and 
the products of their large flocks and herds, for arms and wine. 
It was not long after the Phcenicians made their settlement 
near where Tunis now stands, and of which we have learned in 
the story of Carthage, that they visited the coast of Spain. 
They saw how valuable the products of that country were to 
their commerce, for they found that there was iron, silver, cop- 
per, gold, pearls, rock-salt, sea-salt, and marble in abundance, 
beside many other minerals with whose uses they were unac- 
quainted. They made every effort to gain the good will of 
the natives. 

They taught them how to mine the metals and minerals 
they wanted from them, and how to smelt them and prepare them for export. Per- 
haps they taught them, too, how to manufacture arms, and indeed it is more than 
probable. The Romans found that they possessed excellent arms, but were not 
willing to give the Phcenicians whom they hated, the credit of having taught the Celts 
to make them, and declared that the Celts knew how to manufacture iron and steel 
before the first Phcenician galley landed on the shores of Spain. 

It is certain that the Phoenicians taught the Iberians to work gold and silver, and 
to mine the precious stones which they prized so highly, and they settled trading 
colonies along the .Spanish Mediterranean shores. The ji^wish historians were 
acquainted with Spain, for the ships of Tarshish, spoken of in the Bible, were no 
doubt ships that sailed to Tartessus, west of Gibraltar, to take cargoes of copper and 
other metals back to that country. When they are mentioned in the Bible, the Greeks 
had founded colonies in Spain after the manner of the Phcenicians, and the mineral 
wealth of the mountains of the European peninsula was carried to the far East from 
Tyre and the Asiatic seaports of the Greeks. Neither the Phctnicians nor the 
Greeks made any attempt to conquer the Iberians, as they called all the inhabitants 
of the country, but were content to trade with them, and let them learn and adopt 
what they would of the manners and customs of the civilized merchants. After Car- 
thage was founded, the commerce of Spain with the Phcenicians largely increased. 
The Carthaginians were a people who cared for nothing but trade and manufacture. 
They did not till the soil to any extent, and depended upon those countries with whom 
they had commerce to supply them with food products. Spain was rich in grains and 
fruits, and was so near to Carthage that her products were easily available. The 
Spaniards were well disposed toward the Carthaginians, whose religion was no doubt 
something like their own, and the Iberian chiefs welcometl the Carthaginian mer- 
chants in a friendly spirit. 

Hamilcar Barca knew of the riches of the country, and at the end of the first 
Punic war, when Carthage lost Sicily and Sardinia, upon whose fields and vineyards 
the Carthaginians so largely depended, he thought it would be a fine thing for his 
country to build up in .Spain a great State, modeled upon the government of 
Carthage and subject to that republic. Hamlicar may have had a double motive in 



SPAIN. 615 

"doing this. He may have thought that in time Spain would rival Carthage in the 
commerce of the world, and he might become independent ruler of the country, or 
he might have thought that the warlike Celts of Spain would prove a bulwark against 
which the Romans might dash themselves to pieces, and the mother-republic be pre- 
served from the shock of wars which were so disastrous to her commerce. The 
Carthaginians, while fierce and brave enough when forced to tight, did not love war 
as did the Romans, and preferred to have others fight for them when they could 
honorably do so. The armies of Carthage were usually made up of African tribes, 
whom they hired for the purpose, and Hamilcar knew that the Celts of Spain under 
good training would make better and more loyal soldiers than the fierce but fickle 
Africans who hatetl to submit to drill. 

For ages the Iberians had been friends with the Phcenicians, and it is probable 
that many Phcenicians who had settled in the country had married the fair daughters 
of the Celts, and had become great men among them. The Celtic chieftains took 
kindly to the plans of Hamilcar, and we have already learned in the story of Car- 
thage what progress he made with them, and how, when he was killed in battle, his 
son-in-law, Hasdrubal, carried on the work he so well began, and how Hannibal 
gathered the army that was the terror of Rome for forty years. Carthage, the "New 
City" of the Carthaginians, became a great and rich city. Barcelona, named for the 
"Barca" family of which Hannibal was then a member, and Cordova the Punic for 
"an important town," began to flourish. The Carthaginians were apt to be hard 
masters, and when they saw their power firmly established in Spain began to oppress 
the Celts and they were not a people to submit to oppression in those days with the 
tameness they afterward endured it. They became rapidly civilized under the 
rule of the Carthaginians, and began to realize their importance. The Carthaginians 
had always been the gainers in their transactions with the Celts, but as long as the 
Celts were ignorant barbarians, they were content to let the Carthaginians take what 
they wanted and give them in return what they pleased. Affairs were changed, how- 
ever, when the Spaniards learned the value of their metals, fruits and grains, but the 
Carthaginians, greedy of wealth and power, plundered them as before and made them 
willing to submit to the Roman yoke, thinking that the change must be for the better 
since it could not be for the worse. 

When Spain finally yielded to the genius of the Roman General, Scipio Africanus, 
it was not a hard task to pacify the Iberian chiefs. The Romans who later destroyed 
every vestige of the literature and art of Carthage in Africa that they could find, 
took pains to wipe out every trace of the Carthaginian possession of the country that 
was possible. There were traces, however, that they could not wipe out. Those were 
in the blood, manners and customs of the people, and influenced the Spaniards as the 
Romans themselves, the Goths and other conquerors influenced their country, whose 
doom for ages was to be the prey of the strong-handed. 

The climate of Southern Spain suited the taste of many of the luxurious Roman 
nobles, and soon splendid dwellings, overhung with olives and flowering vines, were 
built on the banks of the beautiful rivers and the margins of the sea. In these 
dwellings every form of luxury that wealth could purchase was to be seen, and Roman 
poets and philosophers passed happy hours under the sunny skies of Iberia. Roman 
soldiers married Spanish women, and when their terms of service were ended settled 
in Spain. Little by little the Latin language and the Roman customs became inter- 
woven with the life of the people. 



6i6 SPAIN. 

Roads were built for the passage of the Roman armies and the accommodation 
of the Roman merchants, aqueducts, for conveying the water from the mountain 
springs to the cities in the valleys, were constructed, and from the ruins of all these 
that still remain, we are able to judge of what Spain was during the four hundred 
years that she was a province of the Roman Empire. Spaniards boasted of being 
Roman citizens, and named their cities after the emperors. Saragossa was the ' City 
of Ca:sar Augusta," Braga, in Portugal, was the old Roman town of Brcata Augusta, 
and many other places in Spain and Portugal still bear the names that the Romans 
gave them, or were given them by the Spaniards themselves, in honor of the 
Romans. 

1 ladrian and Trajan were both Spaniards, as were also Antoninus and Marcus 
Aurelius, and a legion of Roman poets and makers of Roman literature. The early 
Roman emperors were either severe or indulgent to Spain, as best suited their pur- 
poses. One of them, Vespasian, was the means of settling in Iberia thousands of 
the Jewish subjects of the empire, who were hated at PvOme, and were removed to 
Meridia, and here became a source of wealth, anil afterwards of disaster. Chris- 
tianity came into Spain in the days of Nero, and was adopted with enthusiasm by the 
imaginative Spaniards. 

After the days of Marcus Aurelius the power of the Romans in Spain steadily 
declined, and events were preparing the people of the peninsula for another conquest. 
In looking upon the map of Spain you have no doubt noticed that the country is 
divided by mountain ranges into several distinct portions. No less than six great 
ranges cross the country and one of them, the Pyrenees, entirely separates Spain 
from the rest ot Europe. These mountains are some of them very lofty, and one 
chain, the Sierra Nevada is coverd with eternal snow, and is thought by some geolo- 
gists, to be a continuation of the Atlas Chain of Africa. Beside the mountains there 
are several large rivers traversing the Spanish Peninsula, for we are considering not 
only the story of Spain of to-day, but of the whole Peninsula, for Portugal was the 
ancient Lusitania, a province of Spain. 

As the mountains of Greece divided that country into several States, each inde- 
pendent of the others, and each with their own laws, manners and customs, so these 
lofty mountains separated the people of Spain into several distinct provinces, and 
the people of every province had their different characteristics. There was not even 
a common Spanish language, and there was more or less hostility and jealousy among 
the people as there is even yet after centuries of civilization. The Southern provinces, 
being nearer the high-way of commerce afforded by the Mediterranean were of 
course more highly civilized, and with civilization they had also acquired habits of 
indolence and lu.xury. The climate also had something to do with their easy-going 
temperament, for its summer heat was necrly as great as that of Tunis, and winter is 
unknown. The mi.\ture of foreign blood marked the people of the South of Spain 
and tempered their patriotism, making them an easy prey to the Romans, Goths, Van- 
dals and lastly the Moors, with whom indeed they might claim kinship of blood. The 
people of the north kept many of the characteristics of the early Basques. I hey were 
gloomy in disposition, fierce, fickle revengeful and intense, and were the first to take 
advantage of the decay of the Roman empire. Erom being a province of the Empire, 
Spain split up gradually into a number of small republics. Some of these fell under 
the power of the Vandals who founded a kingdom in Andalusia (Vandalnsia) , and 
other tribes of Barbarians harassed the others. It was in the beginning of the fifth 



SPAIN. 617 

century, as perhaps you will remember, as I have already told you of it in the story 
of Rome, when the Goths, a portion of the Germanic stream of humanity that over- 
flowed Europe about this time, were driven into the country on the borders of Thrace 
by the Huns, and there received lands from the Eastern Emperor. The Romans 
treated them shabbily from the first, and after awhile the Goths determined to break 
away from the place where they were settled, and where they could not get a living, 
and seek a home somewhere to the West. The Roman Emperor tried to stop them 
with an army, but their leader Alaric the Rrave, was too clever for him, and we know 
how he sacked Rome and scorning to make himself emperor was about to cross over 
into Africa with his people when he died and was buried in the bed of an Italian 
river. 

Placidia, the sister of the Roman emperor was carried captive by Ataulphus, the 
successor of Alaric, and for love of her the Gothic chieftain made peace with the 
Romans and acted as friend and ally toward them. One of the terms of this peace 
was the granting of all southern Gaul to the Goths, and all that part of .Spain under 
Roman rule, with the single condition that they should conquer it for themselves from 
the Vandals, Alans and Suevi, who had taken possession of most of the provinces. 
This was not a very valuable gift when we come to consider that the Croths would 
prpbably have taken the land if they could have done so even without the consent 
of the emperor. 

It was for the love of Placidia that a Roman named Constantius persuaded the 
emperor to make war upon the Goths. He did so and driving them out of Southern 
Gaul after a tierce struggle they were obliged to cross into Spain. Autulphus had 
learned much of Roman laws and civilization and admired them so greatly that v/hen 
he had fi.xed his court at Barcelona, he determined to rule his subjects in the Roman 
manner. The Goths were exceedingly haughty and fond of liberty, and the idea of 
having to submit to law was not at all relished by them. They hated the Romans 
and grew to hate their king for copying Roman manner^^. More than all perhaps, they 
hated Placidia the wife of their king and the mother of his six children. For a 
time Autulphus succeeded in holding his followers in check, and finally to satisfy their 
love of war, he made war upon the Vandals and .Suevi, but the Romans fought with 
him as allies, to the great disgust of the Goths, who called the Roman soldiers 
"cowardly dogs" and had a contempt for them because they were not as rude and fierce 
as themselves. The king had trained a large body of cavalry in the Roman manner, 
and one day as he, his court, his wife and children, sat in the courtyard at Barcelona 
watching the movements of these Gothic horsemen, a dwarf who had been privately 
instigated to the deed, stabbed Autulphus to the heart. To further distress the un- 
happy Placidia her own life was spared but her six children were murdered. The 
cruel Siegric, the successor of Autulphus who did this awful deed, compelled the 
queen to walk barefoot through the streets of Barcelona, subjected to the taunts and 
insults of her enemies, but this was going too far and the people, who pitied the poor 
lady, rose up in a few days, murdered .Siegric and elected Wallia to be their king 
in his place. 

Wallia was a clever politician and knew how to rule the Goths. He called them 
all together a few days after he was made king, and told them that they had to make 
their choice of an enemy. There were the Vandals and .Suevi, gallant and brave 
fighters worth the effort to conquer, and there were the Romans, cowardly dogs whom 
it was no glory to subdue. Let them say against whom he should lead them and he 



6i8 SPAIN. 

would make no objection. The fact was that WalHa had already promised Constantius 
who still faithful to Placidia had demanded it, that the queen should be given him 
as a condition of the treaty and peace made. The X'andals and Suevi were to be 
driven out. Wallia had agreed to the terms and had even sent Placidia to her 
lover. Of course the Goths declared they would march against their most gallant 
enemies the Vandals and Suevi, and peace was accordingly made with Rome. This 
peace allowed the Goths a large stretch of territory on the other side of the Pj-renees; 
that Roman province known as Provence, and the king crossed over with his followers 
and established his court at Toulouce, where he died two years after. 

It was Theodoric, the successor or Wallis. on the Gothic throne, who aided in the 
conquest of Attila, and his son followed him on the throne, but was murdered. The 
Goths had an e.xtremely bad habit of murdering any king that displeased them, and 
it was rarely indeed that a monarch occupied his throne in much comfort. 

The eldest son of Theodoric was murdered by his brother when he had been 
made king after his father's death, and the murderer, Kvaric, became the king of the 
Goths. The Goths now drove the Roman armies from Spain, and became the masters 
of the whole Peninsula, and we may justly consider Evaric the first Gothic king of 
Spain. He made his capital at Aries, in Southern France, and under him the Goths 
became a highly civilized people, who paid some attention to the arts and to literature, 
and whose name was respected in all civilized lands. It is said that ambassadors from 
the far East came to P2varic's court, and that Persians, Romans, P'ranks and 

Germans did him honor. 

The Goths had long ago adopted the Christianity of the Eastern Empire, which 
differed from the Christianity of the Roman Catholic Church in that it declared that 
God, instead of being P'ather, Son and Holy Ghost in one, was a single spirit. The 
Roman Catholics of those times had the monopoly of all the learning and science in 
Europe, and Evaric gathered the great men of the Catholics about him in order that 
he might learn from them, but they could not convert him. He was deeply interested 
in the study of government, and succeeded in making laws upon which the laws of 
Spain were founded for centuries. He was trulv a remarkable man, and under him 
the Goths made great advances. 

In the early part of the si.xth century Leovigild, one of the great heroes of 
Gothic Spain, came to the throne of the kingdom. He was a bitter hater of the 
Catholics, and determined to e.xterminate them. In the Northern provinces of Spain, 
where the people had held to their Paganism for the longest time, and had been the 
most unwilling to become Christians, the brave Cathcjlic missionaries had labored to 
such good effect that the rough mountaineers gave up the worship of their Druid 
gods and were passionately attached to the new creed. This made them the mark 
for the hatred of Leovigild, and he set out to conquer them. He drove out every 
Roman who refused to acknowledge that Spain was independent, put down the revolts 
of the Catholics against his rule, and for the first ten years he sat upon the throne he 
was always busy fighting, which was the manner of keeping the peace, it seems, in 
those days. 

When he had a little breathing space at the end of this ten years, he married a 
fair and haughty woman named Goswinda, an Arian like himself, and ten-fold more 
bitter against the Catholics. Leovigild had two grown sons by his first marriage, 
named Ermingild and Recared. Being anxious to keep the favor of the P' ranks, who 
by this time had become powerful in the kingdom Clovis had founded, Leovigild 



SPAIN. ' 619 

asked for the hand of a princess of the Franks, and received the daughter of Brun- 
hilda herself, who long before had been given in marriage to a Prankish chieftain. 
Brunhilda was a Catholic, and she hatl brought her daughter Ingunda up to believe 
as she did. Ingunda was very beautiful, and possessed all the haughtiness and love 
of power that made her mother famous, and plunged the P'ranks into wars and 
disasters. She was only sixteen years old, and when Ermingild saw her when she 
was brought into Spain to be married to him, he was smitten with her charms. 

Goswinda had opposed the idea of the marriage from the first, and when Ingunda 
came and she saw how lovely she was, she hated her. She pretended, however, to be 
very much concerned for the religious welfare of the young bride, and when the 
splendid wedding was over she began to ridicule and scold her because she was a 
Catholic. Pinally she told Ingunda that she must change her faith. It seems that 
Goswinda had been in the habit of having her own way, and was exceedingly violent 
and bad-tempered when any one went against her wishes. Ingunda boldly declared 
that she would do as she pleased in regard to her worship, and everything else that 
concerned her, and the old queen, thereupon, complained to her husband. Ingunda 
in her turn complained to Ermingild, and there was such quarreling and strife in the 
palace that nobody could be at all comfortable. To add to the confusion, Ermingild's 
friends sided with Ingunda, and Goswinda's friends sided with the old queen, and for 
a time it seemed that there would surely be war. 

Leovigild loved Ermingild very dearly, and when he saw that his wife and 
Ingunda would never agree he suggested to his son that he go away to Seville and 
set up housekeeping for himself while he would remain at Toledo. This Toledo was 
an old city that had been founded by the Jews and named Toledoth, which means 
"the mother of peoples." Leovigild made his court at Toledo, and Ermingild 
and his wife lived in Seville. Goswinda had succeeded in making her religion 
so unpleasant to her step-son that when he was under the sole influence of his 
beautiful young wife he renounced the Arian faith and was baptized a Catholic. 
When his father heard of this he was very angry, and declared that no Catholic son 
of his should sit on the throne of the Goths. 

After a time his anger cooled, and he sent to Ermingild and asked him to come 
and talk affairs over with him, but Ingunda and the Cathoiic bishops who were her 
advisers, would not allow him to go, and influenced him, instead, to conspire with the 
Catholic Suevi, the enemies of the Arian Goths, to take the crown from Leovigild. 
The king then raised an army and besieged Seville. Ermingild fled t^, Cordova, 
which in its turn was besieged and captured, and at the last he took refuge in a church. 
His brother Recared persuaded him to come out and throw himself at his father's 
feet and beg his forgiveness. Leovigild granted it, but he exiled his son to a city far 
distant from Seville, and made him live as a private man. 

Ingunda was bitterly chagrinned that Goswinda hatl triumphed for it was by her 
advice that Ermingild had been exiled, and she was untiring in her efforts to rouse 
her husband to revolt. At last she succeeded, and raising an army of his father's 
enemies, Ermingild advanced toward Toledo. Leovigild was one of the most skillful 
generals of the time, and his son knew little of war. It was not long before the king, 
plundering monasteries and burning Catholic churches, had surrounded Ermingild. 
In vain Ingunda pleaded with him to escape into Prance, and there raise a new army 
for the carrying on of the war, leaving the old one to its fate. Ermingild was stubborn, 
and he was captured and thrown into prison by his father. Leovigild might have 



620 



SPAIN. 




S|)aul&h ru&tllluD. 



had hisunrul)- son beheaded, and not have been blamed by his sub- 
jects, but he loved him still, and determined to save him. He 
caused the Arian priests to labor with him to turn him back to the 
faith of his childhood. Goswinda advised her husband to deal 
sternly with Ermingild, but the father could not bring himself to 
hate his eldest born son. with whom he had been patient for so 
many years and had never quite despaired of winning back to 
obedience. It may have been the wrongs that Goswinda had 
heaped upon him and his wife that made Ermingild determine 
■^1 never to yield, but he withstood every persuasion with steadfast- 
ly? ness. Leovigild did not despair, for he knew that could he bring his 
son to consent to give up Catholicism his Catholic enemies would 
receive a great blow to their hopes. He even went so far as to tell 
him that he could remain Catholic in private, if he would only profess Arianism in 
public, to quell the disorders of the kingdom, for there were many Catholics in Spain 
who had espoused his cause. Ermingild steadily refused, and on one occasion so 
insulted the priests sent by the king to argue with him. that Leovigild ordered his 
execution. His head was therefore promptly struck off, and when the king repented 
his hasty orders, and sent word to the jailer to spare the prince, it was too late. 
The court that Leovigild established at Toledo continued to be the seat of the Gothic 
kings for a long time, and when he died his second son Recared reigned there 
in great splendor. Ermingild, by the way, was made a saint by the Catholics, and 
was devoutly worshipped for many centuries. Recared established the Catholic faith 
and persecuted the Arians. He was a great builder and ruled wisely and well for 
many years, dying in the year 6oi. When he came to the Gothic throne, 
he was already greatly admired by his subjects and he showed himself wise 
and clever. He had learned much of the Catholic faith and was secretly in 
favor of it, but he knew better than to let his people, and above all his step-mother 
Goswinda, have an inkling of what was in his mind. When he had been upon the 
throne a little while he caused the Arian and Catholic Bishops to debate their points 
of difference in his presence, and while he decided for neither, he set the example to 
his subjects to consider what good there was in Catholicism. All over the kingdom 
he encouraged such disputations and when he thought the temper of the people had 
been made sufficiently liberal by the knowledge of what the Catholic religion really 
was, he called his chief men together, told them that he had been considering the 
claims of both forms of faith, and that for himself he was convinced that the Catholic 
religion was the better, and that he meant to adopt it, but that he would persecute no 
man who refused to believe as he did. 

Goswinda was very angry, when she heard that Recared had done the very thing 
of all others that she had shed so much blood and caused so much misery to prevent 
in Ermingild's case, that he had become a king of the Arian Goths. She called the 
Arian bishops about her, and tried to raise a revolt. It was quickly subdued by 
Recared, who did nothing to punish Goswinda, and she lived to an unhappy, dis- 
appointed old age. 

Recared died in the year 6oi, after a happy reign in which he had done all that 
he could for the advancement of his people. He bound the Suevi Goths and Spaniards 
together, crushed the revolts that sprang up against him from time to time, and fought 
the Franks successfully in Southern Gaul. He was unwise in granting such great 



SPAIN. 621 

powers to the Catholic bishops of his kingdom, and binding the Church and State so 
closely together, but he did not realize it. 

Toledo had for centuries been the home of numerous Jews. It was they who 
built up the commercial prosperity of the city, and made it a great metropolis. You 
have learned from the other nations of Western Europe, that Judaism and Catholi- 
cism have never flourished side by side. The Catholic sovereigns of those times, and 
even of modern da^'s. have a deep-rooted hatred of the unhappy Jews and have 
always marked them out as objects of displeasure. The Catholics of Spain were not 
different from those of the rest of Europe. They thought it a religious duty to per- 
secute the race whose ancestors had crucified the Saviour, forgetting that the Saviour 
himself was born of those despised people, and had always taught his disciples to be 
merciful and tender. 

When Recared had been dead a few years, the bishops succeeded in having it 
madea law that the kings were to bind themselves to persecute "the accursed Jews," 
and declared that every Spaniard should refuse to serve a monarch who would not 
do so. The Jews of spain had grown wealthy in trade, and to plunder and persecute 
them became popular and profitable. The Catholic priests and bishops began the 
persecutions that were carried on at intervals for nine hundred years against the 
Jews of Spain, and Spain has reaped the reward that has always been vouchsafed to 
those who have persecuted the people once singled out for the favor of Jehovah; it 
has fallen from its place among nations, and its palaces have become ruins. 

The priests became more and more haughty as time went on, and made the Goths 
feel the weight of their power so heavily that they lost all spirit. They submitted 
tamely to the exactions of the haughty priests until 652, when Kindaswint, a noble, 
determined to stand their tyranny no longer. He was eighty years old, but he seized 
the crown and he was so fierce that the priests who had abused their power left the 
country in large numbers. He then set himself to work to reform the government, 
and there had been so many weak kings in the half century since the death of Recared, 
that the government sadly needed reforming. He made new and wise laws, and 
would not consent to have one law for the nobles and another for the peasants, but 
established justice for all alike. He died at the age of ninety-two, and his son became 
king. Instead of carrying on the good work begun by his father, this son spent his 
life in undoing it, and in the twenty years that he sat on the throne, contrived to 
bring about much harm. He died at Salamanca in 672. 

There was a law among the Goths that the new king must be chosen at the place 
where the old king died, so the nobles of Spain flocked to Salamanca to choose a 
king. The legend tells us that a certain holy man who afterward became a Pope, 
prayed that the nobles might be divinely directed in the choice of a new king, and in 
answer to his prayer received a revelation that the man who should be chosen was 
called Wamba, and he could be found plowing in a field far to the west. The nobles 
thereupon set out to look for Wamba, and after long travel found him as was pro- 
phesied. They informed Wamba that he was chosen king, and thinking that some 
one was playing an elaborate joke upon him, Wamba laughed and said: "Yes, and I 
shall be crowned about the time the pole of my plow, here, puts out leaves." There- 
upon he stuck the plow-pole in the ground, and in the moment while he spoke 
it put forth leaves and buds. Wamba was surprised at the token, but still 
modestly hung back until one of the Gothic nobles, drew his sword, and told him 
he must either at once consent to wear the crown or he would render it impossi. 



622 



SPAIN. 




The Pruphet Mohammed. 



ble for him to wear even a head. This was sharper 
argument than Wamba had counted upon, and he 
meekl}' consented to be made king. When he 
was crowned, the old chronicles say a dove and a 
bee ascended from his head, symbols of the peace 
and prosperit}' of the nation under his rule. 

Wamba had no sooner ascended the throne, 

than he was obliged to march against some rebels, 

who under a certain duke Paul had stirred up 

trouble in Galicia and the Asturias, two provinces 

:- upon the shores of the Bay of Biscay, and when 

"he had conquered them, he showed his piety by 

■ Meclaring that all the Jews who would not consent 

- ."to be baptized should be banished. Many of the 

- /jews crossed over to Africa, preferringto live under 
the Berber rule, than to be constantly insulted ami 
persecuted in Christian Spain. Wamba saw that 

K/y \ the Saracens would in time attempt the conquest 
of Spain, and therefore kept a fleet sailing about 
in the Mediterranean to beat them off. He reigned 
with honor andability for eight years, then one of his 
favorites gave him a drink that threw him into such a stupor that his attendants thought 
him dying, and as was the custom in those daj's, shaved his head, and placed upon him 
the gown of a monk, in order that he might die in holy garb, lie did not die then, but 
lived for several years, but he could never be a king again, for "once a monk always 
a monk." His faithless friend reigned disastrously and weakly in his stead, and when 
he died, some years after Wamba was gathered to his fathers, he too had long been 
a private individual, for he made such a mess of the government, that he gave it up 
in disgust. His successors, persecuted the Jews more inhumanly than ever, and they 
continued to crossover to Africa, where the Moslems allowed them to dwell in peace, 
exacting of them only a small ta.x. 

In 710 Roderick, who is called in history "The Last of The (ioths" came to the 
throne, The Goths, had centuries before overthrown the Vandal kingdom in Africa, 
and owned a strip of land along the coast opposite (libraltar. The city of Ceuta was 
the stronghold of their power in Africa. The Arabs had been converted to Islamism 
long before, and in their career of conquest had spread over all of Western Asia, 
Syria and Egypt. They had conquered all of Mauritania except that portion held 
by the (joths, and had, again and again, been hurled back by them. It happened that 
Count Julian a gallant general who had bravely withstood the Moors in Africa, had 
a fair daughter, whom he sent to Toledo to be educated. The maiden was very 
beautiful, and attracted the attention of Roderick, who took her against her will to 
live with him though he was already married. Her father was bitterly offended at 
this wicked deed, and at once allied himself with his old enemies the Moors, and told 
them of the wealth of Spain, and the field it offered for conquest. 

There is a legend which relates that Hercules, who was said by the Phoenicians to 
have founded the city of Cadiz, and given names to other places in Spain, built in the 
city of Toledo a mysterious dwelling with sealed doors called the "House of Pleasure 
and Pain." Every King of the Goths had placed a lock on the doors of this House^ 



SPAIN. 625 

for the oracle commanded that none should seek to know what was therein. Roderick 
was determined to learn what mystery was behind those sealed doors. He told his 
knights of his resolve, and they were sadly frightened, and tried to persuade the king 
to forbear, but his mind was made up. He caused the locks to be broken, pushed 
open the first door, and commanding his chiefs to follow, entered. The room that 
had thus lain sealed, since the 306th year of Adam, was revealed to the view of the 
trembling Goths. It was a square hall, entirely empty, except for a huge statue. One 
form of the legend says that the statue was reclining on a bed, and that in its hand 
was a scroll on which was written that its original was Hercules. y\nother legend 
relates that the statue was upright, and in its hand was a huge battleaxe, constantly 
in motion, and on its breast a shield with an inscription "I do my office, I summon the 
Moors." The first legend says that the king went forward, and found another 
beautiful room, one part of which was white, another black, another green, and 
another red. In a niche of the room was a casket of silver curiously made, and 
covered with all manner of jewels. There was a Greek inscription on the cover, 
which I do not believe Roderick could have read, but the legend says that he did, 
and that it said 'Tt cannot be but that the king in whose time this coffer shall be 
opened, shall see wonders before his death." 

Roderick had the idea that since Hercules had willed that those things should 
not be known, for the inscription further declared that Hercules had said it, that it 
would be a brave deed to open the casket. He did so, and found within a white cloth 
folded between two pieces of copper, and on the cloth were drawn figures of Moors, with 
their turbans and banners, and upon it was written, "When this cloth shall be opened, 
men appareled like these shall conquer Spain." 

This is the legend, but like the legends of Wamba and other heroes who had 
supernatural experience, it can not be accepted as anything but an interesting tale. 
Indeed it is not at all certain that Wamba ever lived, and Roderick is a very shadowy 
creation of whom little is known, but that a king of his name was the last of the 
Gothic kings of Spain. 

It seems that Musa, the Berber chieftain, had little faith in Count Julian, and 
evidently thought that his former enemy was planning to entrap him. He therefore 
concluded to send a few trusty men into Spain, on a sort of exploring expedition. 
Accordingly in 710 he dispatched Tarifa with one hundred* Arabs and five hundred 
Africans upon a visit to the Peninsula. Tarifa landed on the cape that yet bears his 
name, and which gave to the world, as I have already told you, the term "tariff." 

The party met with little opposition, and journeyed through the province of 
Andalusia, filled with admiration of its fair cities, blue skies, fertile fields, and rich 
mines of gold, silver, copper and other minerals, and its fisheries of pearl. They 
carried back such an enthusiastic report to Musa, that he was fully determined on a 
plundering raid into the rich country across the Strait. 

The next spring he ordered five thousand soldiers under a leader named Tarik, 
to pass over into Spain, plunder the country and return. Tarik set sail from Ceuta^ 
and landed at the base of the opposite Pillar of Hercules, which from that time was 
destined to bear his name, Gibraltar, "Gebel-al-Tarik," the mountain of Tarik. The 
chieftain on his way across the Strait evidently made up his mind what he should do 
when he was safely in Europe. To induce his followers to consent to his plans, he 
pretended to have a vision, in which Mohammed, the prophet, appeared to him, and 
commanded him to treat the Spaniards gently, and to make a conquest instead of a 



624 



SPAIN. 



raid. Tarik had a wonder- 
ful power of leadership, 
and so worked upon the 
superstition and love of 
Ljlory of his Moslem fol- 
lowers, that they were will- 
ioij to obey him to the 
uttermost. They made 
no objection when upon 
landing he burned his 
ships, niakino- return im- 
possible. 

Roderick was not the 
rightful monarch of the 
Goths, but had seized the 
throne by force. T h e 
country under Gothic 
rule had sunk very low. 

2 Thousands of the' native 
^ inhabitants of xhv. coun- 
~ try, people of the old 

3 Celtic and Iberian stock, 
3 had been reduced to 
^ slavery, were unable to 

own land, and were pro- 
hibited by the laws from 
purchasing their freedom. 
Their condition was 
hopeless, and they there- 
fore hated their masters 
with a bitter hatred. In 
the centuries since the 
Goths first entered the 
country there had been 
constant religious perse- 
cutions. Catholics, Arians 
and Jews h a d suffered 
under church tyranny.and 
a large portion of the 
nation had really at heart 
no religion, and merely 
conformed to the rule ot the priests and king to escape trouble. 

The princes, whose authority Roderick had usurped, were secretly rejoiced wht-n 
they heard of the invasion of the Saracens, for they thought it but a plundering raiil, 
and that by joining with them they might overthrow Roderick, and when the for- 
eigners had left the country, regain their former power. Roderick called upon them 
to help him e.xpel the invaders, but they refused. The slaves also refused to fight 
against the Saracens, being willing to perish at their hands, if their hated masters 




z' 



SPAIN. 625 

were involved in the general ruin. Nevertheless Roderick succeeded in gathering 
quite a large force of Goths, and met Tarik and his host about seven miles from the 
old city of Cadiz, on the Xeres plain. 

A bloody battle was fought, but the Goths were defeated. Roderick was drowned 
in crossing a little river that lay between the two armies, and his body was never 
found, though a head was sent to Damascus to the caliph, which was said to be that 
of the last of the Gothic kings, and many a sad old tale tells of his valor and 
despair. 

Tarik advanced into the heart of the kingdom. Cordova, Toledo, and many 
other cities opened their gates to him, the Jews armed themselves and joined him, 
and the Spaniards welcomed him as a deliverer. Musa was filled with rage that 
Tarik had turned the plundering foray into a splendid conquest, and gained so much 
glory, so he followed him to Spain with an army of eighteen thousand men. 

Tarik went to meet Musa, who upbraided him bitterly that he had not obeyed 
orders, and demanded a particular account of the treasure he had collected in Spain. 
Tarik was able to satisfy his master that he had held back nothing, but Musa could 
not forgive him his success. He punished him with the lash, threw him into prison, 
and heaped disgrace upon him. What was his final fate, I can not tell you for a 
certainty. Upon his way to meet Tarik, Musa had conquered several cities, and now 
continued the subjugation of Spain. In less than two years the whole country, except 
the provinces in the North and Northwest, were in the hands of the Moors. 

The Spaniards were not persecuted on account of their religion, like the other 
nations conquered by the Saracens, and the first few centuries of Arab rule in Spain 
were mild and beneficial. Christians and Jews were taxed for their faith, but no 
effort was made to forcibly convert them to Islam. By the Mohammedan law slaves 
were permitted to buy their freedom, and it was considered a virtuous act to grant 
liberty to them. Land was sold to those who were able to purchase it, and farming 
was thus encouraged. The Arabs loved running water, and understood perfectly the 
art of carrying the streams from the mountains, in aqueducts and ditches, across the 
arid plains, and thus making the desert bloom like the rose. Spain became aland of 
fruitfulness, the palm, transplanted from Asia, grew luxuriantly on the banks of the 
rivers of the southern provinces, and the pomegranate, the citron and other fruits 
that the Arabs loved, ripened in the beautiful gardens that they planted about their 
homes, and the arts, sciences and industries of the Orient took root among the people, 
and grew and flourished as did the tropic fruits and flowers. 

Musa was summoned to Bagdad, where the jealous caliph meted out to him the 
same reward he had given Tarik, and for forty years Spain was ruled by emirs sent 
by the Governor of Africa, with the sanction of the caliph. None of these emirs 
held office very long, and there was constant change of rulers. 

It happened that in Damascus the reigning family, which was very large, became 
unpopular, and another family wanted to become hereditary Caliphs of the Saracens. 
They made a plot to murder all of the members of the reigning house, and the plan 
succeeded so well that only two of the many royal princes escaped. One of them 
fled to a remote part of Arabia, where his descendants ruled for many centuries, and 
another, after many adventures, reached the land of the Berbers, and was offered the 
crown. He accepted, and when he had firmly established his power, crossed over to 
Spain, threw off the authority of the caliphs of the East, and made himself inde- 
pendent caliph of the West. This prince, Abderaman, put down all opposition with 



626 



SPAIN. 



a strong hand, and it was during his reign that the dis- 
/ paster of Roncesvalles occurred, of which I have else- 
where told you. At first many of the Arabs revered 
and honored him, but the closing years of his reign 
'were darkened by so many crimes, that he was regarded 
with hatred by both Christians and MosU-ms. He sur- 
rounded himself with a body-guard of fi^ty thousand 
men. and was a tyrant of the gloomiest sort. 

The Berbers were a fierce ungovernable race and 
it was exceedingly difficult to teach them to keep the 
peace and obey the Caliph. They had never known 
what it was to be under a single ruler, but every tribe 
was governed by its chief. Of course this was impos- 
sible in Spain where the Berber rule could only be 
maintained by the union of alf the conquering tribes, 
and to convince the Arabs and Berbers that they must 
obey him it was necessary to make an example of the 
unrul}', and Abderaman never hesitated to do so. He 
came to be hated heartily by Berbers and Arabs alike, 
and none were very sorry when he died and his son 
came to the Caliphate of the West in 788. This son 
whose name was Hicham, only ruled eight years, but 
much happened in that time. In the first place his two 
brothers with a large following rebelled against him and 
were reduced to order. Then anew school of Moham- 
medan theology was founded. Next the Franks assailed the Moslems in Spain but 
without success. Hicham was a ruler who did what he could for his country and his 
people. Through his efforts schools of Arabic learning were established in Spain to 
which even Christains had free access, and his love of science and the arts, his 
miUlness and generous disposition, as well as his piety, endeared him to the Saracens, 
and when he died he was sincerely mourned. 

llacam, who succeeded his father as Caliph, was a very different sort of person. 
He was exceedingly fond of hunting and drank wine which was contrary to the 
Mohammedan rules. He was not well disposed toward the new school of Moham- 
medan theology and told the priests in so many words that they must mind their own 
affairs, and that he would not have them mixing in the government as they had done 
in the days of his father. This angered the priests and they hired persons to pelt the 
Caliph with stones when he went abroad, and they even formed a plot to take the 
throne from him. The people of Toledo, the old Gothic capital, may have had a hand 
in this plot; at all events, a legend relates the form that the vengeance of the cruel 
Caliph took, for his son no doubt acted under his orders. 

This son, a lad of fifteen secured possession of the castle of Toledo and sent out 
invitations to the prominent citizens of the town, in all between one and five thousand 
persons, different forms of the tales give different numbers. He set about the prep- 
arations for a magnificent entertainment and the people invited were eager to 
attend. As they came one by one to the castle they were led to the fosse and their 
heads were struck off. The people on the outside of the castle noticing the disap- 
pearance of the guests, and that they did not return, supposed they had gone home 




Samrvuli- C<uit ')f Annt;.— Miino <r Anlllcrlc, Paris. 



SPAIN. 627 

by another way, until a physician, who having some curiosity to hear about the enter- 
tainment, placed himself at the other gate of the castle and waited. Of course no 
one came out and straining his eyes toward the castle walls he saw a thin light vapor 
rising from the fosse. At first he thought it was the smoke of banquet, but looking 
closer he perceived it was the blood of the unhappy guests, and warned those still on 
the outside of the fate in store for them if they ventured within the power of the 
treacherous son of the caliph. 

Every country has had its Caligula, and Hacam was the Caligula of Moorish 
Spain. He hated the people 'and made no effort to conceal his hatred. His cruelty 
to his subjects generally and his partiality for those of his own caste caused 
numerous revolts, which he always put down with the most inhuman atrocity. Finally 
he shut himself up in his palace and passed his time in drunkenness and feasting. 

He exiled thousands of the Arabic people to Alexandria and Fez, and gathered 
about him a body-guard of negroes, who understood no Arabic, and did whatever the 
cruel Hacam commanded them, for they could not understand the prayers of the 
people for mercy. It is said that Hacam set Cordova on fire, then sent these 
fiendish negroes out to throttle the people whose homes he was laying in ruins. 
Hacam died a melancholy lunatic, and one of his forty sons came to the Moorish 
throne of Spain, and ruled the country under the title of Abderaman II. 

After this prince came others, who ruled Spain for the next seventy years with 
more or less despotic cruelty, but who advanced their peculiar form of civilization in 
the country. The weakness of the rule of the princes after Hacam allowed the 
Christians to gain some of their lost power, became apparent, and in 912 it seemed that 
the rule of the Saracens in Spain was about to be done away, and that the Christians 
He was not the kingdom. About this time a remarkable Caliph came to the throne, 
would regain the son of the preceeding Caliph, but had been chosen as was the cus- 
tom of the Saracens, as the most able relative of the deceased Sultan. His name was 
Abderaman III., and he is described as having long golden hair like the old Gothic 
kings, and flashing blue eyes. 

This Abderaman had a wonderful genius for ruling. He gathered an army and 
reduced Christians and Saracens to submission. The Caliph who had ruled before 
him, was not capable of holding together the various conflicting elements of the 
kingdom, and Abderaman III. found his cities in revolt. The Christians had gained 
power gradually, but he brought them into subjection, and ruled them with such wis- 
dom and gentleness that they were more than content. The commerce of Spain 
became very large under this great Saracen. He encouraged manufacture, and the 
arts flourished. He made Cordova one of the most splendid cities in the world. It 
is said to have had half a million inhabitants in the city, not counting the twenty- 
eight suburbs, and it contained three thousand magnificent mosques. 

One of the great works of Abderaman III. was the building of a splendid palace 
called the Ahzara, for his favorite wife. The roof of this great building was upheld 
by four thousand pillars of variegated marble, the floors and walls, too, were of the 
most brilliant and beautiful marble, and there were beautiful fountains in all the larg-e 
apartments. The palace was surrounded by gardens, whose magnificence were the 
wonder of Spain. In the center of the grounds was a white marble pavillion, with a 
golden roof, and in the pavillion a fountain of quicksilver, that played all the time. 
Here the Caliph passed his hours of leisure, amused by his many wives, but nothing 
now remains of Ahzara but a memory painfully brought before the traveler to Cor- 



628 



SPAIN. 





urr:? 



Punishment for Capital OffcnRen. 



dova by melancholy fragments of a few broken columns. The Ahzara has vanished, 
and like the Saracen rule in Spain, has left only a few faint traces of former glory. 

The Caliph, who came after this luxurious but wise and intelligent Ab- 

deraman III., was named Hacam, but he was a very different ruler from the 

cruel and selfish Hacam I. He came to the Caliphate of Spain in the j-ear 

■)/Q66. and under him the Saracen rule in Spain reached the height of its glory. 

Abderaman III. had succeeded in convincing the Spaniards, both Saracen 

f and Christian, that the will of the Caliph should l3e sujireme in the land. 

and Hacam II. had little troublt; upon that score, 
. jr5v?=*^A He hatl a deep interest in every science and art, 
i — ^ and loved literature with his whole heart. He had 
J^- such a thirst for knowledge that he called to his 
'>~^ court the wisest men of every land, and delighted 
in nothing more than in listening to their 
conversations, and in learning of them. 
He sent men to every part of tire world 
to collect books for him. In tliose days 
there were no printing presses, and books 
were scarce and costly, but Hacam II. collected si.\ hundred thousand manuscripts, many 
of them elaborately illuminated by hand. The schools of Cordova became famous 
everywhere, and Christians as well as Saracens flocked to them. IMcn and women con- 
tended for prizes in eloquence and grace of oratory, and Spain bet ame the center of 
the literary activity of Europe. In fact everywhere else in Europe ignorance was 
dense. Many of the priests could neither read nor write, and the common people 
had no idea of books. In Spain nearly everybody in the province of Andalusia 
could read, and there were numerous schools where the children of the poor could 
be instructed. 

Hacam was followed on the throne by his son Hicham, who was a nu-re child 
when his father died. Hicham was foi.d of pleasure and his vizier, Alamansor, took 
care that he grew up to think that there was nothing else in life worth a thouglit. 
Alamansor conducted all of the affairs of the kingdom, and he did it so wisely and 
well that not even the great Abderaman III. achieved greater fame. Under the mild 
rule of Hacam the Christians had again gainei power in the north and elsewhere. 
Almansor persecuted them mercilessly. He not only forbade their worship but he 
destroyed many of their beautiful churches after he had plundered them of their 
treasure. In spite of his dealings with the Christians, it cannot be denied that he 
did much for Spain. He built bridges and roads and improved all of the cities under 
his rule. He was just, where his own interests were not concerned, and so brave and 
fearless of danger that he was admired by all who knew of his fame. 

Hicham was sent to a beautiful castle where he was surrounded with every sort 
of amusement and luxury, and was kept there in close seclusion and in deadly fear of 
his powerful grand vizier. Alamansor called the Berbers into Spain and enrolled 
them by the thousands in his army, destroying as far as possible the trilial divisions 
among the Arabs and causing them to be drilled side by side with the Spaniards. 
The name of the rightful Caliph was forbidden to be mentioned in his presence, for 
Alamansor had all the power of a sovereign. This did not please some of his jealous 
relatives, and his father-in-law took up arms in defense of the wretched Caliph, who 
was perfectly content with his lot and would not have known how to govern had he 



SPAIN. 



629 






been given an opportunity. Ala- 
mansor killed his rebellious father- 
i 
s 

th 
fr 

erned Sp 

against him when he desired to be 
made Caliph, and joined the people 
in murmuring against his haughti- 
ness. The people loved the weak 
Hicham too, and although Ala- 
mansor had raised the country to 
such a height of prosperity and 
greatness, they did not love him. 
In his old age Alamansor became 
superstitious. He had read in the 
Koran, the Mohammedan Bible, 
that "God will preserve from fire 
him whose feet are covered with 
the dust of holy wars," and took 
care upon his return from every 
expedition against the Christians 
to have the dust all shaken from 
his clothing and preserved as care- 
fully as if it had been precious 
stones. There must have been 
considerable of this dust, for Spain 
then as now possessed plenty of 
dust that settled in the clothing of 
a traveler, and Alamansor made fifty 
campaigns against the Christians. 

In spite of all his fame and the envy heaped upon him by the less fortunate of 
his countrymen, Alamansor was unhappy. He had risen step by step from a humble 
station to the proud position of real ruler of a great realm. He could see before him 
the work of his hands and his mind, he was surrounded with splendor and his name 
was heard in every court of Europe and Asia, but he was wretched. For years he 
suffered the most excruciating torment from an incurable malady without uttering a 
complaint, but in his old age was wont to say that he had twenty thousand soldiers 
upon his roll, and not the poorest among them was so miserable as he. His darling 
ambition to become Caliph was never realized, and in the year 1002, weary of war 
and suffering, worn to a shadow by nights of sleeplessness and pain, he dieil, glad to 
close his eyes upon a world that he no longer loved, and ambitions that seemed as 
small and unworthy when they were realized as they had seemed great and beneficent 
when he was struggling upward toward them. Alas for human greatness. 

One of the sons of Alamansor became vizier to Hicham, but he only ruled a short 
time when he was followed by his brother named Abderaman, who was half Spanish, 
as his mother, one of the many wives of Alamansor, was the daughter of the king of 




Iiitiriui of llii- Alh.iHilir,i. 



630 SPAIN. 

Navarre. The people hated Abderaman on account of his "infidel" blood, and 
hated him too because he was thought to have poisoned his half-brother. Their 
hatred passed all bounds when he tried to make Hicham, now an old man, declare 
him his heir. The fury of the people was roused to action by a simple thing. 
Abderaman, instead of wearing the head-dress of the true Mohammedan, wore that 
common to Spanish lawyers and students, and that was considered an insult to 
religion. There was an uprising, Abderaman was killed by horrible torture and 
the Mohammedan rule in Andalusia fell to the earth. The Berbers and the slaves, 
who had been brought from the other countries of Europe, and taken from the fields 
of Spain to recruit the army of the Caliph, rose in revolt and plundered Cordova. 
The magnificent library was scattered to the four corners of the earth, the fairy 
palace of Ahzarah, after thousands of dollars worth of gold and precious things had 
been taken from it, was burned to the ground. After a few more turbulent years the 
last of the Caliphs of Cordova was strangled in his bath, and the kingdom of Cordova 
after an existence of three hundred years was utterly destroyed. This was a great 
blow to the Arabs. The city had not only become famous for its arts and sciences, 
its splendid buildings, lovely gardens and magnificent mosques, but it was considered 
a holy city, a place blessed of God, and to it, as to Mecca and Medina, the pious 
Moslems made pilgrimages from every part of Asia. The chiefs of the other cities 
held by the Arabs reigned as governors of petty republics for the next fifty years, 
and then Moslem Spain fell into the hands of the Spaniards. The Saracens had 
filled Spain with splendid trophies of their art, and the Jews had enjoyed comparative 
peace, but the turn had come of Christianity as victor. 

When Roderick was defeated by Tarik, his gallant nephew, Pelayo, fied with the 
remnant of the Gothic army to the north of Spain, and among the mountains of As- 
turias lived as a sort of a king, defeating all of the Arabs that were sent to subdue 
him. As the centuries went on the little kingdom increased, and Leon was afterward 
captured from the infidels and added to it. When Pelayo died, he left the crown of 
his kingdom, called the Asturias, to his family, and in the eighth century we find one 
of his descendants with the title of Alfonso II, established with a regular court at 
Oviedo, building palaces and churches, and making war upon the Arabs. It is 
this king of whom the legend of Bernardo del Carpio, so familiar to every school- 
boy, is related. He was never married, and was so incensed with his lovely sister, 
because she married Count Saldana and kept the marriage secret for a whole year, 
that, when he discovered it, he threw her into prison in a strong castle, put out the 
eyes of her husband and thrust him into a dungeon, far away from his wife, took 
Bernardo, the little son of the unhappy pair, and sent him away to the mountains of 
the Asturias. There the people treated him as if he were a royal prince, and he grew 
up believing that he was really the son of the king. He became a renowned fighter, 
and was so handsome and gallant that his cruel uncle may have been proud of the 
reputation of being his father, at any rate he never told him his story. When 
Bernardo was a young man, Alfonso sent to Charlemagne, so runs the legend, and 
offered to give up his kingdom of the Asturias, if the Prankish king would come into 
Spain and drive out the Moors. When Charlemagne came, Alfonso repented his 
zeal in the cause of Christianity, and turned against the Franks. Bernardo and 
other Spanish knights, aided him at Roncesvalles to defeat the rear-guard of the 
Prankish army, for the legend claims that it was his mountaineers that caused the 
death of the brave Roland. After this, Bernardo learned that his father was not the 



SPAIN. 



63! 



king, but that he was alive, blind and in prison. The king had given Bernardo a 
handsome castle, and he now went to him, and offered to give up the castle if the 
monarch would release his father from prison. Alfonso promised, and Bernardo 
gave up the castle and rode with the king to meet his old father. When he neared 
the place where the king promised him he should greet the parent from whom he 
had been so long separated, he saw a company in the midst of which was the figure 
of a white-haired man, magnificently dressed, riding toward him. The king told him 
to go forward to kiss his father's hand. Filled with joy, Bernardo approached, only 
to find that the white-haired figure was that of a dead man; for the king had cruelly 
caused the poor count to be slain. We all know Bernardo's touching lament, and 
that 

"His after fate, uiituld in martial strain, 
His banners led the spears no more, 
Upon the fields of Spain." 

As usual I must remind you that the story is but a legend, and the historians say 
there is no grain of truth in it, yet it served, perhaps, to show the character of Al- 
fonso as well as though it were true. 




Till- Alh;inilit;l 



Alfonso IV. of Asturias was the first king of Leon, and henceforth Leon, and 
Castile grew gradually in power, until we find the Castilians plundering Cordova, 
after the fall of the Caliph. Alfonso, VI., king of Leon, captured one stronghold 
after another from the Mohammedans, and drove them from the Atlantic seaboard 
of Spain. The Saracens of Cordova were frightened at his successes, and sent a 
message to the fierce Berber chieftain, Yussef ben Taxfin, to come over with an army 
to their aid. Ta.xfin had dispossessed a chieftain of a tribe, and had made himself 
powerful in Africa, building the city of Morocco, and plundering the whole sur- 
rounding country. Such an ojiportunity was eagerly siezed, but the Spanish Arabs 
were soon sorry enough that they had demanded such help. Ta.xhn's descendants 
reigned tyrannically over a constantly decreasing kingdom in the east and southeast 
of Spain, for about sixty years, when the Andalusians shook off their yoke. Then a 



6^2 SPAIN. 



-"J 



newlrorde of Berbers crossed over, and conquering the Spanish Arabs of Granada, 
the only state left to the Moslems in Spain, they withstood for nearly three centuries 
the encroachments of the Christians. 

The palace of the Moorish kings of Granada is celebrated in the tales of 
travellers, under the name of the Alhambra. It was a magnfiicent structure sur- 
rounded by a strong wall more than a mile around and studded with towers. It 
required a hundred years time, and the skill of the most artistic Moorish builders to 
construct the Alhambra, and its remains furnish the most perfect specimen of 
Saracenic art and architecture. The walls and pavements of this palace were covered 
with the most beautiful colored mosaics, imitating the tapestry with which the Arabs 
from time immemorial were accustomed to decorate their tents, and there were 
graceful pillars of colored marble, splendid courts and fountains, gardens and the 
like. One of the courts, called The Court of The Lions, commemorates, in a stain 
upon the basin of its marble fountain, the death of the Abencerrages, though the 
prosaic historians, who are always rudely shattering our illusions, declare that it is no 
stain at all, but a vein or splotch in the marble itself. The legend runs thus: 

The Abencerrages were descendants of a famous king of Arabia, who were 
mighty in battle, and mild and generous in victory. They boasted that their race 
had never been disgraced by a false friend, an unfaithful lover, or a coward. 
The Abencerrages had rivals in the Zegris, descendants of a King of Fez. They were 
as brave in battle as were the descendants of the Arabian kings, and again and again 
had carried desolation to the Christian hosts of Leon and Castile, decorating their 
mosques with bells torn from Christian churches, and banners wrested from Christian 
foes. The Zegris were, however, as cruel as the Abencerrages were merciful, and 
prided themselves on taking no captives in war, but upon killing every unhappy foe, 
Christian or Moslem, who fell into their hands. The jealousy between the Aben- 
cerrages and the Zegris grew year by year and century by century, until the Caliph 
had a hard time in keeping peace between the rival factions. The principal families 
in Granada sided with them. The king favored the Abencerrages, but to satisfy and 
quiet the Zegris, he married a princess of that family. She soon disgusted him by 
her hardness of heart and her cruel tendencies, and falling in love with a Spanish 
captive, he married her also. The Zegris were made extremely angry on this account, 
but the Abencerrages took the part of the Spanish bride of the king. 

The legend relates that the fair captive had been beloved by a youth of the 
Abencerrages, and she was very unwilling to marry the king. This youth gained 
admission to the palace gardens, and had a brief interview with his lost sweetheart. 
Four Zegris happened to witness the meeting between the king's bride and her former 
lover, and carried the news to the monarch, who Hew into a terrible rage, and planned 
with the Zegris the destruction of the whole tribe of the Abencerrages. The king 
sent a message to the lover, and to all the Abencerrages to come to him at once. 
Thirty-six of them, among whom was the unhappy lover, came at his bidding, and in 
the Court of the Lions, upon the edge of the basin of the fountain, they were slain, 
and their blood flowed into the water. One child escaped and carried the news of 
the massacre to the rest of the Abencerrages, who were approaching at the command 
ot the king. Full of indignation they went forward to the Alhambra, and a fierce 
conflict ensued, in which they were routed by the Zegris. They thereupon left 
Granada and never returned 

I do not think that you would remember the numerous Alfonsos, Ferdinands, 



SPAIN. 6;.; 



OJ 



Sanchos, Juans and Pedros, who reip^ned in Christian Spain, in the days when the 
Moslems were ruling in the South. Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre, Asturias, with Leon 




The Lid and Duuuu Ximeua. 

and Castile, and later on the western kingdom of Portugal took their rise under 
them, and gradually grew, as the territory over which the Moors held sway dimin- 



634 SPAIN. 

ished. One of the Alfonsos, he \vho was called the Buckler of Faith for his gallant 
fight against the Moors, married a daughter of William the Conqueror. A half a 
century before the death of thisking the legendary hero of Spain, the Cid or chieftain, 
a gallant bandit whose feats of arms and love arc as famous in Spanish story as those of 
King Arthur are in English poesy, died. The daughter of Sancho theWise of Navarre, 
married Richard the Lion-hearted, and the daughter of Alfonso of Leon, and a 
princess of Castile, became that Queen Blanche of France who was the mother of 
Saint Louis. James L, of Aragon, who died in 1276, was one of the most famous 
kings of old Spain. He was a warrior, poet, and politician. He gained thirty battles 
over the Moors, and founded two thousand churches. During a part of his reign 
Alfonso the Learned reigned over Castile. This was the king whom the Germans 
called "Alfonso the Wise," but he was not wise, he was merely learned, for if he had 
been wise he would never have claimed the German crown. He was something like 
fames L of England, a pedantic fool, who thought that in himself was the sum of 
human knowledge. His father had begun the work of driving out the Moors, but 
Alfonso X. threw himself into their arms, gave free range to all private quarrels and 
civil broils, and caused his own brother to be strangled, because he had helped a 
queen, whom the king had wronged, to escape with her grandsons to Aragon. 

I suppose it was Alfonso himself who tacked "The Wise" to his name, for he 
seems never to have had a suspicion that he was not the greatest monarch that ever 
lived. His mother was a German princess, and Alfonso thought Germany might as 
well belong to him as to Richard of Cornwall, brother of Henry IIL, who had ambi- 
tions of the same nature. He wasted much money upon the project, and the Pope 
excommunicated his followers. He did not give it up, however, until the Germans 
elected another emperor, then he made up his mind, like the fox in the fable of "sour 
grapes," that he did not want Germany anyway, and busied himself with the reading 
of Arabic books, of which he was very fond, and in writing laws. The son of 
Alfonso the Wise, who would have inherited the crown upon his father's death, died 
before him, and there was much trouble in the kingdom as to the selection of a person 
who should succeed him. The 'Cortes paid no attention to the laws that Alfonso had 
written on that and other subjects, when they met to decide the question, and selected 
Sancho, a younger son of the king, to be his heir. 

The wife of the dead crown-prince was a French princess, and the king of France 
thought that one of her sons should have had the crown. Alfonso tlie Wise was not 
wise enough to kncnv that he could not please all parties, no matter what he did. and 
foolishly proposed to divide the kingdom between his son Sancho, and his two little 
grandsons, the children of the French princess and the dead crown-prince, or "Infant," 
as he was called. Sancho wanted the whole or none, and to gain what he considered 
his rights, raised an army to fight his father. Alfonso was not a prime favorite 
among his people and had not their hearty support against his rebellious son, neither 
could he gain the help of any of his neighbors except the Moorish king of Granada. 
Alfonso ca-lled his few faithful nobles together and not only solemnly declared that 
henceforth he should regard Sancho as a stranger, but cursed him in a very 
unfatherly manner. 

Of course the Pope must have a hand in the quarrel, and he sent a messenger to 
Sancho and his army, telling them that if they did not at once lay down their arms he 
would curse them too. Sancho fell sick soon after, and Alfonso was so convinced 
that it was his curse that had laid his son on a bed of suffering, that he grieved 



SPAIN. 635 

himself ill and died, the will he had made that his two grandsons should rule 
after him remaining as he had caused it to be written. The will of his father did not 
trouble Sancho a great deal. He had never paid much attention to it during his 
father's lifetime, and did not see why he should regard it when he was no longer 
living. He was therefore proclaimed king, and his son and grandson reigned after 
him, but after a time the crown of Aragon did come into the possession of the 
grandsons to whom Alfonso had willed it. 

Alfonso the Wise, like many others who think highly of their own wisdom, was 
never very happy and did little good in the world, notwithstanding that he more than 
once declared that had he been consulted concerning the creation, there were several 
matters that he thought he might have improved, yet we see that he could not care 
for the small portion of the earth that fate had placed under his rule, and could not 
even govern his own household wisely and peaceably. 

Aragon was ruled by great princes in the thirteenth century, and Alfonso XI. was 
greater than was his father, and was the last of the Alfonsos until the one who died 
in our own times, and whose name is now borne by a young child, who is as yet a king 
only in name. Pedro the Cruel, of whom I have told you in the story of France and 
England, who allied himself with the Black Prince to regain his kingdom, and when 
he had accomplished his object made the English prince foot all the bills, sat on the 
throne of Castile only a short time, and was killed by the half brother Henry, who had 
once before dethroned him. As these are the only important links that bind the 
story of Spain with the rest of Europe in those days, I will not tell you the romantic 
and interesting tales of the other Spanish kingdoms, which were gradually united, 
until the Spaniards truly became a nation. The kingdom of Portugal was established 
in 1 179 and from that time had its own monarchs and its own laws. It had its wars, 
too, with the .Spanish kingdoms, but they were not of any lasting importance. 

We have seen how the Goths brought into Spain the Teutonic love of liberty 
that was peculiar to the northern nations, ami how the Saracens in the eighth century 
fostered a love of knowledge. 

The seven hundred years of struggle with the Moors brought out the strong 
points of the Spanish character. Spain in those years glowed with the poetry of 
chivalry, and upon the imagination of the Celt-Iberian, tempered by the Gothic 
dignity, was grafted an oriental love of color, music and beauty, that is still a charac- 
teristic of the Spanish people. Castile received its name from the number of its 
castles, and in them the nobles lived a turbulent, adventurous life. They limited the 
power of the king by forming themselves into an assembly called the Cortes, which 
ruled jointly with the king, a power at the time vested in no other European Parlia- 
ment in the same degree. Aragon in the thirteenth century comprised Catalonia and 
Valencia, and it, too, had a Cortes. 

Castile was the scene of long civil wars, but they seemed likely to be happily 
settled when Henry III. came to the throne, and married Catherine of Lancaster. 
Henry died soon after, and left his kingdom to his baby son John. Castile was well 
governed while John was growing up, but when he became king, a bad man named 
Luna gained such influence that the nobles, headed by the king's own son, rebelled, 
and there was again civil war for a long time. After many miserable years, the king's 
first wife died and he married a Portuguese princess. The wicked Luna was still in 
power, and there was still civil war, but Luna offended the new queen, and she caused 
his downfall and death, John died soon after, leaving three children, Henry, Alfonso 



636 



SPAIN. 



a n d Isabella. Henr}' was a 
scapegrace, who put away his 
wife, Blanche of Aragon, and 
married a dissolute Portu- 
guese princess. He conducted 
himself so scandalously that 
he was dethroned, and his 
crown off(tred to his sister 
Isabella. 

It is in Isabella that Ameri- 
cans have more interest than 
in anj- other Spanish sover- 
eign, and she was a noble- 
minded, pure-hearted woman. 
Alfonso was placed upon the 
throne some time before the 
crown was offered to the 
prince, but he died before the 
Cortes could proclaim him 
king, and as Isabella declared 
that she wouUl never rule Cas- 
tile as long as her brother 
Henry, its rightful sovereign, 
lived, the Castilians were thus 
compelled to restore him to 
the throne, lie had no chil- 
dren that the Cortes would 
consider as heirs, and Isabella 
was understood to be the heir- 
ess of Castile. 

No .sooner was it known 
that Isabella was likely to suc- 
ceed to the crown of the 
kingdom than several Euro- 
pean princes suddenly dis- 
covered that they wanted to 
marry her and came a wooing in great state. A brother of Edward IV., that Englisli 
king who came to the throne in the midst of the Civil War of the Roses, sued for 
the .Spanish Isabella. Edward IV. was a great match-maker, as you will doubtless 
recall when you think of how he married the Woodville youths anil maidens to rich 
consorts, and Isabella had no love for him nor his relatives, so she promptly refused. 
Then Louis XI., the King of France, made suit for her on account of his second 
brother, the Duke of Guienne, who had a shadowy chance of some day sitting on the 
French throne; but Isabella had another plan. She had seen Ferdinand of Aragan, 
and greatly admired his slender well-built person, his fair face with its sparkling blue 
eyes and sprightly e.xpresssion, and more than all she cared for him because he was 
of Spanish birth, and her marriage with him would not be likely to bring a crowd of 
foreigners into Castihi to rouse the antagonism of the people. 

Ferdinand was the son of a king who had married a second wife, and iiad perse- 




(,'liiirh'(i V |[] San .JuBte. 



SPAIN. 



Jj/ 



cuted and abused the children of his first marriage because his new wife had ambi- 
tious designs for Ferdinand, her own son. Carlos, the rightful prince, had been 
imprisoned for no fault but that the people loved him, and his sister Blanche, the 
wife of the worthless King, Henry of Castile, who had been deposed, had been put 
away by that heartless wretch, through the enmity of Terdinand's mother, and sent 
to her sister, the heiress of the crown of Navarre. She, too, was imprisoned and 
died miserably, but the hard-hearted sister only reigned three weeks as Queen of 
Navarre. Then she died, and the ambitious step-mother saw her darling son, the 
heir not only to the crown of Aragon, but of Navarre, also. His marriage with the 
Princess of Castile would unite Christian .Spain under one scepter, and was therefore 
eagerly desired by the King of Aragon. 

As soon as Ferdinand knew that Isabella favored his suit, he was eager to marry 
her. Certain written articles of agreement were presented to him which he signed 
and swore to, and then set forth to Valodoid where she was staying. Isabella's 
brother, for reasons of his own, was determined that Isabella should not marry Fer- 
dinand, and set spies upon her movements to watch everything that she did. Some 
of these spies would have seized Isabella and carried her away to a dungeon if they 
had thought it would have been safe and that Castile could withstand the wrath of 
Ferdinand and an army of Aragonese. Isabella was steadfast, and secretly sent 
word to Ferdinand to bid him hasten. He did not dare to come as his rank would 
have entitled him to do in the state and splendor of a prince, and indeed he was too 
poor to do so, had there been no objection. As it was, he was compelled to disguise 
himself as a servant traveling with some of his friends, who pretended to be mer- 
chants, for he knew there were plenty of people in Castile who would gladly have 
stabbed or poisoned him. He attended to all the duties of a servant when he was 
upon this journey for a bride, waited upon the pretended merchants at table, cared 
for their mules and ran errands. What money he had, he forgot and left in a purse 
under his pillow at a waysiile inn, and arrived at Valladolid penniless. So he traveled 
for two days, and then a party of Isabella's friends met him and giving him a well- 
armed escort he was conducted to the city where he met his bride. He was then 
only seventeen, ami Isabella was a year older, but a youthful couple to take up 
,the cares of married life. They were married, after they had borrowed themselves 
enough means to make the necessary preparations, for both were without ready 
money. 

The picturesof Isabella made at that time show her to have been a very beautiful 
young woman, rather taller than the medium, with bright brown hair, blue eyes whose 
mild, sweet expression was remarkable, and a fair oval face, rosy with good health. 
She was well educated, pious, refined and sensible, and had Ferdinand looked the 
world over, he probably would have been unable to find a woman so well suited to be 
the wife of a king. 

There was one peculiar thing connected with this marriage that I must tell you, 
for it caused Isabella many unhappy hours afterward. Ferdinand was her near relative, 
her own cousin, and it was against the laws of the Catholic church for cousins to 
marry without the consent of the Pope. The old King of Aragon had forged a con- 
sent and pretended that the Pope had agreed when he had not been consulted at all. 
Isabella was so strict a Catholic that she is often called Isabella the Catholic, and 
when she found out several years afterward v.hat a deception had been practiced upon 



638 



SPAIN. 




Gala Costume. 



her, she was grieved to the heart, though a real consent was got 
from the Pope after the cousins were fast married. 

Henry, the worthless brother of Isabella, lived for some time 
after the marriage. In spite of the fact that Isabella might have 
had his crown for the taking, Henry was not generous enough to 
allow that she should succeed him peacefully. He had a daugh- 
ter nine years old, w'ho was not the child of his lawful wife and he 
encouraged some of his nobles to declare her the heir. There 
were plots of all kinds, wars between the factions of Isabella and 
those of her brother that were made the excuse for all sorts of 
crime. There was famine and distress among the poor peasants 
of Castile and Aragon on account of the ceaseless wars of their 
: lords and the destruction of their crops, and there were woes of 
every kind in the two kindgdoms as long as Henry lived. He had 
never made much pretense at government and acted as though 
he thought his people were his natural prey, to be killed, plundered 
antl oppressed according to his whim. 
In the year 1474. Henry fell ill and luckily for his people, all the skill of his 
physicians could not save him. He died, leaving a people unspeakably wretched on 
account of his misdeeds, a treasury entirely empty, and a nobility so corrupted by his 
evil example that they could not be depended upon for anything, but to be treacherous 
and faithless, and this was the country over which Isabella came to rule and to raise 
to tiie proudest place among the nations of the earth, through the works of the 
o-allant Genoese, Christopher Columbus, the hero of two worlds anil the discoverer 

of one. 

Thus were the crowns of Aragon and Castile again united after a separation of 
more than four centuries, for the old king John only lived to hear the joyful news of 
the birth of his grandson John, about a year after the marriage of P'erdinand and 
Isabella. The new queen of Castile soon restored the country to order, and under 
the joint sovereigns. Christian Spain gradually became powerful. Isabella was a 
very devout Catholic, as was also her husband, and they determined to drive the 
Moors from Spain. The excuse for the war was furnished by the Moors themselves, 
for their king refused in 1476, to pay tribute which they were bound under a former 
treaty to render to the Christians, and, dreaming of restoring the lost grandeur of 
the Moorish dynasty in Spain, the Moorish king attacked and captured the Christian 
fortress of Zahara, carried off all the inhabitants as slaves and killed the defenders 
m cold blood after they had surrendered. An old Arab of Granada went out with 
the rest of the nobles, to meet the Moorish king on the return from this expedition, 
and sadly prophesied that the ri:insof Zahara would fall upon the Moorish kingdom, 
meaning that the Christians would take such a deadly revenge for this wanton break- 
ing of the truce, that the Moors would be driven from Spain. 

The Christians throughout Spain w-ere roused to fury by the fall of Zahara. 
They gathered an army and with great haste and secrecy marched to Alhama, a town 
in the vicinity of Granada, surprised it. entered the place and in a desperate fight in 
its streets, lasting two days, slew every man, woman and child. The Moorish king 
with his army rushed to the rescue, but could accomplish nothing and returned to 
Granada foaming with rage and disappointment. His first act was to kill the old 



- SPAIN. 



639 



Arab who had prophesied disaster, 
but that did not mend matters 
in the least. A conspiracy against 
him in the city resulted in the loss 
of his crown to his son, Abu Ab- 
dalla, or Boabdil, as he is usually 
called. Granada was then a scene 
of civil war and bloodshed, and in 
the midst of the confusion, Ferdi- 
nand, with a Spanish army, adv^an- 
ced and besieged a Moorish town 
in the vicinity of Alhama. The 
deposed Moorish king placed him- 
self at the head of a valiant army 
and marched out of the city. The 
Arab chieftain commanding in the 
besieged town defeated the Cas- 
tilians and obliged them to retreat, o 
and the Moorish army from Gra- % 
nada attempted to retake Alhama. "^ 
Malaga was still faithful to the ^ 
deposed king, though in Granada m 
his son ruled in the palace of the ^ 
Alhambra. To Malaga, therefore, S 
the old king hastened, and was at ^ 
once followed by a portion of the 
Spanish army. They advanced to 
the very walls of the city, but the 
exasperated Moslems sallied forth, 
and in an encounter of great fierce- 
ness, drove them into the moun- 
tains, killing one-third of the 
Christian force, and capturing all 
of the rest except one hundred. 
The people in Granada were so 
delighted over this victory, that 
they threatened to depose Boabdil, 
and place on the throne the Gene- 
ral who had led the Moorish army 
in the successful onslaught. To 
save his credit, Boabdil was con- 
strained to go out with a force from Granada, and attempt to drive Ferdinand's 
army from Moorish territory. He failed and was made prisoner, whereupon the 
Moors were about to summon back their deposed king. This did not suit Ferdinand 
at all, so he released Boabdil on the payment of a large ransom, and the promise of 
more, and agreed to aid him against his father. Ferdinand knew that if he could 
keep up the strife concerning the crown between the Moorish king and his son, 
he could more easily conquer them both in the end. 




640 SPAIN. 

Soon after this truce, for a truce was made, a new quarrel arose in Granada, and 
another prince aspired to the crown. He seized several towns, and under the pretense 
of capturing them for his young ally Boabdil, Ferdinand again led his army into 
Moorish territory, captured Malaga and many other smaller places. The contending 
Moorish princes had each a following and the civil war waxed fiercer. While they 
were quarreling among themselves, the Christians took one town after another, until 
in the year 1489 the Moors were subjected in every city in Spain excepting onl^' 
Granada. Boabdil's brother lied to Africa, and Boabdil determined to make a valiant 
struggle to restore his lost power over the conquered Moorish territory. It was too 
late, for the Christians were now before the walls of Granada. A council was held, 
and it was decided to defend the city to the last. A party of Moors sallied from the 
city, and captured a little town near by. Encouraged by this success, many of the 
cities that had been subjected by Ferdinand revolted, but the revolts were quickly 
subdued. 

Granada is built on two hilis, between which the river Darro flows. To the \\ est 
is a great plain called the Vega, and to the East is a lofty snow-capped range of 
mountains. In the days of the Moors, the city was surrounded with a thick double 
wall, fortified, it is said, with thirty-thousand towers. To the West, where there was 
no mountain barrier against a foe, the walls and towers were unusually thick and there 
were batteries and other strong defenses. On each of the two hills was a strong 
fortress, the Alhambra on one, and the Albaycin on the other. The country about 
the city was the most fruitful in Spain. There were vast fields of wheat, orchards of 
mulberry (for the Moors were great silk weavers, and the silkworms, you know feed 
on the leaves of mulberry). There were vineyards, olive groves, and acres upon 
acres of flowers from which the Arabs distilled the perfumes for which they were 
famous. 

Ferdinand knew well that it would be impossible to take Granada by assault, and 
he therefore laid his plans to starve its people into submission. He destroyed the 
orchards and vineyards, and the people were in despair. Musa, the brother of the 
king undertook the defense of the gates, and for the first three month of the siege, 
the barriers were never closed night or day, so confident was the king in the faith- 
fulness of the soldiers. The Zegris defended the walls, and vigilant and gallant, the 
Moors repulsed every attempt of the Spaniards to capture their city. From their 
towers they saw more than a hundred of their villages burned by the troops of the 
Castilian king, and their orchards and vineyards, the slow growth of years of careful 
culture, ruthlessly destroyed. They longed for winter, tiiinking that the besiegers 
would then retire, and before they could again assemble, some plan of deliverance 
might be made. Ferdinand had, however, no such intention. He set his men to 
work, building huts for their winter quarters, and when the Moors saw what the 
Christians intendeil, they determined to make a last attempt to drive them off. Musa 
sallied out with cavalry and infantry, and fiercely attacked the Spaniards. The 
cavalry behaved nobly, but the foot-soldiers were seized with panic, and fled to the 
shelter of the walls, pursued to the very gates by the enemy. Musa was filled with 
rage at the disgraceful conduct of his countrymen, and swore that he would never 
again lead the foot-soldiers to battle. He was obliged to close the gates, fearing 
that the troops would treacherously permit the Spaniards to enter. A council of war 
was held by the besieged, and the old chiefs all advised surrender. Musa declared 
it would be cowardly to yield as long as there was a morsel of food in the city, but 



SPAIN. 



641 



^^;? 



k'.M^ 







Seaman of the time of Columbus. 



a vizier was sent to the Christian camp, who agreed that if no aid 
came within sixty days, the Moors should surrender Granada, 
should give up all their captives, swear allegiance to Ferdinand, 
and give five hundred of their noblest youths as hostages. Fer- 
dinand promised them freedom of worship- and that those who 
desired to return to Africa might be allowed to do so. When the 
vizier came back with these terms, Musa made a most passionate 
appeal to his countrymen to reject them. He implored them to die 
for their country and their freedom, rather than place their necks 
under the heel of the Christians. The council listened to him in 
silence, and seeing in their faces that they were determined to ac- 
cept the conditions of surrender, Musa gave one sorrowful glance 
about him, then strode from the palace, mounted his horse, and 
riding out of the city was never again seen. 

In sixty days Boabdil surrendered the city of his fathers to 
Ferdinand. It is said that he rode out with fifty knights to salute 
the victor. When he came near to Ferdinand he kissed the 
Spanish King's right arm and said: "Now, oh King, we are 
thine. God grant thou mayest use thy victory mercifully." Then he gave the keys 
of the city to the king, anil sadly rode toward the mountains where his family awaited 
him. When he came to the last point where the city was visible, he gazed long at 
the minarets and towers, at the Alhambra and the Albaycin. He stretched out his 
arms in a passion of grief, as if he would embrace the familiar scene, from which 
henceforth he was forever to be a stranger, and lifting up his voice he wept for the 
departed glory of Islam. When the first transport of sorrow was passed he cried, 
"Allah Akbar. There is no god but God. I submit to his will," and rode away into 
the gloom of the mountains, away into the gathering shadows of his fallen race, and 
died soon after in battle under the banners of the King of Fez, in Africa. Thus fell 
the Saracen Kingdom in Spain, but it left an impress upon the people that was above 
the work of the conqueror. It tempered the Gothic blood with the gloomy fatalism 
■of the Berber and the wild impetuous bravery of the Arab, and his hatred of tyranny. 

The year 1492 was a memorable one in Spain, All Europe rang with the story 
of the conquest of the Moors, and the victory of Christendom after so long a struggle 
against the hosts of Islam. No fear now that the Pyrenees should not be a check to 
the Saracens, for a strong kingdom lay on the borders of Southwestern Europe, which 
the waning powers of the Saracens could never again hope to subdue. To the 
unhappy Jews the conquest of the Spanish Arabs meant the death-knell of their 
prosperity. Ever since the daj'S of the first Caliph, they had lived unmolested by 
persecution. Their habits of industry and economy were so great that they had 
gathered large treasure. They were patriotic, too, and loved Spain, and had aided 
the Spanish kings more than once in sore straits. Some eighteen years before the 
fall of Granada, the grand triljunal of Sicily, which was within the dominion of Fer- 
dinand, proposed that all heretics that could not, or would not, be converted to the 
Catholic faith, should be brought before them for trial. If they were found guilty of 
differing from the Pope in anything, they should pay for their opinions with the loss 
of all their worldly goods. Perhaps this unjust law would not have received the 
sanction of Ferdinand but for one circumstance. He was poor and needed money 
for carrying on the war against the Moors, not only so, but he loved money for its 



642 SPAIN. 

own sake, and the law provided that one-third of all the property taken from heretics 
should be the share of the king. 

There was a gloom)', fierce, intolerant old monk name Torquemeda, who was the 
confessor of Queen Isabella and had much influence over her. About the time that 
the conquest of Granada was determined upon, some of the patriotic Jews of Spain, 
who in spite of the protection, or rather freedom from persecution that they enjoyed 
under the Saracens, did not believe that the extension of the Arab kingdom in Spain 
was the best thing for the countr}', came to Ferdinand and Isabella, and offered them 
thirty thousand pieces of gold to aid in the war. The gift came at a time when Fer- 
dinand was sorely pressed for money. It is not at all unlikely that the Jews had a 
double motive in tendering the gold. They may have realized that the determined, 
soldierly Ferdinand was destined to conquer the Saracens very soon, and that it would 
be to their interest to gain his favor, for he had been cruel to the Jews of Aragon 
and Sicily. 

He was about to take the money when Torquemeda rushed into the room, and 
after making an angry speech in which he reminded the Spanish sovereigns that the 
Saviour was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, threw down a cross and told them to 
sell their faith to the jews tor thirty thousand pieces of gold. The queen had always 
obeyed Torquemeda, and she was so frightened and troubled by his tirade that she 
not only refused the money but signed an order commanding the Jews to either be 
converted or leave the kingdom in four months. All Christians were forbidden to 
have anything to do with them under pain of punishment, and it was made impos- 
sible for the Jews to sell their houses or land. They were forbidden to take any gold 
or silver with them, for the Spanish sovereigns cared very little whether they lived 
or died. This happened in 1492, and it may have been that the samepen, with which 
Isabella signed the documents authorizing Columbus to fit out an expedition to the 
New World, commanded the expulsion of the innocent Jews. 

The Jews in Castile and Aragon had for some years been objects of hatred to 
the Catholics, who had caused certain laws to be passed against them that were to 
their disadvantage. To escape these laws many of the Jews had professed to be con- 
verted to the Catholic faith, but their condition was not in the least bettered. The 
I^ominican monks held great power in Spain, and they circulated slanders against the 
converted Jews. They said that they were not really converted, which might have 
been the case, and that they practiced the rites of their own faith in secret. They 
further declared that they caught little Christian children and crucified them on 
Good Friday in contempt of the death of Christ, and poisoned Christians who died 
by diseases that were not then well understood. They accused them of witchcraft 
and other impossible things, and to make them confess to all these crimes, Ferdinand 
allowed the priests of .Aragon to torture the Jews in his dominions. As the tri- 
bunals always pretended that their victims confessed, Ferdinand gained large sums 
of money as his share of the plunder. More and niore of the Jews were baptised and 
fell under the cruelty and greed of Ferdinand. The Cortes of Aragon did not ap- 
prove of torture for it was against their laws and they talked very plainly to Ferdi- 
nand concerning it, but he was a crafty fellow and knew how to gain his own way. 
The Pope was willing to declare that torture was one of the means approved of 
heaven, and he pretended to great friendship for Ferdinand and bestowed upon him 
the title of "The Catholic" as being the most pious king in the whole world. 

When Torquemeda succeeded in causing Isabella to declare against the Jews, he 



644 



SPAIN. 




established torture also in Cas- 
tile, and after Granada fell into 
the hands of the two sovereigns, 
the Christianized Jews all over 
Spain had a very sad time of it. 
When the Jews began to leave 
Spain the hatred of the Catholics 
toward them was redoubled. If 
they suspected that a Jew was 
carrying money with him, they 
did nt)t waste any time in asking 
the ait! of the laws, they simply 
stripped him and searched for 
the gold, often flogging him to 
death because they were dis- 
a'ppointed of plunder, or killing 
him when they did not find any. 
They even suspected some of 
th(' Jews of swallowing precious 
stones and gold and killed them 
to secure the treasures thus 
disposed of. 

It makes the blood run cold to 
read of the many horrible cruel- 
Thc Escuriai ties that were being practiced 

toward innocent and unoffending people, and that a high-minded womanlike Isabella 
should have allowed such things, is a dark blot upon her fame that even the glories 
of her reign can not wijx; out, and it is hard to understand how any woman could 
have permitted those whom God had placed in her power to be so dreadfully- 
oppressed. Delicate women, who hatl been reared in lu.xury, were forced to go out 
from their homes carrying their wailing babes, and having but scant clothing to cover 
them, and no money to buy bread. They were forced to travel on foot if they had 
no horses or mules, for no Christian would permit them to hire a conveyance of him, 
and the few householtl goods that the men could carry on their backs was all that 
they were allowed to take. Thus thousands on foot passed over the dusty high- 
ways of Sixain into other parts of Southern Europe, there to be persecuted and 
"moved on" by the unrelenting hostility of the Catholics. Eight hundred thousand Jews 
left Spain at the end of the time set for their expulsion and those who went by sea 
found refuge, some in England, others in the Lowlands, some in Turkey and the Far 
East, while a large number crossed over to Africa, where thousands were robbed and 
murdered by the Berbers. In Spain the torture fires were kept burning, and the year 
that witnessed the founding of the great Spanish kingdom on the ruins of the Sar- 
acen conquest, witnessed also the burning to death of two thousand Christianized 
Jews and the imjirisonment of as many more for life b^'the Most Catliolic Sovereigns 
of the new realm. 

The story of the sailing of Columbus to the New World is one of the most inter- 
esting in the history of the world, and though I have not the space to relate all of the 
romantic incidents in the voyage or of the life of the great navigator, it is well to 



SPAIN. 645 

recall some of the facts that led to such mighty results. It was a long and dreary 
seven years that Columbus waited in Spain for the recognition of his plans, but it 
came at last though Ferdinand never turned a w^illing ear to him. The Spanish 
people were engaged heart and soul in the Moorish war, and had neither time nor 
inclination for anything else, but at last Columbus interested Isabella, in his idea of 
finding a passage to India by sailing westward. He was granted three small ships 
and ninety men, for an expedition to test his theory. The cost of the whole equip- 
ment was but twenty thousand dollars, and we cannot believe that Spain's exchecquer 
was so low at the time, in spite of the ten years war with the Moors that it would 
have been necessary for Isabella to pawn her jewels, as she is said to have declared 
herself willing to do. The people of Palos furnished two of the vessels, for they had 
incurred the queen's displeasure, and were made to give Columbus the ships in 
punishment, and the necessary funds were advanced by the receiver of the church 
taxes. Ferdinand would take no part in the ex.penses of the venture. We have 
heard so many times about that remarkable voyage, how the needle of the compass 
failed to point to the north, how the sailors saw strange signs in the heavens, or thought 
they did, and the like that I shall not repeat them. I want you particularly to 
remember, however, that Columbus left Palos on Friday August 3, 1492 and that on 
Fridaythe 13th of the same month he reached the Canary Islands and refitted his 
ships. On Priday, October 12, he landed on San Salvador. If any one should ever 
tell you that "Friday is an unlucky day" remember these facts. 

In January, 1493, Columbus having gathered some of the protluctions of the new 
country which he had found and thoroughly explored, took a number of the natives 
and re-embarked for Spain. He arrived in Spain March 15, and never had a man 
more joyful welcome, for his voyage had added to the kingdom untold wealth, and 
the possessions to which that voyage was the pathway, raised her to the proudest 
position among the nations of Europe. The sovereigns could not sufficiently honor 
the daring navigator. They gave him a splendid audience, and made him sit in their 
presence, as though he were himself a king. They listene<l with breathless interest 
to what he had to relate, and heaped honors upon him. They granted him certain 
rights in the new possessions to be hereditary in his family, and equipped an expedi- 
tion to colonize the new lands. 

The Spaniards who adventured into the western world to share the profit of the 
discovery soon began to slander Columbus, and to hinder in every way his projects. 
Ferdinand, too, was jealous of him, and turned a willing ear to his enemies. Isabella, 
herself, was not above listening to those who were vile enough to abuse an absent 
man, and a prejudiced person was sent to the New World to examine into the charges 
against him. Of course he found them true, for he would only listen to the enemies 
of Columbus, and to his lasting shame, be it said, sent Columbus back to Spain in 
chains. Isabella sent orders at once to have Columbus released, when he arrived in 
chains, but she did no more. The man who had given a new world to the Castilian 
crown was not restored to his dignities, and though he made another voyage in 
which he suffered from shipwreck, desertion and the malice of his jealous enemies, 
his spirit was crushed and he died of a broken heart in 1506. The chains in which 
he had been so wickedly and cruelly bound, he causetl to be placed in his coffin, a 
mute witness, to all the ages, of the ingratitude of kings. 

All of these years the man who administered the affairs of Spain was Cardinal 
Mendoza, a prelate much like Woolsey, of England, who lived so sumptuously, gave 



646 



SPAIN. 



such magnificent banquets 
every day, and had so much 
power that he was called 
"The Third King of Spain. " 
He died in 1495, and a 
F"ranciscan monk named 
Ximenes, a man of low- 
birth, was commanded by 
the Pope to accept the po- 
sition of Premier of Spain. 
Ximenes was Isabella's 
priest, a monk of the most 
rigid kind, who seemed to 
hate all who differed from 
him in faith as bitterly as 
he hated Satan. He had 
some virtues that Mendoza 
< greatly admired, and when 
he was dying he rccommen 
ded Isabella to appoint him. 
&- Ximenes was si.xty years of 
age. and at first refused the 
£ [ilace, but the I'ope insisted, 
= and he was obliged to yield. 
Fhe priests who had fol- 
5 lowed the example of Men- 
g doza in magniticent living, 
~ were quickly taught to live 
frugally and humbly by this 
strict Ximenes, and when 
he had the time he turnetl 
his attention to the Moors. 
We have already read that 
when Boabdil surrendered 
to Ferdinand, the king 
promised that the Moors 
should enjoy the privilege 
of worshiping in their own 
manner, but in those days it 
was considered that a prcmi- 
ise made to persons who 
were heretics was not bind- 
ing, and the Cardinal Ximenes absolved Ferdinand from his oath, and began a per- 
secution of the Moors of Granada. The magnificenl library gathered by Hacam 
had been greatly reduced, but there were still several thousand precious Arabic 
books. Many of these books were illustrated in the highest style then known to art, 
and all were of great value to the world, for they contained the treasures of Arabic 
science, poetry and history. 




SPAIN. 647 

Ximenes collected these into a great pile in the square of the 'city, after he had 
saved out three hundred volumes dealing with the science of medicine. Then he 
burned them in a huge bonfire, while the Moors looked sullenly on. He taxed and 
harried the Moors in every possible manner, all the time sending priests to preach. to 
them and try and convert them. Many of the Moors professed Catholicism to rid 
themselves of the persecutions of the priests, but others would not do so, but per- 
sisted in praying to God in the Moslem way, with their faces turned toward the Holy 
City, and in bathing themselves daily in the manner the Koran prescribed. This so 
exasperated Ximenes, that to add to the weight of the gospel of Love and Mercy 
that his priests taught, he had hundreds of the Moors thrust into prison and burned 
at the stake because they would not turn Catholics. At last the patience of the 
Moors was exhausted, and they had been marvelously patient under their trials. 
They besieged Ximenes in his palace, and he fled for his life to Isabella and Ferdi- 
nand, while Talavera, a bishop of Granada whom the Moors loved for his justice and 
generosity, persuaded the outraged Mohammedans to retire to their homes and sub- 
mit to the sovereigns. 

Ximenes commanded Isabella and Ferdinand to revenge the outrage the Moors 
had offered him, and to punish them because they would not be converted. It seemed 
to the Spanish sovereigns another good opportunity to prove to the Pope and the 
rest of the world, that they deserved the name of " Most Catholic," and they seized 
upon it. They sent commissioners to "investigate" the disturbance, at Granada and 
the Moors were frightened. Every previous "investigation" inspired by Ximenes had 
resulted in bonfires, where among the fagots, human beings were roasted to death, and 
they determined to accept a suggestion to be converted. Fifty thousand of them 
submitted to being baptized, and, of course, shared the fate of the Christianized Jews 
from that time forth. It became the custom of good Catholics who owed a Moor 
money that they did not wish to pay, to denounce him as a heretic. If a Moor, or 
" Moriscoe," as they were called after their baptism, offended a Catholic in any way, 
he knew a terrible revenge would follow. They supplied fuel for the horrid bonfires 
for a hundred years, for it was thought that a roasted heretic was a converted heretic, 
and beside the king encouraged in burning them, for he received a third of all 
their worldly goods. The bishop of Granada pretended to think that Ximenes had 
done a mighty deed in converting the Moors, and wrote to one of his friends that 
"Ximenes had achieved greater triumphs than had Ferdinand and Isabella, for while 
they had conquered only the soil of the kingdom of Granada, Ximenes had gained 
the souls of Granada." 

The Moslems, who dwelt in the wild mountainous regions of the country, were 
maddened at the dishonesty with which Ferdinand had dealt with their race, and with 
the conversion of their countrymen in Granada. They could have hardly hoped to 
restore the Moorish rule, but they could and did take revenge on those Christians 
who were nearest to them. They rose in revolt, and defeated one of the bravest of the 
Spanish generals at Ronda. The whole strength of Christian Spain was arrayed 
against the Moors, and seeing that they could not succeed in freeing even a small 
portion of the country, where they might live in peace, they sent ambassadors to the 
king and queen, beseeching terms. The answer that the king sent them was that 
they must either be converted at once, or leave the country. The sad story of the 
banishment of the Hebrews from Spain was repeated. The Moors were forbidden, 
\mder pain of death, to carry any gold or silver out of the country, and, penniless, they 



648 



SPAIN. 




Spanish G>-psli> 



were driven by the thousands from the soil upon which their ancestors had 
W}!^i lived in luxury for nearly eight hundred years. 

tfir. -il Thus, with the expulsion of thelMoors and the Jews, Spain received a death 

»x ^ blow in the prime of her power, and like a man who has some mortal disease, 
but thinks himself lusty and full of life, it boasted of its strength and 
rejoiced in its wealth. The voyages of Columbus, and the bold 
navigators who followed him, caused streams of gold and 
treasure to flow into the strong-boxes of the Spanish sovereigns, and 
they dreamed that their power would endure for ages. Ferdinand 
became more and more in love with wealth, and lost the brave and 
gallant character and the frankness which won him the 
love of Isabella. Prosperity had the effect upon him that 
it has upon many natures; it hardened him and made him 
f selfish and cruel. I le became cold, crafty and calculating, 
and not even Louis XI. of France was less to be 
depended upon, when the performance of a prom- 
ise stood in the way of his own interest. He had 
shown a tendency toward deceit in the days when 
Charles VIII. of France was involved in a quarrel 
with him, and Cordova, his Great Captian, brought him safely out of his Italian 
difficulties, and these traits developed rapidly until his death. He had always been 
jealous of the fame of Columbus, and perhaps intluenced Isabella's treatment of the 
great Discoverer. He was never known to be grateful to anybody, and hated as 
heartily the man who did him a service and gained any glory as he did the enemy 
he could not conquer. 

Isabella and Ferdinand had five children; one son and four daughters, and 
Isabella was a most loving and tender mother. In spite of the cares of her king- 
dom, she found time to devote herself to the education of her son and daughters, 
and brought them up strict Catholics. The oldest child, John, married Margaret, the 
daughter of gallant Maximilian, of Germany, and upon this marriage the parents of 
both the young people based great hopes, as well as upon the marriage of Philip, the 
son of Maximilian and Jane, the second daughter of the Spanish sovereigns. Cath- 
erine of Aragon, the unhappy w^ife of Henry VIII., of England, and the mother of 
Bloody Mary, was the fourth daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, and the second, 
Isabella, the oldest, married the noble and enlightened Emanuel of Portugal. 

These great marriages were looked forward to by the Spanish people as the 
means of making their country one of the greatest in Europe, but the hopes of man 
arc often doomed to disappointment. The husband of Princess Isabella died in 1498, 
leaving her the heir to his kingdom. Prince John, the husband of Margaret, had 
died the year before, leaving no children, and Isabella was the heir to Spain as well 
as to Portugal through her husband. She only lived a few months, when she, too, 
died, leaving a baby son, Miguel, the heir to Castile, Aragon and Portugal. Little 
Miguel pined for his mother's care during his babyhood and was always puny. When 
he was two years old he gave up the struggle to live, and Jane, the wife of Philip of 
Flanders, became the heiress of the Spanish possessions. Jane was always weak- 
minded, and the conduct of her husband drove her quite mad. He hated her because 
she was plain of face. 1 le himself was very handsome, and had a manner that won 



SPALN. 



64-5 



"^^^7^ ";~"^-? 




BOABDIL SCRREXDEIIS TUF. CASTLE OF GUAM \DA TO FEIiDlXANO AM; ISABELLA. 



650 SPAIN. 

him friends everywhere, while the ugl}-, awkward Spanish princess was shy and never 
knew what was the right thing to do or say. He left her long periods together, and 
was so cold and insulting toward her that she brooded until she became mad. Her 
madness, however, was not generally knou'n, if indeed she was really insane, until 
after the death of her handsome husband, when their little son Charles was six years 
old. 

Isabella was so distressed by the death of her eldest son, and that of her daughter 
and Miguel, that her health gave way. The birth of little Charles was some com- 
fort to her, but she did not live long afterward. The little heir to. Germany, Spain 
and the Netherlands, was born in the year 1500, and four years afterward Isabella 
died at the age of tifty-four years, having reigned wisely and well over Spain for 
thirty years. In her will she made provision for the gentle treatment of the Indians 
of the New World, but they were never carried out, and she named Jane as the heir of 
Castile, and the regent during the minority of little Charles, her husband Philip to 
have equal power with her. 

Ferdinand gave up the crown of Castile, but as Jane was so nearly, insane that 
she was not fit to rule, the Cortes of the country rendered their homage to Ferdinand 
in the name of Jane and requested him to continue to govern the country. Ferdinand 
consented, but Philip of Flanders, the husband of the new queen-proprietor, wrote to 
Ferdinand and told him to leave Castile and go to his own kingdom of Aragon, and 
asserted that he would govern in his wife's name. This was to have been expected, but 
it troubled Ferdinand and strengthened the opposition which those Castilian nobles 
long before had made to the marriage of Isabella with Ferdinand. These nobles had 
always been secretly unfriendly to Ferdinand, and were made all the more so by a 
foolish marriage which he made in 1505. His queen Isabella had been a faithful and 
loyal wife, a good mother and a great sovereign, and many of the Castilian nobles 
thought that F"erdinand might have shown more respect for her memory than to be 
so eager to marry Germaine, the niece of Louis XII. of France. Indeed he was so 
eager that, before he married the French princess, he made an agreement to give up 
Aragon to her heirs if his new queen should bear him a son, and if she did not he was 
to divide his splendid Italian possessions with the King of F"rance. This disgusted 
the Castiliansand the people of Aragon. Philip made an agreement w-ith Ferdinand 
wiiich allowed him to rule Castile in Jane's absence, but it was only to allow him to 
gather an army, which he soon did, and came into Spain in 150^3. He gained the 
hearts of the Castilian nobles and Ferdinand gave up the governorship of the country. 
Philip soon lost the affection of the people by the reckless way in which he spent 
money on his Flemish courtiers, and haughty treatment of the Spaniards. Nobody 
but crazy Jane sorrowed much when he died the same year that he came into Spain. 
Jane went stark mad with grief, and would not allow the body of her husband to 
be buried, but kept it until it was taken from her by force. She refused to be washed 
or neatly dressed, and was kept a close prisoner in her palace, not being able to sign 
state papers, nor to comprehend anything of what was going on in her kingdom. 
Forty-seven years she lived thus, a squalid disgusting maniac, while Ferdinand and 
after him Charles I. of Spain and V. of Germany ruled the kingdom. 

Ferdinand ruled Castile ten years after the death of Philip. Young Charles 
though, not exceedingly clever, early showed military genius and was brighter than 
some of the other grandsons of Ferdinand, and had been more carefully educated. 
When, therefore, Ferdinand died in 1516, he left Aragon and Naples to Charles V., 



SPAIN. 651 

who had the power to maintain the supremacy of Spain in the Western World, and 
the abihty to protect her from European enemies, which none of the royal grand- 
children, except he, possessed. 

Cardinal Ximenes had remained in favor with Ferdinand during his long reign. 
He had made an expedition into Africa at the head of an army and captured the city 
of Oran, though both the king and the nobles had not espoused the idea. He built a 
great university, and translated the Bible into every known European tongue 
through the labors of nine of the most renowned scholars of the time, whom he em- 
ployed for the purpose, and kept busy at it for fifteen years. He kept the priests of 
Spain up to a rigid standard, and interested himself greatly in the spiritual welfare of 
the people, persecuting Jews and Moriscoes relentlessly, and lighting torture fires in 
every part of the kingdom, for those whom he called "accursed heretics." 

When Ferdinand died, one of the grandsons of the king, who had often been 
promised the throne of Aragon, was making preparations to take it, thinking that 
his cousin Charles surely had enough with Castile, Germany and the Netherlands. 
Ximenes i^aid no attention to this prince, but boldly declared Charles, king of Spain, 
and took charge of the kingdom in his name, ruling with his customary strictness, not 
to say cruelty, until the Prince came over to the country. Charles V was an exceed- 
ingly busy person, as I have told you elsewhere, and as Ximenes seemed to manage 
affairs reasonably well in Spain, he might have shown some gratitude. You may 
have observed that gratitude is not, nor ever has been, a very prominent trait in the 
character of princes, and Charles was no exception to the rule. He had given Xim- 
enes his authority to govern until he came, and as soon as he entered the country, 
instead of thanking the cardinal for his services and for preserving the country from 
a civil war, and protecting his interests at every point possible, which he certainly did 
at the risk of great toil and danger, he did not even go to see him where he lay sick. 
Instead, he sent him a curt letter, telling him, after making him a few hollow compli- 
ments, that he might retire to the diocese from which Isabella and Ferdinand had 
called him to be prime minister of Spain; that he had no use for him. This broke 
the heart of the aged cardinal, and he died in the year 1517. He was estimated one 
of the greatest men of his time, and all his errors were committed under the name 
and for the sake of the religion which he did so much to fasten on .Spain, with such 
firmness that all the shocks of four centuries have not in the least shaken it. 

As soon as Charles was able to do so, he caused himself to be crowned King of 
Spain, though his mother was still living, and he had no right to claim his inheritance 
during her lifetime. The Castilian nobles were bitterly offended with the way in 
which he surrounded himself with Flemish and German noblemen, and because he 
did not take enough interest in his Spanish subjects to learn their language. They 
revenged themselves by making a man whom he disliked Primate of Spain, and 
Charles went into Aragon, where he called the Cortes together and demanded that it 
make him King of Aragon according to the will of his grandfather, Ferdinand. 
There was muc.h violent opposition by the Aragonese, but they did at last give 
Charles the crown in conjunction with his mother. 

When Charles had thus made himself the king of Spain, he demanded that the 
Aragonese and the Castilians give him a certain sum of money. Very foolishly they 
yielded to his demands, and thereafter, as long as he was king, he continued to harass 
them for money, and never came into the kingdom for any other purpose but to beg 
money of them. He needed it, to be sure, for he was constantly at war with some- 



652 SPAIN. 

bod)-, and had much trouble with his own Protestant subjects in Spain and the Neth- 
erlands, but the Spaniards did not like it. Spain was ruled from afar, and the great 
power that it enjoyed under Ferdinand and Isabella be,<^an to grow less and less a'; 
time went on. Streams of wealth were still pouring into the country, but it was used 
for no good purpose, and the poverty of the people steadily increased. There was little 
commerce for the only people of Spain who had ever understood business, or carried 
it on to any extent, were the Jews, and they were forbidden to enter the kingdom. 
Education had no encouragement, for the king had no time to devote to the founding 
of schools and colleges, and the overseeing of those that existed. All Europe was 
mure or less distracted by wars, and there was not much prosperity anywhere, and 
to add to the miseries of Spain, the people were so dissatisfied with the continued 
absence of the king and his waste of Spanish money in foreign wars, that they rebelled 
and there was ci\il war in Castile, while the whole kingdom was in more or less 
confusion. 

You have learned in the story of Germany how Charles finally came to the con- 
clusion that his life had been in vain. He had done splendid deeds in his time. He 
had driven the Mediterranean pirates from the seas and compelled the Moors to 
give up all of their Christian prisoners. He had encouraged adventure and discov- 
ery in the New World, and had protected his provinces in that quarter of the globe 
very effectually, but his success in Spain was not brilliant as a ruler, though in the 
rest of Europe he gained fame as one of the most able generals of his time. He 
abandoned his kingdom to his son, Philip II, ami retired to a monastery to pass the 
remainder of his life in petty pursuits, and in eating and drinking far more than was 
good for him. He made a great pretense of piety, and certainly he employed enough 
priests to pray for his soul, while he was enjoying himself in the monastery. \ ou 
know how he came to his death, and he was buried in a splendid tomb. 

During his reign, while he was still a young man, you will recall that Charles V 
became involved in various difficulties with Francis I, of I*" ranee. While these diffi- 
culties were at their height, Francis, to insult Charles, sent some Frenchmen into 
Spain to attack the Spanish city of Pampeluna. The Castilians were in revolt at that 
time, and Francis thought he would gain an easy victory, for" Charles, as usual, was 
absent from Spain. As soon as the Spaniards heard of the invasion they stopped 
quarreling among themselves, and hastened to drive the French out; which they did 
most effectivelj'. Among the Spaniards taken prisoner by the F'rench and carried 
back to their country, was a gallant Spanish grandee, with a very long name ending 
in Loyola. He had been sorely wounded or perhaps the French would not have 
been able to capture him, but as it was, that wound of the Spanish grandee had more 
effect upon the history of religion, than the wound of any other Spaniard who ever 
went into battle, as perhaps you will see when you learn what came of it. 

In those days the physicians and surgeons were not as skillful as they are now, 
and Loyola was ill a long time in France from the effect of his wound, and in the 
long tedious hours he read the lives of some of the saints and martyrs of the Cath- 
olic church, that had been furnished him by some humble priest who comforted him 
in his captivity and illness. His mind was led by these books to think much on the 
briefness of human life and the reward of the future, and when he was well again he 
decided that instead of being a soldier under a worldly king, he would enlist in the 
great army of Christ, and become a monk and missionary. He remained a year in 
France, at a monastery, after he was well, and then he went on foot to Jerusalem as a 



■ SPAIN. 653 

penance for the sins of his past life. While in the monastery he formed the idea of 
a great Society of Jesus, that should be like the organization of the Knights Templar 
and Hospitallers in its military spirit, but should be unlike them in that all of its 
members should vow to obey the Pope without question, no matter what he asked of 
them; that they should own no property, and that their lives should be devoted not 
to the conquest of earthly dominion, like the orders of the olden times, but to con- 
verting and influencing persons of rank and intelligence and the education of the 
young in the tenets of the Catholic Church. 

This remarkable Order of Jesuits, as the members were called, soon exercised 
authority greater than that of monarchs or princes, for at the order of the Pope they 
pervaded every rank of society, became secret agents of the Vatican everywhere, and 
spies upon the movements of kings and potentates. They had a hand in every plot 
and revolution, and were back of every great movement of the times. 

This, however, was not all they did, for a more devoted body of men never lived, 
nor a more obedient army of soldiers under a general, ever went to conquest or 
defeat. They went boldly to the new world, far from civilization and the refinement 
of life, to carry the cross to the Indians and establish there the power of Rome, and 
cheerfully gave up their lives for the cause in which they labored. 

When we read of the great achievements of the Jesuit missionaries, we are 
moved to admiration of their wonderful zeal, which was after all something more than 
slavish submission to the Pope of Rome. Their hearts were in the work, and the life 
and death of Christ was ever present to their minds. They unquestionably wrought 
much evil in Europe and elsewhere during the great days of their power, but we must 
not forget that they also did much good, and that the evil rests not upon them, but 
upon their master, the Pope, whose instruments they were. Their power is not yet 
broken, and they are to-day one of the religious forces in the world, and the power 
behind the policy of many European monarchs, a hidden but strong element in the 
world's thought and action, as they were four hundred years ago. 

Philip II. had some reputation as a soldier when he was made ruler of the Low- 
lands and of Spain. His father had employed him in his long war against the Prot- 
estants of Holland and Belgium, and if Charles had a horror of "heretics" Philip 
had even a greater distrust of them and a hatred of their doctrines. He had been 
married in very early life to his own cousin, the Princess of Portugal, but she only 
lived two years and died leaving a son to her husband, who was, no doubt, even then 
tainted with the family insanity of Crazy Jane, his own grandmother, for it is 
almost certain that Charles died insane. This little son Carlos, grew up to be a 
strange, moody young man, with the taint of insanity from his birth. 

Philip was a rich monarch, for the posessions in the New world had increased in 
power and importance under his father, and as Bloody Mary of England was newly 
come to the throne at the time, he determined to marry her. It made no difference 
to him that JMary was an ugly, brown, weazened old maid with a violent temper and a 
gloomy disposition, nor that his father had intended marrying her himself. The 
marriage was one of policy, and as soon as it was determined upon he sent a portrait 
of himself to England and begged the honor of the hand of the English queen. Mary 
fell in love with the pictured face, and she must certainly have had strange taste to 
have done so, for Philip II. was anything but handsome. At all events there was a 
splendid wedding in England, and Philip was given the title of King of England, 
thouo-h the English Parliament was wise enough to take care that he should have no 



654 SPAIN-. 

hand in the government of the country, for the English had heard something of his 
savage and cruel character, and were already inclined toward the reformation, which 
was established so firmly in the country during the reign of Elizabeth. Philip cared 
nothing for Mary, and even made fun of her manners and her homeliness, and he 
seldom visited England. When Mary died and Elizabeth came to the throne, Philip 
II. had the audacity to propose for her, though he knew she favored the reformation 
with all her heart, and he Avas cruelly persecuting the people of the Netherlanils for 
their Protestantism. Pllizabeth declined with thanks, and he turned his attention 
elsewhere. Carlos was by this time a young man, and was engaged to be married to 
the fair young daughter of 1 lenry II., King of France. 

.\otwithstanding his son's claim to the princess, Philip proposed for her hand 
for himself about four months after the death of Mary, and three months after his 
rejection by Elizabeth, and brought her home to Spain. The wedding-feast was a 
sad one for the poor young girl but sixteen years old, had seen Carlos and was 
deeply in love with him, and could not love the gloomy Philip. It was made all 
the sadder by a dreadful accident. There was, as was the custom in those days at 
the marriage feasts of great personages, a brilliant tournament in which the bride's 
father, Henry II., King of France, took part. A spear-point pierced his helmet, 
entered his eye and brain, and laid him dead in the lists before the eyes of his horri- 
fied daughter. 

Carlos had never loved his father overmuch, ami Philip had never loved him. 
It may be that Carlos was disgusted with his father's cruelty to the Protestants in the 
Netherlands, and that on this account Philip hated him, but certainly when he came 
back to Spain with the bride that he had robbed Carlos of, he shut him up in a 
gloomy castle and would not permit any of his friends to see him. There poor young 
Carlos languished for a long time, and the king treated him with great harshness. 
The young queen had some spirit, and she stood up bravely for the persecuted prince, 
but this only made his lot all the harder. 

Finally Carlos fell ill, and it was said that Philip had caused a slow poison to be 
mixed with his food daily, which had undermined the constitution of the lad. In his 
illness he called piteously for the queen, once his .promised bride, and begged his 
cruel jailer to let him look just once upon the fair face of the woman he so fondly 
loved, and for whose sake he was giving up his life. He pleaded with his father, too, 
to allow him to see the queen even though it were at a distance, and he would not 
speak a word to her, but Philip refused, and Carlos wasted away in dreadful 
anguish of mint! and body, and at last died. 

There was much sympathy for the untimely death of the poor, wronged, young 
prince, but the people were afraid to express it, for Philip was so cruel that even then, 
there were those who thought him a far more dangerous lunatic than crazy Jane, 
who had been shut up in prison forty-seven years. We who read his history have 
no doubt that he was, and besides being insane, he was a gloomy, selfish bigot, and 
thus doubly dangerous. The Cortes, both of Castile and Aragon, had long ago lost 
its power and had become but a name. The Castilians, in the early days of the reign 
of Philip's father, Charles, had the reputation of knowing more of the true principles 
of liberty than any other people of Europe, and when the king began to act tyranically 
in the matter of taxingthem and making laws without their consent, they had rebelled; 
but unfortunately their rebellion failed, and they were so crushed by the fact, that 
they never again showed any independence or regained a shadow of their ancient 
rights. 



SPAIN. 655 

Carlos had languished in prison eight long years, and though the king himself 
tried to make the people believe that his young wife had a passion for Carlos that 
was not honorable for her, as a queen or a woman, there were few people that believed 
that she had done any wrong, and secretly, the people liked her all the better for her 
championship of the young prince. Whether grief for the late of Carlos hastened 
her death or not, I cannot tell you, but I think Philip was none to good to assist her 
to her death, if he could have done so undiscovered. At any rate, she only lived a 
few weeks after Carlos died, and the fate of Isabella, the princess of France, and her 
unhappy lover, has been the theme of many a song and story. 

Philip was not given to grieving over the death of his wives, and began to look 
about him for another. He had a niece, Anne of Austria, the daughter of that 
brother to whom his father left Germany, and monstrous as we think such marriages, 
he proposed for her hand, received the permission of the Pope to the wedding, and 
married her. He built a splendid and costly palace near Madrid, called the Escurial, 
and there lived with his new wife. 

I have told you elsewhere of the struggle of Philip II. with the gallant Nether- 
landers, and how he caused hundreds of thousands of innocent persons to be cruelly 
murdered under the guise of religion. He was a crafty wretch without conscience or 
remorse. After Queen Elizabeth refused him it is almost certain that he made an 
attempt to have her poisoned through one of his wicked tools, and he was engaged 
in the plot for the overthrow of Elizabeth and the Reformation that caused the exe- 
cution of Mary Stuart. He tried to have brave Henry of Navarre, of whom I have 
also told you, taken off by poison, and accomplished the death of William the Silent, 
Prince of Orange, the noble Protestant leader of the Netherlanders. 

The Moriscoes, who had been more or less tormented by the Catholic inquisitors 
since the e.xpulsion of the Moors from Spain, had all this time used the Arabic 
language, had danced the native dances of the Saracens and engaged in their 
native sports. They were the farmers of Spain, and cultivated the mulberry upon 
which the silk-worm fed. and supplied the cocoons from which the silks were woven 
They also raised fruits, flowers and vegetables, and enjoyed some share of pros- 
perity. 

Philip II. had strong prejudices against these people, and, was determi.ned that 
they should forever abandon the use of their native speech and such small share of 
liberty as they enjoyed. They still lived in Granada, and loved the city with pas- 
sionate attachment for it had witnessed the days of the splendor of their people in 
Spain. 

When Philip published a law compelling them to change all of their Arabic for 
Spanish names, and substitute the Spanish costume for the Moorish, prohibiting the 
women from wearing veils over their faces, and allowing neither sex to wear the 
smallest article made of silk under pain of imprisonment, it caused great excitement 
among the Moors. This same law forbade the Moors to take warm baths, a necessity 
to that people, habituated from infancy to frequent bathing, which was made a law 
of the Koran, perhaps on that account. Any Moriscoe convicted of taking a warm 
bath was to be punished by losing all of his wealth, sentenced to hard labor in the 
galleys (as rowers of the Spanish ships) and given a hundred lashes upon the bare 
back. 

This tyrannical law of the king roused all of the fierce passion of the patient 
Moriscoes. They vowed they would never yield such slavish obedience to the 



656 SPAIN. 

Spanish king, and that they would die in defense of their personal liberty. A leader 
was found and thej' formed an army, but it was crushed with great cruelty and Philip 
tielighted for some time after in the torture and murder of the Moriscoes. When 
he had glutted his fury, he caused them to be removed from Granada and settled in 
a distant jjrovince far from the scenes that they loved, and from the sight of the 
palaces that stood to them as monuments of the deatl grandeur of the Saracen rule 
in Spain. They were made i.o speak the Spanish language, dance the Spanish dances 
when they cared to dance at all, and sing the Spanish songs when they could forget 
their sorrows sufficiently to sing, but it was centuries before they forgot their injuries 
or ceased to cherish hatred to Philip for the wrongs and indignities that he had 
heaped upon them. Their revenge came swiftly in the ruin of those industries that 
had l)ecn tlie source of much of Spain's wealth, for they cultivated the silk-worm no 
more and their vin-yards and gardens became deserts. 

The decline that had commenced with the reign of Charles continued steadily 
during the reign of Philip II. and after the defeat of The Invincible Armada, of 
which I have told you in the story of England, the navy of Spain lost its prestige upon 
the seas and from that time the decline was rapid indeed. 

Philip died at last after a life filled with the worst vices, practiced under the cloak 
of religion. For several of the latter years of his life he suffered excruciating torture 
from the gout, which like his insanity was inherited, and his body was covered with 
disgusting ulcers like those that tormented the last days of Henry VHI. For forty- 
three years he had been the curse of Spain, for from his very birth we may reckon 
the disasters of his country, and for about thirteen years he had been the Caligula 
of Spanish history. His last wife, his niece, of whose unnatural marriage to her 
father's brother I have already spoken, died four years before her husband, leaving 
a number of half-idiotic children, one of whom nt)w came to the throne under the 
name of Philip III. 

The father of the new king had always been so tyrannical in his own family that 
the weak-minded prince had grown more and more imbecile, under the abject depen- 
dence he exacted, antl he had no notion of state affairs. His Prime Minister 
governed Spain for him and as it had long been the worst governed country in all 
Europe, it submitted to being badly governed from habit. 

The Duke of Lerma became the real ruler of .Spain, and as he was cruel and 
grasping, he gave the death-blow to the lingering commerce of the country by impos- 
ing heavy taxes and otherwise discouraging the people. Philip III. had none of the 
cru^^lty of his father, but he was intensely afraid of Lerma and his powerfnl wife, and 
when his Prime Minister suggested that the Moriscoes, who had been banished from 
Granada during the last reign, should be driven entirely from the land of their birth 
and compelled to take refuge in Africa he was afraid to oppose him. After some years 
the weak-minded king began to grow a little bolder and to contemplate dismissing 
Lerma. To hold his yjower over the devout monarch, Lerma induced the Pope to 
make him a cardinal, but while this awed Philip for awhile, he was finally brave 
enough to depose him from his power. After this was done he began to find out in 
what sad straits the country was, how it was becoming bankrupt and ruined, and with 
all his faults Philip III. loved Spain. He was not clever enough to find a remedy for 
the existing state of things, and brooded over it until his health failed and he died in 
1621, the year after the first Purita, landed at Plymouth. 

Spain was now in sad straits. The Arabs had been the tillers of the soil, had 



SPAIN. 



657 



planted orchards and gardens, and been frugal anil industrious. The Arabs, too, had 
been persecuted ami driven from the country, and their pursuits were condemned l\y 
the haughty hildagos as unworthy of gentlemen. The Jews were traders, as the 
Arabs were farmers and manufacturers, therefore the taint of heresy, of the Jew and 
Arab, lay upon every industrial pursuit, and it came to be thought a disgrace to work. 
Thousands of acres of ground were untilled, the commerce of Spain dwindled until 
there were only thirteen galleys in its navy, and seven of those were hired from 
Genoa. Its arsenals stood empty, its fortresses fell into decay. Though a stream of 
wealth was kept constantly flowing into the country from the colonies across the 




Tlie link.- of Alba ilepusi'^ tli.' Dul■hl■^, uf Pjnua. 

Atlantic, it did not at all enrich the country; everything was paid out as soon as it 
came in, and France, Germany and the Netherlands were the real gainers. For it 
was they who were the sources of supply for the Spanish people, who wove no cloth, 
raised no grain, and spent their time in various pleasures, when they could afford it, 
and were notorious as bandits. The church throve on the general decay, and Spain 
had more monks and nuns than would have been amply sufficient for all Europe. In 
spite of the fact that there were churches and convents by the thousand, there was 



658 SPAIN. 

little rclii^ion, although the ignorance and superstition that passed for piety was- 
dense enough. 

Philip IV. and Chaj'les II. were ceaselessly engaged in war, and when the latter 
monarch died, the House of Austria that had brought Spain to this unhappy pass, 
became extinct, and the grandson of Louis XI\'. became king, under the name of 
Philip V. Philip did not enjoy being king of such a poor and turbulent country as he 
found Spain. At first he gave promise of being an energetic and able sovereign, but 
he was indolent by nature, and Spain w^as so hopelessly in debt, so priest and monk- 
ridden, that he shrunk from the task. He married a fair lady, Louisa of Savoy, and 
Louis Xl\\, in order that matters might go at the Spanish court to suit his own am- 
bitious plans, appointed a certain lady of France, who was the widow of an Italian 
nobleman, to watch the young queen, and through her rule the king according to his 
liking. Madame Orsioni, the lady in question, followed the directions of Louis, with 
one exception, she ruled the queen to suit herself, and not to suit her employer. Vou 
have learned about the war of the Spanish succession, whose battles were most of 
them, not fought in Spain, but involved nearly all the rest of Europe. 

Philip hated being king, and after all the blood shed to secure him the succession, 
abdicated in favor of his son. The lad died soon after, and Philip resumed the crown, 
which he wore until his death in 1746. His son, Ferdinand \'I., succeeded him, aiul 
for thirteen years ruled Spain well. Philip had, through his ministers, begun to com- 
bat the idleness of the people, and to try to reduce the number of lazy priests 
throughout the country, who w-ere a blight upon it, and a dead weight which the peo- 
ple could not carry and be prosperous. Ferdinand carried on the good work cau- 
tiously and slowly, and Charles III., his brother, did more for Spain than any sovereign 
had done since the days of Ferdinand and Isabella. He abolished most of the pow- 
ers of the inquisitit)n, and caused the Pope to expel the Jesuits from Spain, and 
destroy their order. He encouraged education, trade and manufacture, and had he 
followed his natural inclination, he would have entirely separated Church and State. 
He reigned wisely and well over Spain for fifty-seven years, and restored a shadow of 
prosperity to the country, though nothing could root out the idea from the minds of 
the nobility, that it was a disgrace to work. He was followed on the throne by h".s 
son, Charles IV. 

This monarch was a weak, foolish personage, who allowed Spain to sink back 
into its old state of feebleness. His wife, Maria Louisa of Parma, had great influence 
with him, and she in turn was ruled by a handsome guardsman, named Godoy, who 
under the name of The Prince of Peace, has come down to history with an unenvi- 
able record. He married a French princess, after he had been advanced to the dignity 
of Prime Minister of Spain, before he was twenty-five years old, and it was through 
him that Spain fell into the hands of Napoleon. It seems that Ferdinand, the young 
son of the weak Charles, was thoroughly disgusted with the influence of Godoy 
over his father, and opened a correspondence with Napoleon. The queen had 
long been noted for her loose m'orals, and the country was on the verge of ruin, yet 
the Spanish people were intensely loyal to the Bourbons. When the king of France 
lost his life at the hands of the French revolutionists, the people of Spain were 
deeply moved. From every province execrations went up, and the people demanded 
to be leil across the Pyrenees, to avenge the murder of the French king. Charles 
IV., Gotloy and the King, pretended a mighty indignation, and talked much about 
what they intended doing, but in the end they did nothing. Napoleon betrayed the 



SPAIN. 659 

son to the father, and when he had them both in prison in France, seated his brother, 
Joseph, on the throne of Spain. Godoy was a party to the whole transaction, and 
gave Spain into the hands of the French. The Spanish fleet was placed in 
Napoleon's charge, and Spanish troops were sent to hold his fortresses in the north 
of Europe. 

Joseph was a gentleman, and loathed the idea of forcing himself upon an unwilling 
people, for the Asturians were already in arms against Napoleon, but he allowed his 
brother to over-persuade him. He hoped to win the people by good government, 
and was quite certain, that in spite of the fact that he had not had kings and queens 
for ancestors, he could rule Spain far better than it ha<l been ruled under Charles IV. 
and Godoy. Saragossa revolted, and was besieged by French troops. It resisted 
the besiegers with the greatest heroism and was fired by the patriotism of another 
Joan of Arc, a girl of two and twenty, who aided in its defense. The Spaniards sent to 
England for help against Napoleon. They wrested Cadiz from the French, and took 
and burned all of the French vessels in its harbor. They captured all of the French 
seaports of Biscay, and so alarmed King Joseph by their determined opposition to 
his troops, that he fled to the frontier. These successes received a check in the fall 
of the same year. Napoleon's troops defeated the patriots at every point, and Napo- 
leon, himself, fi.xed his head quarters in Madrid. In January iSio Sir John Moore, 
who had been sent to the Peninsula in charge of an English force, met the French 
at Corunna, and was defeated and lost his life. You have no doubt read the poem 
"The burial of .Sir John Moore," but you must not take it for history, for it does not 
describe the actual burial of Moore, who of course was buried, but not in the manner 
related. 

I have told you of the successes of Wellesly, afterward the Duke of Wellington. 
He beat the French at Talavera, and though he lost the day at Buasco the Spaniards 
recognized the fact that he was a great general. All over the country the patriots 
were carrying on guerilla warfare, that is fighting from ambush in small parties. At 
Barossa in 181 1 the English won a great victory over a F"rench force twice as large 
as their own, and though the French captured Valencia in 1S21, two months later 
Wellington won two hard-fought battles which gave him a great advantage over the 
enemy. In iSi2,too, the national Cortes assembled at Cadiz, appointed three regents 
and adopted a liberal constitution, which abolished the monstrous Inquisition, that 
had so long existed in Spain and reduced the number of priests and convents very 
materially. This constitution did not operate. After the battle of Victoria, which 
was won by Wellington in 1813, the French were driven from the Peninsula with a 
loss, during the six years in which the Emperor Napoleon had attempted the conquest 
of Spain, of nearly four hundred thousand men. When Napoleon returned to Paris, 
after the disastrous Russian campaign, he deposed his brother Joseph as King of 
Spain. . The gentle Joseph was glad enough to be relieved of his troublesome king- 
dom which had given him nothing but ceaseless worry, danger and discomfort, and 
left Spain with a lighter heart than he had carried since the day of his splendid coro- 
nation. Ferdinand, the son of Charles IV. was proclaimed king in 1S14. The Spanish 
people loved this worthless prince, more because he had been persecuted by the 
wicked queen and her impudent favorite, Godoy, than for any good qualities he had 
shown. They had fought the French with passion and loyalty, solely that he might 
be restored. While they were sacrificing everything for him, he was enjoying himself 
in a manner prompted by his vicious nature, in his retirement in France, and was 



66o SPAIN. 

fa\vnin>j uijon Napoleon. The people believed that Ferdinand would rule them 
under the Constitution of 1812. He swore solemnly to do so, and the very next day 
set himself to work to overthrow the very constitution that he had vovved to protect. 
He recalled the inquisition, and gave it new powers. 

The people had borne much, but this new Philip II. was too much to be endured 
patientl}-. They gave him his way for six years, and seeing that he went constantly 
from bad to worse, from tyranny to tyranny, they rebelled. Poor Spain was in an 
unhappy plight to be sure Her industries were paralyzed by the enormous taxes 
and her liberties stifled by the inquisition. The monarch was a vile wretch, who 
could not be dependend upon except that it was tolerably certain that he would not 
under any circumstances tell the truth, or keep a promise. In 1S20 the people had 
become so openly determined to end the misery of the country, that Ferdinand was 
compelled, much against his will, to call the Cortes, and make some very important 
changes. The inquisition was forever abolished, the press was declared free, and the 
militia restored. Of course Ferdinand did not keep his word, and in 1S22 the people 
broke out into a new revolt, and carried Ferdinand a prisoner to Cadiz. France 
came to his rescue. It sent a hundred thousand men, under the Duke de Angouleme 
into Spain to cioish the insurgents and to restore Ferdinand to the throne. Impov- 
erished Spain, could not resist France, the vile king was replaced on his throne, and 
for ten years exhibited a spectacle of savage brutality, that would have shamed the 
Dark Ages. Everything he had abolished he set up again, and torture, proscription, 
imprisonment and death were wreaked unsparingly upon his enemies. The public 
credit was destroyed, and there was beggary, famine and misery of every kind 
throughout Spain. 

Ferdinand hail no children, though he had been three times married, and anxious 
concerning the succession, he married his own niece in 1S29. The same year the 
colonics of Spanish America, which, one by one, had freed themselves from Spain, 
beginning in 1S08, were separated from the mother country by the revolution in 
Mexico which ended in the establishment of a Republic in that country. 

In the year 1713 Philip \'., influenced by his wile, had made a decree which set 
aside the Salic law, and made it possible for w-omen to succeed to the crown, not only 
as direct heirs of the king, but as indirect heirs. It has always been doubted that 
Philip had the power to do this, even though his Cortes was compelled to make the 
decree a law. The Cortes of 1799 abolished the Salic law forever, and the consti- 
tution of iSi2 did the same. In spite of these many confirmations of the act of 
Philip v., the law was not formally promulgated until 1-S30, for I'erdinand thought 
his new queen might give birth to a daughter, and he wanted the child to succeed to 
the throne. Ferdinand had a brother, who was born a year before the "Pragmatic 
Sanction" as it was called, was ratified by the Cortes of 1789, and he tlierfore had a 
right to the crown, for such a law of course could not affect the claims of existing 
male heirs under the old law. In 1S30 a little princess was born to Maria Christina, 
the queen, whose husband, was now in the last stages of loathsome disease, and 
expecting death daily. The friends of the king's br(other formed a conspiracy, and 
compelled the half- unconscious Ferdinand to revoke "The Pragmatic Sanction" so 
that his brother, Don Carlos, could succeed to the crown. Ferdinand grew some- 
what better after this, and the queen and her friends, among whom was the king's 
sister, induced him to restore the k^w he had just destroyed. The young queen was 
made regent for her infant daughter, and soon after Ferdinand died. lie was the 



SPAIN. 66i 

\ilest monarch who ever sat on any throne, and his reign was one long crime. He 
left the nation crushed by debt, and on the verge of a civil war that broke out 
almost before the breath was out of his body. 

Maria Christina, at first, had the love of the people, for she- passed some liberal 
laws, but at the very outset she was beset by the partisans of Don Carlos, who involved 
Spain in a civil war. The Basques, the freest and most prosperous people of Spain, 
and who, because they were really almost independent of the general government, 
had not shared in the disasters that for centuries had crowded thick on the nation, 
took u]j the cause of Don Carlos, and the most bitter civil war was waged. 

While this war was in progress there was an outbreak of cholera in Spain, and 
as there was a foolish rumor that the disease was caused by the monks poisoning the 
wells, a horrible massacre of the monks all over the kingdom occurred. The Oueen 
Regent, too, had turned out badly. Even Ferdinand could not have been~more 
wicked in his private life than was this woman, and she cared nothing for the welfare 
of her people. Ruin, desolation, civil war, disease, ran riot everywhere, and the 
queen and her vile favorites feasted and wantoned in their palaces, as though the 
wealth of the Indies was at their command. 

For seven years the Carlist war devastated Spain, and then Carlos abandoned 
the struggle for the time, and passed over into France. The minister appointed by 
the Queen Regent to conduct the government diil as well as could have been expected 
under the circumstances, but he was at last compelled to resign, and another was 
placed in charge. He could do nothing to arrest the general decay. The people were 
intensely patriotic, but the politicians looked upon the country as their natural prey. 
Everybody was anxious to get into office, not because he wanted to benefit the gov- 
ernment, but that he was eager to rob it. 

The conduct of the Uueen Regent had become such a scandal to all Europe, that 
in 1840 she was compelled to give up the regency and leave .Spain. Her daughter 
Isabella was crowned queen at the age of thirteen, in 1843, and three years later she 
married her own cousin, a Bourbon prince. Isabella was no better than her mother, 
in fact she was worse, for she inherited the bad passions of her father, as well. 
She appointed a wise minister, however, and he ditl so much for the country that the 
people endured the folly and vice in the palace and court of the sovereign. The 
power of the clergy all this time in Spain had been remarkable. They held the 
ignorant in thralldom. There were patriots in .Spain who could not bear the scandals 
that attached to the priest-ridden court, and at last attacked both church and court 
openly. 

This revolution accomplished wonders for Spain. When it was over, Isabella 
took for her counsellor one of the most progressive men of the times. He gained 
a victory over the Moors in the Morocco war of 1S59, and when he had convinced the 
Mohammedans acioss the Strait, that they could no longer interfere with Spain's 
commerce in the Mediterranean, he turned his attention to buildingbridgesand roads 
and repairing Spain's finances. He encouraged culture, and foreigners began to come 
to Spain and invest in various enterprises. This continued until 1S60, and might have 
lasted longer, had not the evil-minded queen constantly meddled with the policy of 
her minister. The clergy hated him because he would not allow them to wreck the 
prosperity of the nation as they had persistently wrecked it for centuries, and they 
no doubt influenced the queen to interfere in his plans, and attempt to bring them to 
naught. 



662 SPAIN. 

At last Isabella openly opposed her minister, and caused his downfall. For the 
ne.xt six years there was sad confusion, and finally in i86S, the Spanish people, so long- 
suffering and patient, could bear no more. They saw their country sinking back into 
the depths of misery in which Ferdinand, Isabella's father, had left it. Their consti- 
tution was being violated, their rights trampled under foot, and vice and dishonesty 
were in every branch of the public service. They rose in rexolt and drove Isabella 
from Spain. 

A provisional government was established, and the next year a commission was 
formed to provide for a permanent government. There was a large party that desired 
a Republic, and others that clung to the monarchy, under a constitution. You will 
remember that it was a dispute over who should wear the crown of Spain — for the 
monarchists were triumphant, and the nation again decided to try another king — 
which was the excuse that Napoleon III. made to insult the (ierman Emperor, and 
which was tlie beginning of the Franco-Prussian war. 

In 1870 Amadi.'O, son of X'ictor Emanuel, and Duke ot Aosta, was offered the 
Spanish crown. He accepted it in 1871, but only held it two years, then resigned. 
He found that the people did not like the idea of a foreigner ruling them, and that 
it would be a thankless task at the best. He went back to Italy, and the Spaniards 
called to the throne the young son of the banished Isabella. This prince was 
crowned king of Spain as Alfonso XII. in 1S75, after the people had tried for two 
years a Republican form of government. Ihe new king had been reared and edu- 
cated in England and Germany, far from the evil example of his mother, and was a 
noble and intelligent young man, in whom the nation placed great hopes for the 
future of the country. He was married soon after his acccession to his sweet young 
cousin Mercedes, the daughter of the Duke of Montpensier, a French prince, but she 
only lived a few months. He was then married to Christina, the arch-duchess of 
Austria, and in the year 1885. at the early age of twenty-eight, fell a victim to a 
disease inherited from a long line of weak-bodied ancestors. Fie left a little 
daughter, Mercedes, as heiress to his crown, but some weeks after his death Chri- 
stina gave birth to a son who was named Alfonso, and who became the crown- 
prince of the kingdom. He is now a well-grown lad with a will of his own and is 
being very carefully educated for the king-ship that awaits him. 

The Spain of to-day is but a melancholy wreck of its past. The noble forests 
that once clothed the mountains and plains, have been cleared away, for the Span- 
iards thought that trees made the air unhealthful, and attracted the birds that 
destroyed their crops. It is well know-n, that with the destruction of the forests, a 
country suffers from lack of rainfall, and in the parts of Spain, once abundantly 
watered, and blooming with gardens, there is now almost absolute desolation, and 
the poor peasants there, can hardly wring a living from the soil. There has been no 
increase in the population of the country, for nearly a quarter of a centurj-, and 
misery and idleness have paralyzed the nation, and, latterly, anarchists have created 
much trouble and blood-shed in the heart of the kingdom. The taxes of the people, 
for the support of the army, have been large, and in no other country in the world 
are there so many officers, compared to the size of the army, and so many greedy 
government officials, who fill their own pockets, at the expense of the people, and 
plunder w^ithouc mercy. 

There are only four cities in Spain, that are as large as the towns of Pittsburg 
and Alleghany, in Pennsylvania, and not one as large as our Capital city, Washington, 



SPAIN. 663 

which is not considered one of the great cities of the United States. Only half of 
the soil is under cultivation, and the exports of the whole country are less than those 
from one of our small seaboard cities. From the possession in all the islands of the 
West'Indies, and the countries of South America, Central America and Mexico, to 
say nothing of the vast territory, once owned by Spain, in Xorth America, which 
comprised an area nearly half as large as the United States, and a great territory in 
Africa, Spain now owns only Cuba and Porto Rico in our continent. There was a 
time when Spain was mistress of the eastern seas; but a few little islands in the 
Indian ocean, that nobody else cares about, are all that she has been able to hold. 
Her rich possessions in Africa, have dwindled to two little provinces, containing 
altogether, less than five hundred square miles; and this is the empire which Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella left the greatest on earth, and whose prospects were equaled by 
no other country of ancient or modern times, for its heir was, besides, the heir to half 
of Northern Europe. 

The disasters that have befallen -Spain, have not been the fault of the people, 
but have resulted from the recklessness and crimes of their rulers. Brave, gifted and 
impassioned, the .Spaniards only need strong and wise government, to raise them to 
a high place among the nations of the earth._ That government, they have not had 
since the days of Ferdinand. Education, among them, has long been in the hands 
of the Jesuits, and the Catholicism of the Midtlle Ages has lingered in the Spanish 
Peninsula, with all its superstitions and ignorant beliefs. This Catholicism has made 
the Spaniards, as a rule, loyal to the princes, whom it was their misfortune to have 
over them as hereditary ruler of the country, although they have been oppressed and 
robbed by those whose duty was to protect them. The influence of the Revolution, 
which gave so many of the States of Europe such large liberty, has been slower in 
working in Spain than elsewhere, but that its destiny is manifestly that of a free 
republic, no one can doubt who has watched its political course in recent years. 




ROPEIAN. i 




| pAVAVA V AVA V A V A V>\ >.WA V A V A VA\^ <; K&l«^^a^S^2gZ^^ 





■M. 



Kingdoms./ 



.-' I UST opposite the southeastern coast ol I'^nylaiid, bordering on the 
'w,.a^;. North Sea, and extendinii from the frontiers of France to those of the 
German State of Hanover, is a vast plain, watered by the Rhine, the Meuse, antl the 
Scheldt rivers. This plain rises gradually to the east and south, but for the most 
part is low and moist, thus giving to the countries which it includes, the name 
which it has borne in history for centuries, "The Low Countries," or Netherlands. 
The northeastern portion, of this vast |)lain, was inhabited in tlie days of CcE.sar, by 
tribes of German origin, while the southwestern part was the home of the Belga}. 
These savage Celts roamed about in the forests, and fought the Romans with great 
valor, but were at last subdued, and their country brought under the Roman yoke 
with the name of Belgic Gaul. The inhabitants of the coast, however, clung to 
their independence. Their country was poor and barren enough. The sea invaded 
it often, and made the soil sterile. Thej' were obliged to build their houses on the 
top of lofty stakes set in the sand-hills, and as the waters of the rivers and springs 
were rendered salt and brackish by constant influence of the tides and seepage of 
the porous soil, they were compelled to drink rain-water. So little ground was 
capable of tillage, that the sea became the source from which the people of the 
Netherlands, bordering it, received their food, for they ate the fishes which the 
receding waters left in their nets, and 'the seaweed which was stranded on their 
sand-hills. 

The difficulties surrounding the people of the coast made them patient, hardy, 
and self-reliant, and in time they began to war with the Ocean itself, and finally con- 
cjuered it. The rivers, as well as the sea, had no limits, and would spread abroad, 
carrying their waters over the land, so between the rivers and the ocean, the people 
of the Lowlands had the prospect of being in time entirely submerged. They, there- 
fore, began to make high banks of earth along the river-beds, and the seashore. 
These dykes, as they are called, were no doubt often washed away by sudden floods 
or wild gales, driving the waters of the sea landward, but the patient people rebuilt 



THE NETHERLANDS. 665 

them stronger and wider, and at last they were rejoiced to find that the seas and 
rivers were not able to break down the barriers, and that now they might venture to 
cultivate the soil. 

The people of the Lowlands, uniting in a common warfare against the elements, 
were not constantly quarreling with one another, as were the Franks in their early 
days, but there was good-will, justice and friendship among them, and they thus 
rapidly advanced in civilization. The Prankish kings were, in name, monarchsof the 
countrj' after the fall of the Roman Empire, but the people enjoyed a higher degree 
of liberty than was common in those days, and perhaps that had more to do with 
their rapid advance in civilization than anything else. 

It is said that Charlemagne, himself, sprang from a family whose ancestors 
were Belgic Gauls, and untler this great monarch began the spread of Christianity 
among the Northern Teutons, whom the Friesons, the people of Holland, were 
the fiercest. It seems that the Friesons were brave fighters in their time, and had 
a passion for liberty. Ihey declared they would never submit to the rule of a 
foreigner as long as the wind blew from the clouds or the sunlight fell upon their 
land, but the grand-father of Charleniagne, nevertheless, made some progress 
in bringing them into subjection and Charlemagne completed their conquest though 
they never suspected themselves other than free, for he was clever enough to leave 
them their own laws and customs, and only asked that their chiefs should act as his 
agents, and when he was engaged in war the chieftains should furnish him with men 
whom they themselves should command when fighting in his cause. They Friesons 
thus furnished the German monarchs with fighting men for nearly a hundred years, 
but after that time, the Franks, who had in the meantime been divided into a sepa- 
rate kingdom gained power over them. Indeed, I cannot tell you anything very 
definite of the story of Netherlands during this hundred years, further than that 
their counry was a part of that strip known as Lorraine, and that it became the 
property of the princes considered as Germans, and that it remained in their keeping 
until a man arose who was stronghanded enough to seize it for himself. 

It is remarkable how many strong-handed men there were in those times, and 
what a singular idea 'they had of the rights of other people, if indeed they had any 
idea at all of the claims of the weak upon their strength. I am afraid that the 
Christianity of Northern Europe in thos'e days was only skin-deep, and that the ten 
commandments was not the law of the conduct of most of the people. The kings 
ruled by violent methods, and the great lords considered themselves as kings in their 
own territory, and imitated on a small scale the tyrannies of the monarch, and thought 
themselves valiant fellows, no doubt. Charles the Bald had a daughter named 
Judith, who, being a royal princess, was of course called beautiful, the most beautiful 
woman of her times, and she may have been for all that I can tell you, though the 
fact that all of the "most beautiful women" were princesses, or ladies of high degree, 
incline me to think that those who described them were influenced somewhat by the 
rank of the fair ladies, and anxious to gain the good-will of royal personages by 
making them out prodigies of beauty and intelligence. At all events, this fair prin- 
cess Judith married Ethelwulf, the English king, and when he died, she came back 
to the kingdom of the Franks a widow, still young and lovely. 

There was a boUl baron, li\ing on the borders of the Frankish kingdom, wiio 
saw the fair Judith and fell in love with her. With or without her consent, I can not 
say which, though I am inclined to believe that Judith was willing, he carried her off 



666 



THE NETHERLANDS. 




Dutch Peafiante. 



from father her's dominions, and married her. This 
chieftain \vas a Belffic Gaul, and so valiant in war that 



Charles the Bald was afraid of him, but though he hated 
him most heartily, he dared not attempt to compel him 
to return his daughter, and reluctantly consented that he 
should keep his stolen bride, which the gallant Baldwin 
,f intended doing. Having secured his bride, Baldwin ne.xt 
compelled his father-in-law to grant him some lands, and 
to keep peace with his turlnilent son-in-law, Charles 
granted him all the country between the Scheldt and 
the Somme rivers. This district was long known as 
' Flanders, though it is now called Belgium, and Count 

Baldwin ruled it with a strong hand. He came into the 
ly possession of the lands of his French bride, about the 
year 864. and you will remember that soon afterward, 
the bold Northmen, of Denmark and Norway, began to 
find the lands to the southward, rich in plunder, and to 
sail away from their Viks every spring, and pillage till 
winter closed their harbors with ice. The territory of Flanders was temptingly near 
them, and, of course, it was not spared; but they soon found that Count Baldwin was 
not a man with whom it was safe to meddle, and after some severe lessons at his 
hands, they concluded to leave him in peace. 

In the course of time, Count Baldwin died, and as no other chief of his boldness 
arose in Flanders, to take his place, the NorthnuMi swarmed upon the coast, and 
inflicted much suffering upon the unhappy Flemings, and for nearly a century the 
Netherlands was harried and pillaged by the Danes and Norsemen. 

The people of the Netherlands had in reality no king at all, though they pre- 
tended to i)ay allegiance to the (it-rman or French princes. They were in reality 
subjected to numerous petty chieftains or lords, and there were constant quarrels and 
troubles that were not diminished by the influence of the priests, which increased 
as time went on. The priests constantly demanded lands, money and privileges which 
the Netherlanders were not over-willing to grant them. The lortls wanted service 
and taxes, and those, too, they were not willing to grant. Between the church and 
the lords there grew up a power that neither could successfully fight against, and this 
was the power of the commercial cities, that received charters from the emperors, 
and had the right to conduct their affairs in their own way. 

The cities had unions of their different tradesmen and workmen, and no one could 
become a member of those unions without serving an apprenticeship of seven years. 
The reason of this was that since the towns were so much more free in most matters 
than the country districts under the rule of the lords or bishops, naturally enough 
the vassals of those dignitaries all had an inclination to run away and place them- 
selves under the protection of the towns. Indeed, if they succeeded in living a year 
and a day as free-men in any of the chartered cities, their lords could never again 
claim service for them, and you may be sure the lords kept a close watch that they 
did not abandon their homes and seek the larger liberties of the cities. 

Several great cities grew up in the Netherlands that had commerce with Britain 
and other countries, and enjoyed some prosperity. The power of the great churchmen 
in some of these cities was as marked as it was elsewhere in Europe, and they were 



THE NETHERLANDS. 667 

usually engaged in a quarrel or war with the princes of the German Empire, who held 
all of the Netherlands comprised in the territory of Lorraine, except only that por- 
tion that had been granted to Count Baldwin of Flanders. 

These quarrels and struggles were so endless that nobody now has any interest 
in them, or patience to read their petty details, so I will not tell you of them. All of 
the European princes and churchmen in those days were constantly in a muddle upon 
some question of lands, or privileges, or taxes, and violence on the one side was met 
with violence on the other; treachery was paid back with treachery, and I am afraid 
that altogether the princes and bishops, the commoners and lords, were a violent and 
quarrelsome lot, always seeking their own interests. 

One of these quarrels between a bishop and count, was important, anil 1 will tell 
you of it. There was a city in Southern Holland named Dordrecht, which upon 
some maps of Hollantl is called Dort. The country about Dordrecht is now 
covered with water, and the city is surrounded by dreary salt marshes, but about eight 
hundred years ago the land about Dordrecht was protected from the water by dykes, 
and was a beautiful heavily-wooded island, called Holtland, or Holland, on account 
of its forests. 

By the old laws of the Netherlands, made by the Friesansso long before the days 
of Charlemagne that they were considered especially sacred, the people, who 
reclaimed land from the rivers and the sea, held them in common, and in common 
enjoyed all of the benefits arising from its culture. The people, therefore claimed 
the island of Holtland, but there were several bishops who had estates along the 
Meuse and the Rhine, who coveted the island. They cared nothing for the ancient 
laws, and told the people so in plain words. Furthermore, they armed a force of 
their vassals, and took the land away from the people who had built the dykes that 
reclaimed it from the water. 

At this time, a certain Count Thierry was the ruler of the western part of the 
mainland of North Holland, but the people who were of the ancient Friean and 
Saxon stock, would not have a Frank to rule over them, and drove him from the 
country. He had watched the progress of the bishops in their conquest of the 
island of Holtland, and concluded that he had certainly as good a right to it as they, 
and he therefore took refuge upon the island, built a strongly defended town, and 
settled down upon his new estates, ascomfortably as though they were his own. The 
prince-bishops were filled with anger and astonishment, when they heard what 
Thierry had done. No doubt, they menaced him with the wrath of the church, bu 
Thierry was not to be frightened. Finding this to be true, the bishops, who were 
usually better warriors than they were priests, united their forces and marched 
against Thierry, determined to destroy his town and to make him prisoner. By 
some means, Thierry learned of their intentions, and was so well prepared, that he 
not only defeated the forces of the bishops, but took the bishops, themselves, pris- 
oners. In those days, when a prisoner of high degree was taken, he had the privilege 
of paying a certain sum of money for his freedom; but Thierry was a generous 
enemy, and instead of holding the bishops for this ransom, he treated them with the 
most polite hospitality, entertained them to the best of his ability, for several days, 
and then sent them back to their homes, escorted safely by his own men-at-arms. 

The emperor of Germany, whose vassals these priests were, pretended to be 
greatly struck with the generosity of the Frankish count. The fact was, that the 
emperor of Germany was exceedingly jealous of his great church vassals, and was 



668 THE NETHERLANDS. 

secretly rejoiced that they had been defeated, but he did not think it exactly prudent 
to express his delight. Instead, he praised Thierry for his knightly courtesy, and to 
further humiliate the prince-bishops, though seeming to sympathize with them, he 
gave Thierry the island he had seized upon, to have and to hold forever, and to 
leave to his heirs. This gift did not make the bishops any more friendly in their 
feelings toward Thierry, and as for Thierry and his descendants, they were always 
the bitter foes of church tyranny, and were more than once successful in waging 
warfare against it. 

The crusades were, as I have stated more than once, a blessing to all of Europe, 
in that new ideas were brought back from the far East that in after times bore rich 
fruit for civilization. They were a blessing to the Netherlands, in that they took to 
the far East, many of the turbulent lords and counts, who were always interfering in 
the affairs of the country. These lords, many of them died in Asia, and others 
remained there. The crusades took out of the country many of the men before 
employed in manufucture, for the Netherlanders had early won great fame as manu- 
factureres of woolen stuffs and linens, and those who remained at home were blessed 
with as much work as they could perform, for which they received high wages, and 
thus wealth steadily grew and the manufactures increased amazingly. For a time 
also, the wars in Europe ceased and the people of the Netherlands took advantage 
of the temporary peace to found their commerce on a firm footing. England was to 
them the place where they received all of their supplies of wool, and as long as Eng- 
land was at peace with France they could receive their cargoes unmolested and 
return woven goods. The Lords of the Netherlands began to understand that their 
true interests were with the people who were building up the business of the country> 
and instead of plundering and taxing the unions of artisans and skilled laborers, and 
cities, they found themselves in a position that made it necessary to gain the friend- 
ship of both, or leave the country. The people of Holland had little patience with 
those of their lortls who claimed a share in the manufactures of the country, and who 
insisted in interfering, in a way that hindered the commercical prosperity of the cities. 
They gave them fair warning to keep their hands off the industries, which they were 
striving to build up, and where this warning was unheeded, they attempted to drive 
both nobles and bishops out of the country. In many cases they were successful, 
and thus, they began the long struggle for their freedom which they waged with such 
bravery for many centuries, and which excites the sympathy and admiration of all 
liberty-loving persons, who read their story. 

Finding that the cities were determined to rule by free charters, and that it was 
impossible to govern the free-spirited people of Holland with the lash of tyranny, 
which was mercilessly applied in those days, to all who showed the least disposition 
to timidity, the counts concluded that they would make the best of matters, and 
granted free charters to the cities. Once free to conduct their affairs in their own 
way, Holland became the chief commercial nation of northern Europe. The ships 
of Holland sailed to the far East, and the Islands of the Indian ocean, bringing back 
spices and other things, and wealth {lowed into the coffers of the burghers of the city 
and into the strong-boxes of the corporations. 

The cities soon became like little republics, and all the Netherland chartered 
towns soon began to take counsel together, regarding the matters that were to their 
mutual interest, though they were often quarreling with one another, and the guilds 
of the cities were often riotous enough, and quarreled and fought with other guilds 



THE NETHERLANfJS. 



66q 




in a ruinous manner. All this time, though, the Netherlanders 
did not trust the churchmen, and would not permit them to 
govern them, as they governed many other European communities, 
they paid much attention to religion. They built splendid church- 
es, and performed all of their pious duties. Among their other 
great and absorbing interests, they did not forget to encourage the 
fine arts and education, and at the time that Italy was becoming 
1^. famed for its painters, Holland had a school of fine arts where 
i.^ '^ famous pictures were created. 

I have told you soinething, in the story of b" ranee, of the story 
of Burgundy, and how its dukes were mixed up with tlifferent 
affairs in France, more or less to their credit, and how one of the 
dukes of Burgundy was murdered by the crown-prince of France, 
in the year 141Q. When this duke was killed, the heir to 
his estates, was a young man, who, in some manner, gained the 
name of Philip the Good, though Philip of Burgundy, was any- 
thing but good, according to the modern standard of righteous- 
This Burgundian duke was very rich. He not only inherited from his father 
the duchy of Burgundy, but Flanders, in the Netherlands, had descended to him 
through the alliance of his house with that of Baldwin, of Flanders, and Artois had 
also come to him through inheritance. Seeing how important, a hold on the great 
commercial provinces of the Netherlands, would be to him and his descendants, and 
how it would increase his wealth and power, Philip the Good purchased the county 
of Namur, in the Netherlands, from its feudal owner, and finding that there was a 
chance of winning Brabant, he boldly declared himself its feudal lord, and usurped 
the privileges that went with that dignity. He had a young cousin, named Jacque- 
line, who was the heiress of Holland, Zealand, ami Hainault Friesland. and several 
other counties in the Netherlands. Philip succeeded in having himself made guard- 
ian of the laily, with the consent of the sovereign, and when he had possession of her 
person, he robbed her of all her lands, and was thus, the real monarch of a territory, 
stretching from the Alps to the German ocean, and the over-lord of seventeen of the 
richest provinces of the Netherlands. 

Having thus won power through fraud, Philip had no tenderness for the people 
over whom he had gained authority, and no mercy upon them or their institutions. 
The cities had reached the height of their prosperity, and their chartered liberties 
were dear to them. True, they were not quite independent. The sovereign had his 
place in their counsels, as did their over-lord, but the authorities of the cities held 
them in check, and always made the interest of the burghers, their chief considera- 
tion, by representing to the king, how any blow aimed at their industries, was 
aimed at theirown, and his interests, as well. The cities of Holland would never have 
given Philip the Good their allegiance, had he not solemnly promised to maintain the 
liberties of the cities. When he had the force at his command to compel the 
allegiance of the burghers, whether they would or no, Philip told them that they 
might consider his oaths, as so much idle wind, unless he saw fit to solemnly renew 
them, which it is needless to say that he did not. 

The English and the Dukes of Burgundy made common cause, and after the 
battle of Agincourt, they were firm friends. The English Duke of Bedford married 



670 THE NETHERLANDS. 

I'hilip's sister, and the alliance of Burgundy and England against France seemed a 
good thing for the Flemish burghers. England was the source of the supply of wool, 
<ind the commerce of the country depended largely upon the friendship of the English 
merchants. 

Philip was exceedingly wroth when the Duke of Bedford, after the death of his 
Burgundian wife, sought the hand of a Flemish heiress, for it was not upon the pro- 
gramme that the English should come into possession of any part of Flanders, and 
when Bedford was successful, and Gloucester, his brother, sought the hand of another 
Flemish heiress, it began to seem to Philip that it would be wise for him to make an 
alliance with the king of France against the English, and he accordingly did so. 
Long before this time the English had gained Calais, as you will remember in reading 
the story of France, and in the year 1436 Philip determined to lay siege to Calais, for 
from that place the English could enter both France and Flanders. He ordered the 
fleet of 1 loUand to close the port of Brabant and took fourteen thousand Flemish 
troops and surrounded Calais on the land side. The Holland fleet did not act 
promptly. The English strengthened their force in Calais, and finally made a sally 
and drove the Flemings away. Philip was heartily disgusted and raised the siege. 

The Flemings were enraged at the conduct of Philip, who had lost them the 
friendship of the English, to no purpose. They revolted against him and he was 
compelled to blockade Bruges, which was the center of the revolution. After a siege 
in which twenty thousand of the burghers of Bruges starved to death, and the com- 
merce of the city was for the time ruined, Philip subdued them. I le had some trouble 
with Ghent afterwards, w'hen he attempted to impose some unreasonable taxes upon 
the city, and did not succeed in bringing the burghers to terms until after four years 
of war. 

Thus the liberties of the Netherlands commenced to be imperiled, and Charles 
the Bold, of Burgundy, whose story I have told you. pillaged the Netherlands for the 
means of fighting Louis XL, and because the cities were jealous of one another, suc- 
ceeded in making himself the virtual master of all the cities of the Netherlands. 
He taxed them most unmercifully, and the lords to whom he gave the control of the 
various committees, acting under his orders and in his interest, nearly^destroyed their 
commerce. 1 have told you elsewhere how this brave, head-strong, passionate duke 
quarreled with the Swiss and determined to enslave them, as he had already enslaved 
the Netherland cities, and how the Swiss were victorious in the contest with him, and 
he lost his life. 

Louis XL was eager to claim the Netherlands, but the people had no confidence 
in him. They allowed Mary the Fair to marry gallant Maximilian, and he was able 
to defend her rights in the Netherlands. They made a few conditions binding upon 
Mary, and one of these was, that henceforth only natives of the Netherlands should 
hold office. They declared that their commerce was being ruined In' the interference 
of foreigners in the affairs of their cities, for these foreigners did not govern in the 
interest of the natives, but in the interest of the foreign lords or sovereigns as 
opposed to theirs. 

Mary granted them a charter called the "Great Privilege," which was really a 
constitution giving the Netherlanders that liberty which they loved. This consti- 
tution was just and wise. It provided, for the establishment of a Great National 
Council and a Supreme Court in Holland, for the rights of the cities to hold diets or 
assemblies whenever they saw fit, that no new taxes should be placed upon the 



THE NETHERLANDS. 671 

country without the consent of the estates, that no war should be undertaken in 
which the Netherlanders should be compelled to riy:ht without the consent of the 
representatives from the different provinces that the language of the people, 
instead of the language of France and Germany, should be used in state business, 
that the State should regulate the currency, and that when the sovereign desired 
money, instead of robbing the people as heretofore, he should come before the 
Council and state his needs, and that no citizen should be punished without a fair 
trial. 

This constitution caused 1 lolkind much blood and treasure t(_) maintain, but after 
a war of fifty years with the successors of Mary of Burgundy, it was at last estab- 
lished. 

When Maximilian's Burgundian wife died, five years after their marriage. Max 
wanted very much to rule the Netherlands in the name of his young son Philip. I 
am sorry to tell you that Max did not deal fairly with the Flemish burghers. He 
attacked the cities, one by one, and subdued, them and he involved the country in 
constant war until Philip of Flanders, as he is called in history, came to the age of 
seventeen and demanded to be made sovereign of the Netherlands. Philip would 
not sanction the Great Privilege, but the states did not feel themselves in a position 
to fight for their rights and made him their ruler, all except Friesiand, who would 
not yield. The Frieslanders chose the Duke of Saxony for their ruler, and after a 
time this Duke sold Friesiand to the Emperor of Germany, and it came under the 
cruel rule of the House of Hapsburg. 

In the story of Spain, we have seen how Philip the handsome of Flanders 
married the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, that unhappy princess |ane, whom 
he never loved and treated with coldness that drove her weak mind to madness. 
We have seen, too, how after the death of Isabella, of Spain he was made joint pro- 
prietor of the splendid possessions of Isabella, and how when his son Charles came to 
the throne of Spain he inherited the greatest empire upon the earth. The Refor- 
mation had begun to spread over Europe during the reign of Charles and he had 
done all in his power to check it, He had fought the Saxon Lutherans and was con- 
tinually demanding money of the Netherlanders to carry on wars in which they had 
no sympathy whatever. Dutch and Flemish commerce, at this time, was very great 
and the cities were rich and prosperous, but they hated to see the money that they had 
amassed in trade poured out in useless wars and were little disposed to grant what 
Charles desired. They were the leading manufactures, traders, and farmers 
of the world, and though they had been compelled to give up the "Great Privilege," 
they still had more liberty than was common at that day, and ruled by their own 
parliament or States Council, giving their hereditary allegiance to the crown of 
Spain. The Netherlanders hated the Spaniards heartily. They considered them a 
lazy shiftless lot, while the Spaniards returned the hatred because they had the idea 
that it was exceedingly vulgar to work for a living, or engage in commerce and the 
Netherlanders had no interest in anything else. Moreover the Netherlanders had 
examined the doctrines of Luther, and had accepted the Reformation and this could 
not be tolerated by Charles. He introduced the inquisition into the Lowlands, but 
the more he opposed the Reformation there, the wider it spread. 

When Philip II. came to the throne of Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, the 
people knew that they could expect no mercy. Charles had been more lenient with 
them than they could expect his son to be, for Charles was born in Flanders, 



672 THE NETHERLANDS. 

and understood the Netherland character somewhat, but I^hilip II. was a haughty 
Spaniard with a contempt for his Xetherland subjects and their pursuits, and with 
a cruel disposition and a tyrannical spirit. Charles had trampled on their rights 
and practiced great cruelties, but Philip was ten fold more heartless than his father, 
and the Netherlanders knew it. Nevertheless, he swore to maintain all the rights of 
the cities and there was nothing for them to do but grant him the sovereignty. 

The princes of Nassau had been greatly trusted by all of the members of the 
house of Burgundy, and Charles V. had educated William of Nassau, also called 
William of Orange, and he had passed his entire youth in his household. This 
William, also known in history as The Prince of Orange, was a man with a steadfast, 
loyal soul, who, when he thought that a certain course was right, would pursue it at 
all hazards. He was a Catholic, but he did not believe in persecuting the Protestants. 
He loved the Netherlands, and was loyal to his king. After the abdication of 
Charles, Philip II. made his half-sister, Margaret of Parma, his regent in the Nether- 
lands. Margaret was a strong-minded woman, but not a very good tempered one, as 
she was troubled with the gout. Margaret made William of Orange one of her 
advisers. It was William who helped arrange a treaty with France, and while he 
was in that country as a hostage, while the treaty was under consideration, he 
learned from the king, how he and Philip II., had determineil to massacre all the 
Protestants in France and the Netherlands, not so much on account of their religion, 
but because the Protestants were the determined foes of tyranny, anti had ideas of 
liberty that he and Philip had decided to crush out. William was horrified at this 
contemplated cruelty, but he had the good sense to completely hide his feelings, and 
say nothing, and thus gained the name of William the Silent. 

When William returned to the Netherlands, he made up his mintl that all 
Spanish troops must be ^ent out of the coi.ntry, for he knew that i'hilip would rely 
on these soldiers to trample upon the liberties of the Netherlands. There were four 
thousand of these Spanish troops, and relying upon them to put down all opposition, 
Philip appointed fourteen new bishops, as the first step in crushing the Protestants. 
Both bishops and soldiers were a great and needless expense to the cities, and as the 
charters of most of the cities provided that the ruler could not increase the number 
of the clergy without their consent, and other charters declared that foreign troops 
could not be maintained among them, without theirs, they applied to Philip, headed 
by William and others, and requested him to observe the laws of the land. 

Many of the Flemish nobles signed a solemn agreement to resist the inquisition, 
but William did not. He did not wish that Philip should suspect him, but he set 
spies to watch the Spanish king, and soon possessed all his secrets. 

The nobles appealed to Margaret of Parma, and she promised all that they 
asked without the smallest intention of performing it, but to gain time. One (jf her 
counsellors called the nobles "beggars," and when his remark was repeated to them 
they declared that they would henceforth call themselves beggars, and Margaret and 
Philip should learn to respect the name. 

More than two thousand persons were members of the league that had petitioned 
Margaret to give them liberty, and many of them were princes, devout Catholics, but 
who thought it horrible to burn people at the stake, boil them in oil, torture lh(,'m on 
the rack, or kill them in any of the thousand brutal ways devised by the inquisition, 
because they dared to differ from the Pope. Some of the unhappy Netherlanders 
had lost their lives, because they were suspected of reading the Bible in their own 



THE NETHERLANDS. 



673 




Swiss Peasants. 



houses, or owning copies of Cal- 
vin's books or Luther's doc- 
trines, but the Netherlanders 
were liberal, even those who 
were Catholics, and hated tyran- 
ny most heartily. 

Philip gained the time that he 
wanted and sent into the Neth- 
erlands a man who was so blood- 
thirsty that he has been called 
a "human tiger," but I doubt 
whether any tiger, no matter 
how ferocious, would destroy as 
many men and women as did this 
bloody-minded duke. His name 
was Alva, and he was accounted 
one of the most famous soldiers in Europe. He had orders from Philip to destroy 
every Netherlander who resisted him, or made any criticism of Philip's policy, and 
as his soldiers numbered ten thousand, and were almost as cruel as their comman- 
der, it may be imagined with what terror they were soon regarded in the Nether- 
lands. William of Orange, Prince of Nassau, was declared a traitor by this duke, 
for Philip had discovered that he was in sympathy with the Netherlanders, but 
William kept out of the way of the Spanish army, and its general could not arrest 
him and kill him, as he did two other patriots who were famous in their country for 
their love of liberty. 

William succeeded in getting a little army together, and with the small forces that 
he had did not fear to risk battle with Alva. He was defeated, and for two years was 
a fugitive and a wanderer. He had married a Protestant wife, and had boldly 
acknowledged that he was a champion of the Reformation, and this further incensed 
Philip. The Spanish king actually condemned the whole Protestant population of 
the Netherlands to death, and Alva established a sort of court where innocent per- 
sons were daily dragged for trial, and condemned to the most horrible form of torture. 
In vain William tried to makepeace between the Netherlands and Spain; then he 
retired into Germany, where he had some good friends, and awaited an opportunity 
to aid his distressed countrymen. 

In Flanders, Alva crushed out the Reformation, but he fell into difficulties him- 
self, for Elizabeth of England had been concerned over the plight of the Protestants 
in the Netherlands, and had sent some of her bold seamen out to take the Spanish 
treasure-ships, upon which Alva depended for the payment of his soldiers. 

When the treasure-ships did arrive, Alva saw that he must pay his troops or they 
would refuse to obey him, so he called upon the cities to grant him money and levied 
ruinous taxes upon them. At the same time he made a plot with Philip to have Eliza- 
beth killed, for Philip II. was an assassin by nature, and stopped at no crime that 
would ensure the outworkings of his plans. 

These affairs of Alva made him unpopular, while the friends of William daily 
gathered strength, and at the time when Alva's fortunes seemed well nigh desperate, 
the "Beggars of the Sea," as the patriots who had formed a navy called themselves, 
captured a city on the coast that was very important on account of its position, and 



6-4 THE NETHERLANDS. 

fortified themselves strongly there. The Hollanders were famous sailors, and they 
were too free-spirited ever to think, for a moment, of yielding to the cruel Alva. 
They threw off the Spanish yoke, as did the cities ot Zealand, and made William their 
governor, though in the name of Philip of Spain, for they still thought that the 
cruelties, that were being practiced upon their countrymen, were from Alva, and did 
not. or would not, believe that their ruler had commanded him to perform such 
deeds. 

Maximilian II., of Germany, remonstrated with Philip upon the course he was 
taking in the Netherlands, and tried to show him how he was ruining the only people 
that were of value to Spain. Philip had found that he v.as now sadly in lack of 
money, although we wonder what he did with the thousands upon thousands of gold 
that he wrung from the unhappy Indians of the New World, who v>'ere compelled 
to labor in the mines of Mexico and South America. There are those who declare 
that he spent millions in bribing certain persons, in the Courts of France and England 
to do evil work for him, and that he had not sense or judgment enough to choose his 
tools rightly, and after they had drained his purse, they ended by betraying him. He 
kept armies on land and navies on the sea, and they cost him immensely, and Spain 
was so impoverished, because none of the people would engage in trade or agriculture, 
that all the wealth, that was brought into the country, was paid out again at once, and 
the merchants of France, England, and even of the hated Netherlands, profited by 
Si)ain's wealth, more than Spain did. It is even said that the thrifty Hollanders sold 
Philip the very supplies that were used against themselves, and drove quite hard 
bargains, and kept the war going as long as possible, though I can hardly vouch for 
the truth of that. 

William of Orange, was finally declared by Philip II. a man who had committed 
the unpardonable sin of disagreeing with his sovereign, and sympathizing with his 
oppressed countrymen. He replied in a letter, which he sent to all of the princes 
of Europe, in which he related all of the cruelties and tyrannies inflicted upon the 
Netherlands by Alva. Then he gathered a new army, which he divided into three 
parts, and for seven years, by land and sea, the brave Beggars of Holland fought the 
Spaniards. P21izabeth of England, wanted very much to help the Netherlands, but 
she thought it rather a dangerous thing to give support to people who were in revolution 
against their rulers. After much hesitation she did send Leicester and Sydney with 
some troops into Holland, but I am afraid they did not accomplish much, for Leicester 
was what was then called a " carpet knight," and was much more at home in the 
palace of Elizabeth, amusing her with his witty sayings, and wooing, for he was in 
love with her, than in fighting against the Spaniards. The women of Holland, in 
this long struggle, often went into battle by their husband's sides, and fought side by 
side with them. They learned to bear the fatigues of camp and marches, like the 
heroines that they were, and I am inclined to think, that many and many a time, when 
the hope of liberty seemed to be forever lost, these noble women encouraged the 
men to renew their efforts, and cheered them with their counsel. 

The Spaniards were often victorious, for their forces were larger than those of 
the Beggars. In the course of the war, Philip had tried to bribe William to desert 
the cause of liberty, but he could not do it, and finding that he was loyal, 
determined to murder him. It was then that he declared him an outlaw, and tried 
to have him assassinated. In the meantime, Alva had been re-called, for he 
was so hard upon the Netherland provinces that had submitted to .Spain, 



THE NETHERLANDS. 675 

and renounced the Reformation, that they were being impoverished. Alva 
had caused the death of nearly nineteen thousand Protestants, all of whom had been 
condemned by his Council, and he went back to Spain laden witli riches. He was 
laden too, with the curses of the oppressed Netherlands, but that troubled him little. 
He died in his bed a hoary sinner of four and seventy, and Don John of Austria, the 
half-brother of the cruel Philip II. was sent to the Netherlands. Don John gained 
many victories in the Netherlands, and as he died suddenly, at the height of his 
fame, it was darkly hinted, at the time, and is almost certain now, that Phili]3 caused 
him to be poisoned out of jealousy over his successes. Then the son of Margaret, of 
Parma, Alexander Farnese, one of the most clever generals of his time, a man who 
had no desire but to obey his king and subdue Spain's enemies, came to the Nether- 
lands, and the patriots suffered much from him, but they were destined to be vic- 
torious, though true-hearted William of Orange was not to live to see it. He, 
accepted the rule of Holland in his own name, in 15S1, and two years later, after five 
attempts had been made upon his life, one of which had nearly proven fatal, he was 
shot and killed by a man hired to do the deed by the Spanish king. The murderer 
was cruelly tortured to death, but Philip II. gave his friends the money and the titles 
he had promised to any one that would relieve him of William of Orange. 

It would be useless for me to try and relate to you even a portion of the story of 
this long war, but I must tell you how, upon one occasion, the city of Leyden had 
been long besieged, and had for three months suffered all the pangs of famine, the 
Prince of Orange, who was the leader of the patriot forces, tletermined to cut the 
dykes, and with his fleet, sail to the city gates, and carry food to the brave burghers 
surrounded by the .Spanish army. The grain was standing abundant but unripened 
in the fields, and with much sorrow the people of Leyden saw the waters of the sea 
engulf their fertile farms. The Spaniards were compelled to retreat before the 
waters, and when the fleet of the Prince of Orange was known to be on the way with 
food, the people were reconciled to the destruction of their property. 

An east wind sprang up, which stranded the fleet for the time, and the half- 
starved, desperate citizens gathered around the Burgomaster, or Mayor, clamoring 
that he should either feed them, or surrender to the .Spaniards. The brave man 
answered that he had taken an oath never to surrender his beloved city to the cruel 
Spaniards, and, offering his sword to the murmurers, bade them slay him, and devour 
his body to satisfy their hunger. Put to shame by the courage of the Burgomaster, 
the people waited in patience. A northwest gale began to blow, antl over the sub- 
merged fields and meadows, two hundred ships sailed, earring relief to Leyden. At 
midnight, October 2, 1574, the Dutch fleet neared Leyden, but the Spanish fleet had 
sailed after them to intercept them, and near the tottering walls of the town, among 
the branches of orchard trees, was fought a naval battle, on land, that has few equals 
in the annals of war. The Spaniards were defeated. The very next day, a north- 
east gale swept the inundating waters back to the ocean, and the dykes were 
repaired. A yearly fair was instituted to commemorate the deliverance of Leyden, and 
its famous university was founded to mark the gratitude of the people. Soon after 
this, Calvinism was made the -State religion of the seven provinces that had freed 
themselves from Spain and formed the Republic of the Netherlands. 

William was murdered while Parma was still in the Netherlands, and it now 
seemed to the people of Europe, that Philip would certainly succeed in subduing the 
rebellious Netherlanders. He had already, as I have told you, succeeded in Belgium. 



676 THE NETHERLANDS. 

The duke of Parma, Alexander Farnese, made himself the master of most of the 
cities of the Netherlands in a short time. .Antwerp alone resisted, and there was no 
harbor in all the Netherland like that of Antwerp, and the Spaniards must make 
themselves the masters of Antwerp, before they coukl conquer Holland. Antwerp 
was a river port, and was protected from the sea by a great dyke. If Farnese should 
succeed in building a bridge across the Scheldt river, he could take the city, for while 
the Beggars were the superiors of the Spaniards upon the seas, they were no match 
for them upon the land. 

The man who was in charge of the patriots of Antwerp, determined to cut the 
dyke, and let the sea submerge the neighborinjr land, so that the Beggars could 
<lefend the town, but there was great opposition from many of the burghers. They 
declared that Farnese could never build the bridge, and it was said to be wicked 
folly to spoil the meadows by letting the sea in upon them. Parma gathered his 
forces and began his bridge. Those who were at first anxious to prevent the cutting 
of the dyke, were then eager to have it done, but it was impossible, for the Spanish 
soldiers guarded it night and tlay, and the people of Antwerp were compelled to 
Avitness daily, the progress of the bridge, knowing that when the city fell, the 
Spaniards would pay themselves for all their labor. 

There was a certain Italian in the city of Antwerp, who was a bitter enemy of 
Philip, because Philip had insulted him, and when the bridge was nearly ilone, he 
asked for some ships to make an attack upon it. They gave him two, and 
in the hulls of these vessels, he loaded about a thousand pounds of gunpowder. One 
of these mines was to be set off with a slow-match and the other by clockwork. The 
Sjxmiards saw the ships coming down upon them. The one that was to be set olf 
with the match was lighted, but the match burned out. Thinking that the other was 
the same sort of a vessel, and that there was no danger, the Spaniards boarded it. 
When they were near the bridge, the clockwork set off the gunpowder, and a 
thousand .Spaniards were killed. Antwerp fell, after a time, but its trade was ruined. 
Its capital and energy were removed to Amsterdam, and I only tell you the story of 
the fire-ships, to remind ycju of what a panic the ships of Philip's Armaila were in, 
when they saw the fire-ships of Admiral Drake floating down upon them, and how 
they cried out "The .Antwerp fire-ships; the Antwerp fire-ships;" and loosening their 
moorings, hastened to make escape, and were entangled and captured by the 
English. 

Prince Maurice, the son of William of Orange, had all of the genius of his father 
and his grandfather, for that Saxon Maurice, wiio gave Charles V. so much trouble, 
was his mother's father. After Elizabeth died, James 1.. who was a Protestant, but a 
firm believer in the divine right of kings, and therefore considered the Dutch as rebels, 
could not be induced to aid them. Hollantl had no objection to continuing the war 
indefinitely, for now the Dutch were gaining vastly more than they were losing by the 
hostility of Spain. The enterprising and wealthy artisans and capitalists of Antwerp, 
Ghent and other Belgian cities, emigrated by the thousands to Amsterdam and the 
Hague, as well as to Pingland and other countries, carrying their arts with them. 
Holland profited by this immigration more than did any other country, for her trade 
was already established. The merchants of Amsterdam had traded at Spanish ports, 
more or less, during the whole war, but now they established, with the consent of 
their government, the Dutch East India company, and sailing to the Islands of the 
East, they defeated the Spaniards at every point, and took their trade from them. 



THE NETHERLANDS. 677 

There was a man in Holland by the name of Linschoten, who did so much for 
the commerce of the country, and for education in the science of Geography, that I 
must tell you about him. It was he who made it possible for the Dutch to sail to 
the far East, for he made the first maps and charts of those waters and lands, th;it 
they possessed. The .Spaniards and Portuguese kept their routes and discoveries, in 
the Indian Ocean, as nearly secret as possible, but Linschoten determined to learn 
those secrets. He went to Lisbon, and succeeded in having himself appointetl to go 
to a Portuguese city in India, in the train of a Catholic Archbishop. He spent thir- 
teen years in Bombay and while he was there, he learned all that he could about the 
country, its harbors, islands, trade-winds and other matters of importance to sailors 
and made maps and charts. His book was published in 1598 and made a great sen- 
sation in Holland. It had long been the belief in Europ(J that there was a North- 
east passage to China, and there was a legend dating back to the times of Herodotus 
which related that if the navigators of the northern waters could once pierce the 
barriers of ice and snow that lay in their way, in sailingto the North-east, they would 
come to a land where there was no winter, and the sea would be calm, and the waters 
blue and warm. The Hollanders were. so stimulated by Linschoten's books, that they 
were eager to have him try to find this North-eastern passage to China. Linschoten 
believed there was such a passage, and he received the aid of some of the most 
influential statesmen of Holland, and in 1594, set out with two ves3els from Amster- 
dam, to sail North-east, and thus reach the Pacific ocean. He visited the islantlsof 
Nova Zembla and made maps of them, but after sailing nearly two hundred miles 
farther, was overtaken by dreadful storms, and was compelled to return. When 
the adventurous mariners reached Amsterdam, they had some wonderful tales to 
relate of Polar bears, seals and walruses, and the appetite of the Dutch for discovery 
was rather whetted than dulled by the poor success of the expedition.- 

The very ne.xt year, Linschoten and others in command of seven ships, started 
out again to find the Northeast passage to China. This time they carried large 
cargoes of Dutch goods to exchange with the Chinese, so certain were they that they 
would reach China in safety. Of course they failed, and this discouraged the States, 
General, as the government of Holland was now called, and it did not fit out any 
more expeditions, though it did offer prizes for any mariner who should make a 
worthy attempt, though he failed. At the same time they did not feel confident. In 
1596 Barendez, who went with Linschoten on his first Arctic expedition, discovered 
Spitzbergen, and he and his companions passed ten months in the Arctic regions 
making observations which they afterwards published. They were surrounded by 
all sorts of hardships and many of them died from exposure. Their ship was frozen 
fast in the ice, and when the ice broke up they were unable to go again to sea in 
their vessel, which had been badly damaged, and in open boats started on the long 
and dangerous voyage back to Holland. Barendez died upon the way, and thus was 
begun, that long and tragic history of Arctic exploration which is still being written 
in the suffering of many daring navigators and scientist. At the same time, the 
Dutch attempted to reach the Pacific by the Straits of Magellan, and the Indies by the 
way of the Cape of Good Hope, so you see they were almost as enterprising in the 
sixteenth century, as the Spaniards and Portuguese were in the days of Columbus. 

Phillip II. was an old man, and poor, in spite of all his great possessions. He 
began to earnestly desire that the war with Holland should cease, so after some 
delay, a truce for twelve years was arranged with the States General, and by this 



678 THE NETHERLANDS. 

truce, Holland secured nearly everything for which it had so long contended. Spain 
still had a formal claim over Holland, and did not give it up until the end of the 
Thirty Years War of Religion then it was obliged to declare Holland an independent 
Republic. The Netherlands of Belgium, were as intensely Roman Catholic as Spain 
itself, but the priests and bishops were not wealth-producers, and the artisans had 
been driven from the country in such great numbers, that it was long before it was 
again prosperous. Belgium, under the name of "The Spanish Netherlands," shared 
the failing fortunes of Spain, until the days of Napoleon ; then it was made a kingdom 
dependent upon France. 

The Dutch came out of the war for their independence, strong and prosperous. 
Their ships had sailed to the East Indies, and had beaten the Spanish and Portuguese 
out of the forts and towns they had erected on the various Spice Islands of the East, 
and Amsterdam had become the chief seaport of Europe. They sailed also to the 
west, in the later days of their struggle, and a Dutch West India Company had been 
as successful, in establishing a trade in the products of the west, as the Dutch East 
India Company had been in the east. The tillers of the soil had brought agriculture 
to a high state of perfection. Thej- had taught Europe that scurvy, and kindred 
diseases, to which the people of nearly- all the European countries, of the north, were 
subjected, by the lack of vegetable food in winter, might be avoided by the cultivation 
of the potato, turnip, and other winter roots. They had experimented with grains, 
until they knew exactly how they should be treated to ensure the largest crops, and 
had also learned that clover, and other grasses, might be converted into hay that 
kept the cattle in good condition, during the months when green herbage was not 
obtainable. They raised the best vegetables in their market gardens, and taught 
their neighbors all the arts of horticulture, and floriculture, which have been brought 
to such perfection in our own time. 

The persecutions, in France and Belgium, had driven to Holland the best artisans 
of the times, and the manufactures of Amsterdam and other Dutch cities were 
enormous. In the arts and sciences Holland was no less progressive. In the seven- 
teenth century more books were printed in Holland than in all the rest of the world 
together, and the University of Leyden was more celebrated than either that of 
Oxford or Paris. Holland taught Europe what laws should govern nations in their 
dealings with each other, and instructed them in that science of handling money to 
the best advantage, which we call financiering. 

Holland made the best mathematical instruments, and the lapidaries, or jewel 
cutters and polishers of Amsterdam led the world, as indeed they do to-day. Amster- 
dam had a great bank which was famous all over Europe, and the Dutch were 
altogether, the most thriving and progressive people of the seventeenth century. 
They had their quarrels, among themselves, about religious creeds, and various sects 
persecuted each other shamefully, yet not so shamefully, nor for so long a time, as 
most of the other countries which had adopted the reformed religion. 

Prince Maurice, of Orange, had an ambition to become king of Holland, and as 
a certain patriot, named Barneveldt, would have stood in the way of this enterprise, 
he managed to have him convicted of treason by the States General, and executed. 
In spite of his efforts the Dutch did not make him king, though they gave him the 
title borne by his illustrious father, "Stadtholder." He was succeeded by his I)rother 
Frederick Henry, in 1625, and he ruled so wisely that the States, in a fit of injudicious 
gratitude, made the office of Stadtholder hereditary in the House of Orange. 



THE NETHERLANDS. 



679 




Ilossiau Soldier. 



Frederick was an enlightened man, and under iiim Holland be- 
came the most tolerant nation of Europe. Even the Jews, so long 
persecuted, and who had, centuries before, found a refuge in Holland, 
from which they had been driven by the bigoted policy of Charles 
V. and Philip II., came back and found quiet homes in the cities of 
Holland, and their wealth and industry added much to the commer- 
cial prosperity of the country. 

When the son of the Stadtholder. Frederick, who had been 
made the hereditary ruler of Holland under the constitution, was 
twenty-six years old, he was married to a daughter of Charles I., of 
England, and the first step was taken in the downfall of the Dutch 
republic, for England had long been jealous of her trade. 

William II., Prince of Orange, was ambitious, antl he desired, 
as Maurice had done, to make himself absolute ruler in Holland. 
There were still patriots in that country, and they resisted his pre- 
tensions with all their might, for there had been no intention of 
creating kings in Holland, when they made the office of Stadtholder 
hereditary in the House of Nassua. William II. dealt harshly with 
all who opposed him. His wife, the daughter of a king who lost his crown and his life 
for his tyranny, should have known better than to urge her husband on, but she, never- 
theless, gave him bad advice, for she wanted to be queen. He tried to make himself 
the master of the military supplies at Amsterdam, and the burghers, roused at last, 
and seeing danger to their interests, warned him to be careful what he did, or they 
would cut the dykes, and lay the country under water. The Stadtholder was there- 
fore obliged to give up his scheme of kingship, for the time, but he cherished it in 
secret. He died before affairs were in such a shape that he could renew his attempts 
upon the liberty of the people of Holland, and his little son, who was born after his 
death, was that Dutch Prince who became king of England, and enjoyed the throne. 
I daresay, as little as any king who ever sat upon it. 

The States General, though they were Republican, had little sympathy with the 
attempts of the English to found a republic. The interest of the Stadtholder of 
Holland was, of course, with the House of Stuart, and the Dutch and the English 
hated each other right heartily, though both pretended, at the time, to love liberty. 
It seems that Charles Stuart was not only well entertained in Holland, but was sup- 
plied with most of the things that made life merry for him, and this alone was 
enough to make Parliament and the States General enemies, but this was not all. The 
States had protested against the execution of Charles I., for he was the father of 
their ruler's wife, but they had not interfered with force to prevent it. After this, a 
certain Dutch professor of the University of Cambridge, was sent to Holland by 
Cromwell upon State business. He was set upon in the streets of The Hague, the 
Dutch capital, and murdered by some of the Stuart sympathizers, and it was charged 
that the States General assisted the murderers to escape. 

At all events, Cromwell thought he had sufficient cause for war, and there was 
much for England to gain by it, so war there was, and in the two years that it lasted, 
the Dutch suffered more, in the loss of trade and injury to their commerce, than they 
had suffered in all the years they were fighting Spain, and the worst was that they 
never regained what they lost. The English took from them the monopoly of the rich 
trade of the East, which they had so long enjoyed, and humbled them in their own 



68o 



THE NETHERLANDS. 







Old Dutch CaudlcBtkk unci SmilIiTs, 



estimation, and that of the rest of Europe, though Holland was still 
a mighty commercial nation when the war closed. One of the con- 
ditions of the peace that Cromwell made was that Charles Stuart 
should be sent out of Holland, and the other most galling all was 
that De Witt, the guardian of the young Stadtholder of Holland, 
was forced to pledge himself to prevent the j'oung 
William from becoming hereditary Stadtholder of 
Holland. 

It seems strange that a Republic which fought 
so long for its own libertj' should be so jealous of another that 
was following in its footsteps, but Holland, for all its enlighten- 
ment, would have seen England wrecked, in spite of the fact 
that Elizabeth had aided them, rather than lose their trade with 
the East and West Indies. 

When Charles Stuart came to the throne of England, he 
showed as little gratitude as might have been expected from a 
man so thoroughly bad and selfish. I le had accepted every 
sacrifice made for him in his banishment, as a matter of course, 
and as a part, perhaps, of his "divine right." To the Dutch, who had been his firm 
friends, he turned a cold shoulder, and irritated them in every possible way. 

He sold Dunkirk, which, as you know, is a port in the Netherlands, to the King 
of France, their enemy, and would have joined Spain against them, if he had dared. 
When his sister died, she left the interests of her son in his hands, and willed that he 
should take charge of his education, but Charles refused, and for that the Dutch have 
somethincr to thank him. Perhaps, had he been able to look into the future, he would 
have done otherwise, but there was nothing then to indicate that the little Prince of 
Orance was one day to hurl the House of Stuart from its height, and seat iiinisclf 

upon their throne. 

Charles after awhile actually contemplated war against the Dutch, and his Par- 
liament granted him the money to do so, but he spent it in having the merry times 
for which he is celebrated in history, and the Dutch revenged themselves by ravaging 

the English coast. 

The Dutch had made war against Portugal in the Indies, and Charles, as you 
will remember, married the daughter of the Portuguese king for her money, and 
commanded the Dutch to give back all they had taken from the Portuguese under 
pain of his displeasure. Meanwhile the young Prince of Orange was growing up 
under the guardianship of DeWitt, and I am afraid that in spite of his great qualities, 
he was somewhat cold, and did not esteem either of the DeW'itts, for there were two 
brothers, and both were loyal patriots. The DeWitts were able and intelligent men, 
and they distrusted the House of Orange, and all the more, on account of the .Stuart 
blood that was now mixed with it. There was nothing in the character of William 
that warned them that he had his father's ambition, but was more patient and 

crafty. 

For twenty-two years John DeWitt governed the affairs of Holland wisely, but 
when he was on the point of defeat, in his struggle against Louis XIV., he was mur- 
dered, as was also his virtuous and patriotic brother Cornelius, and William 111. was 
made hereditary Stadtholder. This prince had watched the course of events, and 
though young and inexperienced, he had the genius of his ancestor, William the 



THE NETHERLANDS. 68i 

Silent, and the good of Holland was his chief desire. He withstood Louis XIV. 
most gallantly, and by his skill in that art called statecraft, made the other princes 
and potentates of Europe understand in what danger their power was placed by the 
unbridled ambition of the French king. 

He could not restore what Holland had lost, and bent all of his energies to pre- 
serving what remained. He married the daughter of the Duke of York, for the' 
"Merry Monarch" had no legal children, and when his wife's father became King of 
England, as James II., he saw his way to ensure to Holland peace with that country 
by becoming its king. 

We have already learned of the events leading up to the Revolution in England, 
and the establishment on the English throne of the Protestant monarchs, who still 
reign over that country, and it is needless to repeat them here. 

From that time, as long as William III. lived, he was obliged to fight the ambitious 
plans of the French king, as regarded both Holland and England. After the death 
of William, came that War of the Spanish Succession, of which I have told you. 
Out of this disastrous war Holland came crippled, and in decline. It was heavily in 
debt, and its commerce was gradually being supplanted by that of England. The 
Dutch were ill-used by Anne and the Georges, ^nd were drawn into all sorts of 
disastrous political quarrels. The Stadtholderate was still vested in the Princes of 
the House of Orange, but they had little power, and some of them even had little 
inclination to protect their country. 

When England gained the mastery of the seas, she was just as unreasonable and 
haughty toward the Dutcn as toward any other nation, and the piracies and seizures 
of Dutch vessels at last drove the people to join the Armed Neutrality of 1780, which 
Catherine of Russia formed, and which was joined by all of the principal nations of 
Europe. The English were greatly incensed that the Dutch should dare believe, 
after two hundred years of oppression, that they had any rights whatever, and 
declared war upon Holland. For three years the war was carried on, the Stadt- 
holder being in open sympathy with England, and then peace was made which was 
anything but advantageous to Holland. 

The States General were humiliated, and set to work to limit the power of iheir 
Stadtholder. This brought about a civil war in 1787 which resulted in another defeat 
for Holland for the Stadtholder was victorious over the States General. The 
patriots gladly welcomed the French in 1794, drove their hated Stadtholder out of 
the country, and Napoleon made Holland a kingdom with Belgium added to it, and 
by the treaty, nearly all of her dependencies were recovered. Yet the glory of the 
Dutch was gone. Their commerce was but a shadow of what it had been, their 
famous bank of Amsterdam had been wrecked by speculation, in the ventures of the 
Dutch East India Company, their resources squandered in vain struggles. Louis 
Napoleon was made their king, but after three year of effort to restore the prosperity 
of the country, efforts thwarted by the tyranny of Napoleon, he gave up the crown 
rather than longer be the instrument of despotism, and Napoleon annexed the 
Netherlands to France. 

Napoleon's policy filled the Netherlands with misery, and in 1S13 when there were 
fully ten thousand French soldiers in the fortresses that might be hurled upon them, 
less than a thousand Dutchmen boldly proclaimed the Prince of Orange and the 
freedom their country. This little force formed the nucleus of an army, poorly 
armed and equipped it is true, but filled with patriotism. They expected help from 



682 THE NETHERLANDS. 

England, and when a single Englishman, dressed in military uniform, landed in the 
Hague and showed himself every where, such extravagant stories reached the 
French about the English, who were coming against them, that they retreated from 
the Hague. The Hollanders invited back their exiled Stadtholder to become their 
king. He accepted, and was made the ruler of the Netherlands with an army to 
support his authority in 1814. The army of the Netherlands plaj'ed a valiant part in 
the overthrow of Napoleon, and when the treaty of Paris was made, the inde- 
pendence of the United Kingdom of Holland and Belgium was fully ratified. 

Holland is still the home of industry, manufactures and the arts. Under the 
long peace she has enjoj'ed since the downfall of Napoleon, her commerce has con- 
siderably revived, and in the arts of horticulture, floriculture, and many manu- 
factures requiring the nicest skill, the people of the Netherlands lead the world. 
Belgium has recently' made a long stride toward free government, and it is not 
unlikely that in our own times, the Republic of the Netherlands may be restored, for 
even a constitutional monarchy is opposed to the free spirit of this brave and 
remarkable nation. 




-^•AUSTRIA.I^ 

N THE story of Germany, 1 told you the most important events in the history 
of Austria, from the time Arnulph, of Carinthia, (and you will see by a ref- 
erence to the map, that Carinthia is a province of Austria) became the 
emperor of Germany, until Napoleon overthrew the great empire that had 
stood for more than a thousand years. Austria was weakened by its 
many struggles with him, but it still retained a remnant of power. You 
know that Charlemagne was the real fountler of the Austrian empire, and the 
Austrians, amid the bitterness of their sorrow over their defeat, could yet pride 
themselves on the fact, that only a man with the genius of the founder of the 
empire had been able to destroy it. 

I do not think that you would be interested in reading the story of how Austria, 
in the years that it had been under the rule of the Emperor of the House of Haps- 
burg, conquered, one by one, the nations on the eastern side of the Danube, and 
those on its western side, who were not under its rule when the empire was founded. 
One of these nations, the Huns, we have heard much of. During the days of Henry, 
The Fowler, they harrassed the German empire dreadfully, and as you will doubt- 
less remember the account of how Henry succeeded in ridding himself of them, I 
will not repeat it. As time went on, these Huns, by contact with the people about 
them, through the influence of their surroundings, and especially by the adoption of 
Christianity, with all of its civilizing powers, became so different from Attila, the 
Scourge of God, that we hardly recognize them as having any relationship to him, as 
they used to claim. Indeed, there are many historians who declare that the Hun- 
garians or Magyars, as they are now usually called, were not descended from those 
Hunnish tribes that filled all Europe with alarm in the days of Charles Martel, but 
that they are of the same blood as the ancient inhabitants of Ireland and Finland, 
and the early people of Sweden and Norway. 

These Hungarians conquered much of the country lying east of the Danube, on 
the borders of Russia, and are those of whom you have read, as Pannonians. They 
had their own kings, who were hated and feared by those of the Franks and Italians, 



AUSTRIA. 683 

as well as of the Germans, and exercised a strong power upon other nations. These 
kings kept the Turks in check, and Hungary was long a barrier between Christian 
and Moslem Europe, for you know that the Mohammedan Turks under Zenghis 
Khan, conquered Russia, and threatened western Europe for centuries. At length 
Hungary, like Bohemia, Transylvania, and other provinces that now make up Austria, 
was incorporated into the empire, and many of the wars of Germany, in the old days, 
were upon the account of the struggles of these people to free themselves. When 
Catherine of Russia succeeded in her designs upon Poland, a part of that country, 
too, became a province of the empire, and Austria, after the success of Napoleon, 
was exceedingly weak, because, instead of ruling over a single nation, all of the same 
blood, manners, customs, religion and language, the emperors of Austria had a 
country much like that doubtful product of modern art-needle work, which is known 
as a " crazy quilt." Every little piece of the fabric differed in size, shape, and every- 
thing else, from all the rest, and the chance, or rather the conquests, that made them 
one, was very unfortunate, for neither the empire nor themselves were any happier 
for it, though the taxes wrung from the people was so dear to the Austrian emperors, 
that they would not relinquish these countries and allow them their own independent 
kings. The Bohemians, and Hungarians were the principal sufferers, and beside 
hating the empire, they hated one another quite heartily. In the southern part of 
the empire there are many provinces that are of Slavonic origin, and over all these 
people, after the separation of the German confederation from the empire, the 
Emperor, Francis I., aided by Prince Metteanich, ruled with great severity. He was 
not as much of a tyrant as the Czar of Russia, for he loved his country dearly, and 
he had the idea that since France had been through so much trouble on account of 
the desire of its people for freedom, he would crush out any such notion that might 
appear among his own subjects. Austria still held some show of authority in Italy, 
beside its rule over these people whom I have mentioned, and in Italy there was a 
general desire that the glimpse of liberty which Napoleon had opened up by the 
establishment of those brief-lived Republics across the Alps, in their midst, should 
grow into a national life, and that they too, should have their own kings. Venice 
showed some symptoms of this spirit, and was promptly punished, and in 1848 the 
hope of freedom from Austria seemed dim in Italy. 

The revolution in Paris in that year shook all Europe. Francis I. had been dead 
thirteen years, and his son, Ferdinand, sat upon the throne of Austria at the time, 
but he inherited the severe spirit ot his father, without his generosity, had no 
belief in a Constitution, and thought highly of the divine right of kings. In Austria, 
as in Germany, there were many of the students of the universities that had discussed 
the affairs of the country for a long time, but they. had always ended by drinking a 
great deal of beer, and smoking a prodigious amount of tobacco from their huge 
pipes, and though firm in the conviction that things were going all wrong, they had 
not the boldness to attempt to suggest, to the emperor, some of their own ideas of 
government. 

When these students learned of the success of several of the German states, and 
of France, in 1848, to gain a constitution, they determined to ask that Austria should 
be allowed popular government too. It was about the middle of March, that year, 
when the assembly that attended to the affairs of Lower Austria, came together at 
Vienna to transact their accustomed business, which related largely to taxes, and the 
affairs of the emperor in those states. When they had been in session about half an 



684 



AUSTRIA. 




Autitrinn General. 



hour, there was a great uproar heard in the streets, 
and before they could collect their scattered wits and 
ask one another what was the matter, the doors of 
the chamber were thrown open and a vast mob of stu- 
dents and citizens came in. Certain members of the 
procession had been given the duty of stating what 
the people wanted, and they told the assembly in a 
very few words what was expected of them. These 
words were well chosen, and so great was their influ- 
ence on the law-makers, that they agreed to march at 
the head of the procession of students and citizens, and 
lay their claims, for reform in the government, before 
the Emperor. 

At the noon hour the procession took its way to 
the palace, and there was great excitement throughout 
all X'ienna, and most of the people were out in the 
streets talking with their neighbors, and wondering 
how matters would end. The hours passed on and 
the procession did not return. All sorts of wikl stories 
were whispered, and when at four o'clock, those who had been admittetl into the 
palace had not re-appeared, the people began to grow angry, and to hoot and 
yell, and even to throw stones at the soldiers who were called out to keep the peace. 
These soldiers were commanded by a royal prince, arch-duke Albert, and he was not 
disposed to be patient. He ordered them to fire into the crowd. They did so, and 
several innocent persons were killed. 

This unprovoked murder made the X'iennese very angry, and the soldiers 
declared that they would not fire again upon the citizens, who were their own friends 
and relatives. Some of them opened the arsenals, where the arms and ammunition 
of the emperor were kept, and invited the people to help themselves, and they were 
not slow in obeying. Prince Metternich, who was the adviser of the emperor, as he 
had been of his father, is said to have cautioned him to stand firm, but Ferdinand 
felt that he could not do so. He promised all that the people wished, granted them 
a constitution, and declared that he would reform everything that needed reforming. 
This constitution lasted liut twenty days, and then there was another street riot, and 
a demanil for some other reforms, which was granted, and a new constitution was 
given. 

In the month that followed, there was a revolt in Bohemia, and a demand there 
for a new constitution from the people, who, though umlcr the dominion of Austria, 
and a province of the empire, had their own law-makers. The emperor, who had 
fled with his family to the Tyrol, the day the second constitution was granted, sent 
one of the princes to promise to the Bohemians all that they asked. In Hungary, 
the revolution had occurred almost at the same time that it had taken place in 
Vienna, ami the Hungarians had made a wise constitution that the emperor sanc- 
tioned. All seemed plain sailmg, but there were sad storms ahead. The students of 
Vienna could talk boldly enough, but when it came to ruling the affairs of the country, 
and settling matters so that they should be orderly and quiet, they showed that they 
were not fit for the task. 



AUSTRIA. 685 

Vienna was in an uproar, and it was partly upon that account that the emperor 
had gone to the Tyrol. The uproar became greater and greater, as time went on, 
and the business ol the city began to suffer seriously. The people had no grievance 
against the emperor, and were not ready for a republic. They pleaded with him to 
come back. He at first refused, but finally he did so. Louis Kossuth, and several 
other brave Hungarians, came to the emperor now, for the purpose of having him 
give their constitution his formal sanction, for they had only his word that he 
approved it. The emperor pretended to be very willing to oblige them, but at the 
same time, he was secretly at work, stirring up all of the Slavonian people of the 
south against Hungary by telling them that the Hungarians, who had included them 
in their constitution, had been unfair to them, and soon he had all the southern 
provinces by the ears, and all angry and jealous of Hungary. It was then that the 
emperor sent a large Austrian army to the south, to aid the little states against 
Hungary. 

The people of Bohemia took advantage of a time when there was a great gath- 
ering of the Slavic races at Prague, to ask the emperor to ratify their constitution, 
which his agent had approved, but the emperor felt Ihat he was now strong enough 
to oppose constitutional government for Bohemia, for the Austrians of German 
birth were ready to crush the Bohemians, if the emperor desired it. Instead of 
granting the demands of the Bohemians, the emperor sternly refused. Of course the 
Bohemians revolted, but the emperor sent an overwhelming army against them, and 
crushed out the revolt with great cruelty. 

The Hungarians had, as yet, raised no army, but when the forces or the Emperor, 
under a cruel general began to ravage the southern provinces, burning and slaying, 
they bestirred themselves. This general allowed his soldiers to do such horrid deeds 
that the Turks, who have always been considered the most brutal fighters in Europe, 
were disgusted. The Austrian soldiers cut off the fingers and ears of women, and 
exposed them, with the jewels for which they had done the deeds, in the market-places 
for sale. They burned villages, killed peasants, slew women and children, and com- 
mitted all sorts of outrages. The Hungarians sent ambassadors to the emperor, but 
they were contemptuously dismissed, and he refused to listen to any protest that they 
made regarding the depredations of the Austrians upon the unhappy people. The 
Hungarians then took a bold step. They appointed Kossuth as President of a Com- 
mittee of Safety, which was to provide for resistance to the Austrians and the protec- 
tion of the constitution. A proclamation of the emperor came soon afterwards, 
appointing an Austrian commander of the Hungarian forces, and as this general, who 
was actually sent to Pesth was murdered by the indignant Hungarians, he dissolved 
their assembly, against the laws of the new constitution, and made no pretense of 
keeping his sworn word with the Hungarians. The cruel Austrian general came on 
from the south and took a Hungarian city. 

Kossuth was busy while this army was on the march toward Hungary, in getting 
together material for the defense of his beloved country. He was made governor, 
with power to do as he thought best, and traveled about from city to city; set foun- 
dries to work casting cannon; busied people in making powder; caused great factories 
to work night and day weaving the cloth for the uniforms of his soldiers; planned to 
pay all these people, and accomplished the labor of a dozen men, and seemed never 
wearied nor discouraged. 

In a short time Kossuth had an army of two hundred thousand men, and he 



686 



AUSTRIA. 



needed them all, for Austria 
had an idea of combining with 
Russia, and was threatening 
the unhappy country on every 
side. There were patriotic 
ofiicers in Hungary, who had 
fought in its wars, and who 
were as skillful as those ene- 
mies who confronted them. 
To be sure, the men who were 
their soldiers were splendidly 
drilled and equipped like the 
Austrians. Many of them had 
handled the axe and spade 
all of their lives, and knew 
S more about st)wing and gath- 
^ ering their crops than they 
i. did about military manoeuvers, 
■~ but when the' Hungarian forces 
■^ were hurled against the com- 
H bined Austrian forces, all of 
5 Europe was astounded at the 
i ease with which the undisci- 
h plined peasants, inspirtd with 
the hope of liberty, overcame 
the proud hosts of one of the 
greatest military powers of 
Southern Europe. 

Austria was humbled to the 
dust, and she now called in 
the aid of Russia, who had 
been eagerlj- watching the 
struggle from the beginning, 
and offering help. The Rus- 
sians knew that Austria, their 
natural enemy, with whom 
their country had been at war 
for ages, at intervals, had an 
eye on the territory of the 
Czar, for she made some conquests of Slavic tribes, as I told you. Russia was eager 
to weaken the influence of Austria among the Western Slavs, and to this end was 
anxious to help gain the victory. Perhaps you have noticed that when a nation is 
engaged in war, it loses the effect of the victory, exactly in the proportion that it; has 
gained conquest by foreign aid. 

.After this the gallant Hungarians fought against great odds, but never gave up 
heart. One of their generals, a man named Georgy, refused to have anything 
further to do with the war, after the Austrians and Russians had inflicted several 
defeats upon the army, unless he could be given sole command, with power to do as 




AUSTRIA. 687 

he would. He had shown himself an able and brave man, and Kossuth thought 
him loyal. He, himself, loved his country above everything, and rather than lose 
anything for Hungary by remaining in power, he resigned it to Georgy, though he 
recommended some wise measures. Georgy disregarded these, and the very day he 
received the dictatorship, instead of preparing to fight to the last, as Kossuth and 
the brave people would have done, he wrote to the Czar's general, and offered to lay 
down his arms. 

He first obtained a promise from his officers to agree to anything that he might 
see fit, and they all thought he was going to make some arrangement with the Rus- 
sians for the withdrawal of their support from Austria. The private soldiers and the 
cavalry were delighted when they heard that there was such a prospect, and twenty- 
four thousand of them went with him, in high spirits, on the thirteenth clay of August, 
1 849, to Villagos, where they were to meet the Russians. At last, Georgy rode out 
before his army and approached the brilliantly arrayed Russians. When the two 
armies were front to front, Georgy commanded the Hungarians to march forward 
and pile their arms in a certain spot before the Russian lines. Oh, what a sight was 
that, when the Hungarians, who had fought so fiercely, who had suffered every hard- 
ship and disaster for their country, saw themselves betrayed. 

A gray old captain, who had fought side by side with Kossuth and the other 
heroes of Hungarian independence, sprang forth, and in a voice made eloquent by 
the pain of his heart, begged Georgy to give them the word, and they would rush 
upon the Russians, cut their way through their ranks, or fall, with their weapons in 
their hands, like soldiers and men. The cold-hearted traitor sternly ordered him 
back to his place, and the army of Hungary raised a groan that would have melted 
any heart less cruel than that of Georgy. Men who had shared every danger of 
battle and camp, and faced death in a thousand forms, could not bear the shame of 
this surrender. They grasped one another's hands, wept on one another's shoulders, 
and cursed the man whom they had followed with such unquestioned obedience. 
Troopers hugged their horses about the neck, and drawing their pistols, shot them 
dead, rather than allow them to fall into the hands of the Russians. Brave officers, 
who would have fought until their armies were laid dead at their feet, and then alone 
and fugitive, have harrassed the Russian from any ambush that offered, until cut 
down by sabre or bullet, broke their swords, cast the pieces at Georgy's feet and 
cursed him; and some even drew their pistols and killed themselves on the spot, 
rather than take part in this most disgraceful surrender. 

Georgy had only twentyfour thousand of the Hungarian forces, and before it 
became known to the rest of tjiearmy, in differents parts of the country, that Kossuth 
had given up his command of the war to him, and he had surrendered to the 
Russians, the Hungarians under their Generals had beate^i the Austrians again and again 
in some of the m.ost bitterly contested battles of the war. These victories were, of 
course, without fruit, and by the first day of October the war was over and Hungary 
forever enslaved. Kossuth found a refuge in Turkey, and there lived many years 
never ceasing to sorrow for his people, an honored patriot, dear to all who love 
liberty. Georgy lived, two, in shameful retirement, hated and e.xecrated. Alas for 
the poor soldiers given up by Georgy to the Russians. They were turned over to 
the Austrians, who proceeded to try them by court martial, and hundreds of them 
were brutally shot without being allowed to see their friends or relatives or to 
hear a familiar voice bid them farewell. Others were condemned to a living 



688 AUSTRIA. 

death as prisoners in the Austrian fortresses. One of the Hungarian Generals, 
Louis Batthyani, of heroic memorj*, had been, from the first, a devoted soldier 
and statesman, and had aided Kossuth in forming and training the army, and 
had commanded in some of its greatest campaigns. He was delivered up to the Aus- 
trians and condemned to death. Before he had taken arms he had tried, in every 
possible way, to reconcile the emperor and the Hungarians, but finding this impos- 
sible, had fought as a brave man should for his countr}-. 

He attempted suicide, that his friends might not be compelled to witness his 
death as a traitor, for that was the sentence that had been passed upon him. He 
failed, but mutilated himself with a pen-knife and lost much blood. When the sur- 
geon declared that he would certainly die from his self-inflicted wounds, and pleaded 
that the execution of the dying patriot might be delayed a little, the emperor 
would not grant the request. Calmly Batthyanyi was led forth, for the emperor 
declared that instead of being hanged, drawn and qu:irtered, as he had originally 
decreed, the patriot should die a soldier's death, and be shot. His last words were 
"God bless Hungary," and then he fell riddled by bullets. His wife and children were 
robbed of all that they owned by the order of the emperor. 

I'"ourteen officers, who had surrendered to the Austrians after defending their 
different commands most heroicall}', and having been promised that neither they nor 
their men should suffer any personal harm, were murdered the same day upon which 
Batthyanyi lost his life. They had been promised, most solemnly, that if they would 
yield, they should be dismissed to their homes in safety and honor, but this made no 
difference with the Austrians, who could not forgive them, because they had again 
and again been victorious over the emperor's forces. One of these men, a gray- 
haired officer, held the fortress of Arad to the very last, and defied the whole Russian 
and Austrian force take it. He had surrendered, thinking to secure good terms to 
his men, and these terms iiad been freely granted. He had been wounded and was 
unable to stand upon his feet, but was carried to the place of e.xecution. 

For four hours he sat watching the death agonies of his thirteen brother officers, 
and though his face was set and stern, he never once flinched or betrayed to his 
watchful enemies a sign of weakness. When it came his turn to die, he painfully and 
slowly, but unaided, arose and dragged himself to the post where the others had 
stood to receive the fatal bullets. One of these officers had turned to the Austrians 
and shouted a defiance as he stood up before them. He said: "To-day it is my turn, 
to-morrow it will be yours." The old veteran of many battles looked slowly around 
liim, and smiled. "It is strange," he remarked in a quiet voice, "that I, who of all 
those who have suffered death to-day was the first in the attack, should be the last 
here." Then the sign was given and Hungary wept over another gallant son. 

It would take volumes to tell you of the atrocities that the Austrians committed, 
and how they killed, plundered, persecuted and oppressed the Hungarians whose 
only crime was their love of liberty, and their hatred of tyranny. More than seventy 
thousand Hungarians were torn from their homes and compelled to serve in the 
Austrian army, and Hungary was wiped from the map of nations. Since the fatal 
days of the Austrian victory, her story has been suppressed, as far as possible, and 
her rights trampled under foot, but the time will no doubt come when the God of 
Liberty will avenge the enslavement of that free people, and will visit his wrath 
upon those who used their conquest as the tool of the most bitter oppression and 
violence that this century has witnessed. 



AUSTRIA. 689 

Ferdinand became tired of the affairs of State during the Hungarian struggle, 
and resigned his crown to his son Francis Joseph, the present emperor. It was he 
who was responsible for some of the worst deeds of the conquest, and in his own 
lifetime, he has seen the government that he sinned to make supreme, so weakened, 
that when he dies it may be torn into fragments. His heir died by his own hand and 
another son was lost at sea, and he has no direct descendants, in whom he has pride, 
to occupy his tottering throne. However, I must tell you a few more events of his 
reign, that you may have some idea of the causes that made Austria one of the 
weakest of South European countries. 

Francis Joseph was so much elated by his conquest of Hungary, that two years 
afterwards, in 185 1, he revoked the constitution of Austria, and the next year pro- 
hibited trial by jury. Step by step he went forward, cutting off liberty of the press, 
of the pulpit and of religion, until in 1861 Austria was almost as absolute a despotism 
as Russia or China. In that year there were rumblings of coming trouble. The 
Hungarians were still determined on liberty, and the Emperor was obliged to keep 
a close watch upon them. In 1S65, Francis Joseph determined to make some 
reforms, and none too soon. He became more liberal in his administration, and 
Austria would no doubt have recovered her strength, had not a quarrel arisen, just 
then, with Prussia, which resulted in the Seven weeks war. At the same time that 
Austria was obliged to face Prussia in the field, her provinces in Northern Italy 
rebelled, and under Garibaldi were struggling for their liberty. 

The Seven Weeks war was a bitter, but useful lesson to Francis Joseph. At its 
close he saw that Austria was on the verge of ruin, and that if he did not at once 
apply himself to liberal and just government, he would soon have no empire to 
govern at all. He called to his aid some of the best statesmen of the times and 
acted under their advice. He constructed a parliament of the Austrian and Hun- 
garian people, which meets alternately at Vienna and Pesth, allowed freedom of wor- 
ship, and tried in every way to build up the shattered industries of the Empire. 

Russia struck the first blow at Austria through the Hungarian war while pre- 
tending to be friendly, but the pretense of friendship has long been abandoned. Bul- 
garia and Servia, on the South, are intensely Slavonic, and they are the only barrier 
between Russia and Constantinople; a frail barrier, which only the armed force of 
the triple alliance has succeeded in maintaining. Whenever it becomes the 
interest of Germany and Russia that Austria shall cease to exist, that moment will 
the triple alliance cease to be. Austria has more to fear from the friendship of 
Russia and Germany than from the hatred of Germany and France, and more to fear 
from the professed friendship of Russia than from her expressed hatred. The free 
Mediterranean must be opened to Russia, either by force or through diplomacy, 
and when it is, Germany will find it more to her interest to make friends with the 
Czar than with Austria, and the Old German Empire may yet be restored by the 
HohenzoUerns, but who can tell what the close of this century will witness? 



690 



-$JTURKEV.I^ 



i\ 




HAVE had occasion, in telling you the Story of Europe, often to mention 
the Turks, and as they rule over the country where once flourished some 
of the most important empires of history, and hold the land once ruled 
by the gallant Saladin and his successors, it may perhaps be of interest 
to learn, who and what are the Turks, and how they gained their power, 
as they were unknown for many centuries, and have only appeared on 
the stage of history, under their present name, in comparatively recent 
times. 

In the thirteenth century, western Europe was passing through great 
changes, and in Asia too, there were changes; important to the empires 
that had been in existence there, though they were not so important to the rest of 
the world, as those which were preparing in the west. The Tartar bands that had 
mastered Russia, and most of southern Europe, and built up a mighty empire, were 
threatening Germany, and had those people been city builders, instead of wanderers 
and plunderers, who cared for little but roaming about, seeking new prey, I might 
have a very different story to tell you. As it was, the cities they built soon fell into 
the power of other nations, or disappeared. 

The Turks are first heard of in the sixth century, when they roved, with other 
Mongolian hordes, from their original homes, and founded an empire on the borders 
of China. Their power was destroyed by the Arabs in much of this portion of the 
world, but they still remained in possession of the wild plains of Asia, just east of the 
Volga, and for a long time they supplied troops for their conquerors. These men 
and their descendants, finally conquered their masters, and founded an empire under 
a leader named Seljuk. They were at first only all-powerful in Bokhara, but they 
soon robbed the caliphs of Badgad. of some of their possessions, and for two cen- 
turies, gradually spread over the country held by the Saracens. It is said that the 
Turks were first introduced into the dominion of the caliphs, as slaves, where their 
beauty of person, their bravery, and their intelligence, made them great favorites, 
and the caliph formed some of them into his body-guard. They embraced the Mo- 
hammedan faith, in course of time gained Persia, and in the thirteenth century, 
threatened to make themselves masters of the whole Klohammedan world. It hap- 
pened, that about the time that they were making ready for the conquest of western 
Asia, the Mongols, under Zenghis Khan, came down upon the civilization of western 
Asia and nearly wiped it out. They destroyed the empire of the Seljuks, in Persia, 
and the Turks fled southward before them. Some of these Turks settled among the 
Syrians antl Arabs on the borders of Egypt, others crossed into Egypt and came into 
conflict v.ith the sultans of that kingdom, and others turned into Asia Minor and 
joined their kindred of the Seljuk race. 

Among the Seljuk tribes that had been driven from their homes, was one under 
the command of a chieftain named Ertoghrul, and one day when the Turkish Sultan 
of Iconium. was hard beset near Angora, by a large Mongol army, this Seljuk chief- 
tain and his band, who were traveling in search of a home, came up. and seeing that 
the Sultan was about to be conquered, they rushed into the fray and turned the tide 
of battle in his favor. It is not at all likely that they discussed whether the Sultan 



TURKEY. 



691 




Turkish Costume. 



was, or was not, in the right, or whether they should in the end, gain or 

lose by the part they took. They dearly loved a fight, and being gallant 

fellows, could not stand by and see a small force overwhelmed by a large 

one. This accident, for of course we must regard it as one of these strange 

accidents with which history abounds, was a lucky one for the followers 

of Ertoghrul. When the Sultan of Iconium learned the name and liniage 

of the men who had aided him, he granted them a home in his dominions. 

This home was in the mountains of Etmeni, just south of the Roman 

province of Bithynia, in which, at the time, were two great cities, Nicsea and 

Brusa, that were the property of the Eastern Emperors. They made 

their summer camp in the mountains, and in winter came to the city of 

Sugut, which the Sultan had given them for their capital. It was in the 

passes of the Ermini mountains that the followers of Ertoghrul again 

showed what valiant fighters they were, and aided the Sultan so well in 

driving back a great horde of Mongols and Greeks, that he gave some 

more land to them, and made them the real keepers of the frontiers 

of his dominions. Here, they throve wonderfully, and little by little, 

subdued neighboring Turkish chieftains, iind gained wealth. In the year 

1258, Osman, the founder of the empire, which has ever since been known as "The 

Ottoman Empire," was born, and became the ancester of a line of princes, thirty-five 

in number, who have ruled in an unbroken line, from father to son, up to this very 

hour. This, as you may realize, when you remember how often the thrones of 

England, France, Germany and the other European kingdoms passed from one 

branch of the royal house to another. And how it passed at times to entirely 

different lines from that of the founder, is a very remarkable thing. 

It is said by the Turkish writers of history, that a beautiful girl, whose father was 
a learned lawyer, and was highly respected among the Seljuks, was loved by Osman, 
and returned his affection. This lady was called "Moon-bright," because she was so 
lovely, and though she had many suitors, she did not make any effort to choose 
between them. 

Osman was not in very high favor with the father of his lady-love, for he was, in 
a certain sense, a foreigner, and had not the wealth of many of her other lovers. 
One night Osman dreamed a dream, or pretended he did, and as all orientals are 
profound believers in dreams, signs and omens, they did not attribute this dream of 
Osman's to his having eaten more than was good for him at supper, but thought that 
he had received a revelation from God. The dream, like that which is told by the 
Persians concerning Cyrus, seemed te predict that the "Moon-bright" lady was to be 
the mother of children that should rule great kingdoms. 

Osman, in telling this dream to the father of his lady-love, said that when he had 
fallen asleep, he dreamed that from the heart of the "Moon-bright" maiden a full 
moon had come forth and sought him where he lay asleep and sunk to rest upon his 
bosom. As soon as the moon was quiet upon his breast, from his body there began 
to spring a tree, that grew taller and taller, until its branches overspread the earth 
and the sea, and even towered higher than the mountains, which in his dream 
he saw were the Caucasus and Atlas. 

He saw the Nile, the Euphrates and the Tigris covered with sails, and there were 
fair fields by their banks where the grain ripened in the sunshine, and where birds 
sang beneath the branches of laden fruit trees. There were cities also with palaces. 



692 



TURKEY. 



mosques and minarets, and as he looked upon them, a wind came from the East, and 
dashed the banners of the crescent against the cross, which was the banner of Chris- 
tendom, and against the crown of Constantine. 

He dreamed that Constantinople was a huge diamond, between two seas that 
were great sapphires, and these were set in a ring which he was about to put on his 
finger, when he awoke. This dream, wliich sounds like the musings of a romantic 
poet, who is brooding over great deeds of war and conquest, so influenced the father 
of the "Moonbright" lady, that he consented that Osman should marrj- her. The 
marriage gained much power for Osman, and he achieved more when his father died 
soon after, and he became the chief of his tribe. The sultan thought highly of him, 
and added lands and wealth to that which he already owned. He subdued chieftain 
after chieftain, and hnally invaded Greek territory and wrested it from the Emperors 
of the East. 



^*S.'S* '.^-^(P^ iflr. 







V. "N> 1 .\,\ I 1 N' M' I i-,. 



Time went on, the Seljuk sultan died, and his power was divided among the 
tribes. There was now no head to the nation of Turks, and Osman's opi)ortunity 
had come. He knew better, however, than to attack his own countrymen and 
weaken them so that the Greeks could conquer them, and directed all his force and 
ambition against the Greeks. After a siege of ten years he took Brusa, and ravaging 
the country from the Bosphorous to the Black Sea, became the terror of western 
Europe. He put vessels upon the ocean to act as pirates, and destroy the Greek 
commerce. These ships were the terril)Ie " corsairs," which were as destructive 
upon the sea as the Turks upon the land. 

Osman tlied at the age of seventy, and was buried in Brusa, which was made the 
new cajMtal of llu; Ottoman Turks. One by one, the cities of the Greek emperor fell 
into the hands of Orkhan. the son of Osman, and this sultan organized a great army, 
and ruled over the whole body of Turks in Asia Minor. He compelled the con- 
quered Christians to furnish him every year with a thousand boys, who were 



TURKEY. 693 

educated most carefully in the Mohammedan faith, and in all military matters. 
These lads, as they ^rew up, knew nothing of home ties and of family life. They did 
not even know who their parents were, and had no affections other than those formed 
among their comrades. They became the finest body of soldiers in the world, and 
were known as Janissaries. After a time the children of these janissaries were made 
soldiers of the sultan, as their fathers had been, and formed his body-guard. They were 
not slaves, but were generously paid, and if they were intelligent, a Janissary might 
rise in the favor of the sultan, and become grand vizier. They were allowed, too, to 
indulge all of their passions that did not conflict with the interests of the sultan, and 
thus you may imagine how these men, with bountlless ambitions, great influence, and 
who were selfish, cruel and brutal, became the terror of civilized armies. 

The sultan was clever enough not to oppress his new subjects, and under his rule 
they were not taxed so heavily as they were under that of the Emperors of Constan- 
tinople. Their trade, manufacture, and domestic life were much more free, and they 
were not liable to attacks of enemies, for their old enemies were now their fellow- 
subjects of the sultan. 

The Turkish Sultan, who reigned after Orkhan gained the friendship of the 
Emperors of Constantinople, strange as' it may seem, when we recall how deter- 
mined the enmity of the Turks, had always been to the Christians. Because these 
Emperors, for there were two at the time, wanted the aid of the Turks against the 
Venetians, with whom they were generally at war, for the Venetians were getting the 
bulk of their sea trade away from them, they made friends with the Turks. Theodora, 
their sister, was given to the Turkish Sultan, who already had a number of wives. 
These emperors bribed the Turks to friendship, also, by allowing them to come into 
their territory, and carry away as many Christian slaves as they wanted, and showed 
themselves so weak and shameless that they deserve all the contempt that is felt for 
them. The Turks succeeded in crossing into Europe and taking a certain citadel that 
belonged to the Emperors of Constantinople, who were busy at the time fighting one 
of their relatives and paid no attention to the robbery. Indeed they sent to the Sultan 
and asked him to send an army into Europe to beat the Venetians for them. It was 
easy enough to call the Turks into Europe, but it was another thing to send them back 
into Asia, as the Emperors of the East discovered to their sorrow. Soon after they 
came into the country an Earthquake threw down the walls of a strong city and the 
Turks, taking advantage of the confusion and terror of the people, took possession of it 
and entrenched their troops within it. The Emperors sent fo their allies and begged 
them to give back the town, but the Turks calmly declared that Providence had 
thrown down the walls purposely, so that they should not have the trouble of 
besieging the city, and from their stronghold they fortified the shores of the Helle- 
spont, and began that slow advance upon Constantinople which ended in the capture 
of the city and the establishment of a Turkish kingdom in Europe. 

They were bravely resisted by the Slavic people along the Lower Danube, but at 
last the rulers of Bulgaria and Servia were compelled to yield. The Emperor of 
Constantinople implored the Pope to help him. The Pope made the excuse that the 
Greek Emperor was a heretic, because he was an Arian and the emperor promptly 
abandoned his creed and declared that he was a Roman Catholic. This did not move 
the Pope, and finding that there was no hope of help from Western Europe, the 
Greek Emperor humbly declared himself a vassal of the Ottoman Sultan, and made 



694 



TURKEY. 



peace with him About the same time the Ottoman became the ruler of all the 
Turkish tribes in Asia. 

1 his Sultan, who was named Murad, was assassinated by a brave Servian, who 
thought that he might thus free his country from Turkish tyranny. He pretendeti 

thai he had impor- 



tant messages for 
the Sultan, and 
was shown to his 
tent. \V h e n h e 
found himself in 
the presence of the 
tyrant he drew a 
dagger from his 
l)elt and killed the 
Sultan. From that 
day to this, it has 
been a rule with 
the Ottoman Sul- 
tans, that no stran- 
ger shall ever be 
^ allowed to enter 
£ their presence e.x- 

< ceptwhen he is led 
5 in by two of the 
~ monar c h's most 
i faithful and trusty 
j; courtiers, who hold 
- him tightly, one by 

< each arm, so that 
^ he could not draw 
i a weapon if he had 
H any such intention. 
5 The successor of 
c this Ottoman Sul- 
tan, his son Baja- 
zet, began his reign 
by killing his broth- 
er for fear that he 
might consjjirc 
against him, and 
that is artthtr ti:s 
tom which all the 
Ottoman Suit a n s 
imitated, and which 
though severe 
enough, neverthe- 
less prevented any 
of those quarrels 




TURKEY. 695 

about the succession to the throne, of which we read in the story of many other na- 
tions, for when there were no heirs but the sons of the reigning Sultan, there 
could be no dispute. 

It was against Bajazet, that Sigismund, of Hungary, the King of France, and 
many of the great lords of Germany, leagued in a Holy War. and in a fearful battle 
were defeated and routed in 1394. He besieged Constantinople for six years, and the 
city was upon the point of surrendering to him, when Tamurlane appeared upon the 
scene and began to carry death and destruction into the dominion of the Sultan. 
Many of the new States in Asia at once went over to the conqueror, and Tamurlane 
meeting Bajazet in battle, worsted him on the very field, where a hundred and fifty 
years before, the father of Osman aided the Sultan of the Seljuks to gain a victory 
over Mongols of the same origin as those who now shattered it and threatened its 
life. Bajazet died a broken-hearted captive, and Tamurlane, after making himself 
the master of the Turkish Empire in Asia, lived but two years to enjoy the 
victory. 

After the death of Tamurlane, his empire, in Asia, fell to pieces. Bajazet had 
left several sons, and these now claimed the Turkish Empire. Mohammed, the 
youngest, was successful in gaining the western remnant of it, and although he did 
not succeed in gathering all the provinces, that had belonged to his father, under his 
rule, he was so wise, patient, and such a clever statesman, that he laid again the foun- 
dations of the Turkish kingdom, and was so free from the brutality of the earlier 
Sultans, that he is sometimes called Mohammed the Gentleman. 

His son Murad was as clever as his father had been, and though but eighteen 
when he came to the throne, did not hesitate to attempt the siege of Constantinople, 
when the Emperor, who was under great obligations to the Turkish Sultan, his 
father, because he had aided him against his enemies, made trouble for him. Soon 
after this the young Sultan was engaged in a war with the Hungarians, and for many 
years had so little peace, that he tired of his power as Sultan, and gave it up at last 
to his son. He was a famous warrior, and the Christians were much in fear of him, 
and were greatly rejoiced when they heard that he had retired to private life. 

They had sworn an oath to harass him no more in his dominions, and had made 
a solemn treaty with him, but the Pope allowed them to break their word, and they 
began to invade the Ottoman dominions. French, Hungarians, and subjects of the 
Eastern Emperor, banded together and crossed into the dominions of the Sultan a 
month after they had signed the treaty that bountl them to peace, and before the 
Turks knew their intentions, they arrived at Varna. They took the place and killed 
the Turkish soldiers without mercy, and cast their bodies over the precipice. 

The old Sultan heard of this deed, and that the Christians were coming forty 
thousand strong to cross the Bosphorus. He placed himself at the head of his army, 
and went to meet them. There was a fierce battle in which the treaty-breaking 
Christians were defeated with fearful slaughter, and the Turks fastened their power 
upon the Southern Danube provinces more firmly than ever. The old Sultan then 
retired from the world again, but his son was too young to hold the empire together, 
and again he was obliged to take the scepter, and this time he kept it until he died 
in 1451. 

Gallant John Hunyadi, who had been made ruler of Hungary by the grateful 
people, had fought many battles against the -Sultan Murad, and lived to fight a great 
battle against Murad's son Mohammed II. The Turks laid siege to Belgrade, that 




60 TURKEY. 

city that, from its position, is called the Gate to Hungary. The garrison, in 
the city, was not large, but Hunyadi inspired them with his own courage 
and they held out until sixty thousand Crusaders, under a warrior monk 
named John Capistran, came to his aid. The Turks pressed the siege with 
their accustomed fierceness and at last gained an entrance into the city. 
Hunyadi. and the brave priests, though almost hopeless of victory, still 
would not yield, and fell upon the Turks in the very streets of Belgrade, 
and in a hand to hand fight, drove them out of the city and routed them so 
thoroughly that they fled, leaving all their camp supplies. This was in the 
year 1456 and Hunyadi lived less than a month after saving Belgrade, 
though his memory will last as long as history tells her tales of heroism. 

The Sultan IMohammed ruled thirty years. His father and grand- 
father had been noted for their bravery, their truthfulness and their patience. 
They were free from violent passions and were wise rulers, but the second 
Mohammed was a crafty, bloody-mindeil tyrant. He accomplished that 
for which the Sultans had long striven; he took Constantinople after a 
siege, in which great courage was displayed on both sides. The city that 
Turkish soiiiicr. had fof ages withstood the assaults of Russians, Tartars, Goths and 
Turks, fell into the hands of Mohammed II. in May 1453, three years before the 
attack on Belgrade. The rest of the reign of Mohammed II. was filled with con- 
quests; he took the Crimea from the Tartars and overran the Greek communities. 
He besieged Rhodes and captured Otranto. Death found him when he was in the 
midst of preparations for a great e.xpedition. and had he lived longer, there is little 
doubt that he would have attempted the conquest of Italy. 

Bajazet II. reigned forty-one years, but he had enough to do to keep what he 
had, and made no attempt to gain any more. He was rather a la/.y fellow, fond of 
good living, and not over fond of the camp or the field. Zim-Zim of whom I have 
told you something, was his brother, and he was the prince that Alexander Borgia, 
Pope of Rome, offered to kill if Bajazet would give him a certain sum of money. 
Zim-Zim wanted to rule as his father's successor, though Bajazet, of course, was 
opposed to the project, and Zim-Zim came into the hands of the Pope by accident. 
The Pope would have murdered Zim-Zim, no doubt, had not Charles VIII. of France, 
about that time invaded Italy, and among other unpleasant things that the Pope was 
compelled to do. to gain peace, the French king compelled him to yield up Zim-Zim. 
For some reason, perhaps because he had received the money for the deed, though 
that is not clear, Alexander poisoned the brave young prince of the Turks, and 
added one more to his long list of horrid crimes. 

Bajazet II. dawdled so long upon the throne, that his eldest son, Selim, began to 
think that he would live longer than he, and resolved not to wait for him to die, but 
to make him yield up the power that he had never known how to wield. He there- 
fore took the throne, and to make sure that he should have no trouble with his 
brothers, he killed them both, and looked on with pleasure while his slaves strangled 
their innocent little ones. Selim I. had no delight except in blood and suffering, and 
irt the nine years that he sat upon the throne, he was constantly at war. He 
conquered all of Arabia and Egypt, and doubled the Turkish power and territory. 
Suleyman the Magnificent, came to the throne upon the death of his father, 
Selim, and under him the Turkish rule reached the height of its glory. He was 
twenty-six years o!tl when he inherited the throne, and his people already loved him, 



TURKEY. 6q7 

not only because he was mild and generous in his disposition, but because he had all 
the virtues that his father lacked, and was, moreover, a ruler who could be com- 
pared with the most brilliant of the European sovereigns, at that time, and lost nothing 
of dignity by the comparison. In 1521, he took his way to Hungary, followed by a 
large army and captured Belgrade, which had defied every attempt of Mohammed 
II., and Buda, Pesth, and jnany other Hungarian towns yielded to him. He capt- 
ured Rhodes, also, but treated the people with great gentleness, and never broke his 
promise that they should keep their own religion, and that those who had so heroic- 
ally defended themselves, should be allowed to depart from the island, in safety and 
honor. 

At length he marched with his victorious army to Vienna, and all Europe trembled, 
for with the Turks in Vienna, what was to prevent them from gaining Paris. The 
people of Vienna defended themselves with the utmost bravery, and every attempt 
of the Turks was repulsed. After a long siege they were compelled to abandon the 
place. Three years later, Suleyman again marched toward Vienna, but Charles V., 
was then on the throne and he succeeded in making peace with the Turks. This 
peace did not last long, and when Ferdinand became Emperor of Germany, he was 
obliged to pay tribute to the Turks, and make a truce for hve years. At the end of 
the truce, Suleyman again began the war, but he died before much was accomplished. 
He left to his son, a dominion extending from the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates, 
to the borders of Morocco, and from the Danube to the Indian Ocean. 

More than forty thousand square miles, embracing the site of nearly all the early 
empires of history, belonged to the descendants of Osman, but the conquests of the 
Turks were now at an end. They had gained their power by the bravery of their 
soldiers, and the genius of their sultans, and though their soldiers were as brave as 
ever, their sultans, after Suleyman, were very different from those great successors 
of Suleyman, who threatened to carry the Crescent into western Europe, and com- 
plete the conquest which the Saracans had abandoned so long before. 

As you have noticed, what is gained by brute strength, can only be kept in the 
same way, and the sultans after Suleyman, had not the intelligence to cope with the 
great military geniuses, who came upon the stage of history, in western Europe, in 
the early days of the sixteenth century, and played such an important part in war and 
peace from that time forth. True, it was the policy of Louis XIV., to menace the 
German empire with the Turks, that he might pillage it on the west, but I have told 
you how in 1682, when they appeared before Vienna, and committed such ravages in 
all the country round, Sobieski came, almost at the last hour of the siege, when the 
Turks were already rejoicing over their victory, for they had leveled a portion of the 
walls, and how, after a furious battle, the Turks were routed. They were never 
again to ravage the fair fields of southern Germany, or to lay the cities waste with 
fire and sword. 

Buda was retaken by the Hungarians soon after, and freed from the Turks, after 
a vassalage of a hundred and forty-five years. Belgrade was also recaptured, after 
being fifty years in the hands of the Turks, though the Turks soon took it again, but 
they were menaced on every side, and were obliged in 1718, to make a peace which 
bounded the kingdom much as it exists to-day, with the exception that the Danube 
provinces and Greece were still left under the rule of the sultan, though the people 
had a certain independence that kept them free from the worst of his tyranny. 

The Sultan of Turkey, to-day, as three centuries ago, is absolute master of his 



698 



TURKEY. 








I'r, /( 

rorklf^h Woman of lln- Harm 



people, and the head of the religion of his subjects, as well as the 
head of the State, though the interferanceof the Christain nations, 
has made him a little more careful how he cuts off heads and robs 
of property', than he used to be. He rules by a cabinet or council 
of ministers, and they are responsible to the government. 

Greece still remained to Turkej'. and when the Greeks decided 
to free themselves the Turks were in a peculiar situation. Ever 
since the days of Osman's son, the Janissaries had been import- 
ant to the Turks. From being brave soldiers, they had become 
" '^^ brutal masters of the sultan, and he had, more than once, in Turkish 
history, been obliged to make war on purpose to keep them busy. 
The Sultan who sat upon the throne in 1826, was a brave, 
intelligent and cruel man, who desired, above everything, to have a 
well disciplined army, so that he could hold his own among his 
war-like neighbors, for Russia had risen to great, power and he 
feared her armies. The jannissaries mutinied and refused to do 
as the Sultan desired, thinking that he would yield to them as 
former Sultans had done, but he blew them and their quarters 
up with gunpowder. Before he could get another army together, 
the Greeks rose against him. and with the help of several gallant 
men, among whom was the English poet Byron, began to make 
a struggle for their liberty. The French landed a force in Morea 
after the naval battle of Navarino in which the Turks were 
beaten, and in 1828 Russia declared war against Turkey. The Sultan had no 
army fit for service, and Greece was made free in 1S32. and has been free ever since. 
About this time, too, a fierce chieftain in Egypt by the name of Mohammed .All. 
who had given much trouble to the Sultan, and taken Egypt away from him, 
began to threaten Syria, The sultan was obliged to yield to the European 
powers and make peace recognizing, Mohammed AH as the ruler of Egypt though 
his vassal. 

Left to herself, Russia woukl soon have wiped out enfeebled Turkey, but it was 
not in the programme of b'rancc and England, that Russia should grow too powerful 
and the first opportunity that offered, they joined with the Turks to drive the 
Russians back and take the strong forts that she had built in the Crimea. This led 
to the Crimean war, which ended, as you know, in March 1856, and which took the 
Danube provinces away from Russia, opened the Black Sea to ships of all 
nations and closed the Bosphorous and the Straits af Dardanelles to all foreign 
vessels. The Czar refused, in 1870. to longer observe certain terms of the treaty that 
were damaging to Russian commerce and the Black Sea again became a Russian 
lake subject to the Czar. In 1877 Russia again declared war against Turkey, because 
the Turks had been e.xceedingly cruel in repressing a revolution of the Christians in 
Bulgaria, and more than all, because the Czar was determined to take Constanti- 
nople, that his ship might reach the Mediteranean through the Turkish straits. 
There was some dreadful fighting, and Turkey showed some of her old bravery in 
the defense of Plevna, for it took the sacrifice of the lives of fifty thousand 
Russians before the Turks under Osman Pasha, who were besieged there, were 
brought to surrender. The treaty that ended this war was so damaging to Turkey 
and gave Russia so much power in the South, that England interfered and while 



TURKEY. 699 

Turkey lost a part of Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro and Roumania, it still kept a 
shadow of power in Egypt, and remained in possession of the Dardanelles. 

Ihis division was made in a solemn Congress of the Great Powers at Berlin, in 
1S78, and Russia was, for the time, stayed in her progress toward the sea. The 
Turkish Government grows weaker and weaker as time passes on, and the Sultan dares 
do nothing without the consent of England, for under the pretense of "protect- 
ing" Egypt, England has protected what she considers her own interests in Southern 
Europe, and filled Egypt with soldiers. The Turks are out of sympathy with modern 
ideas, and since they will not advance they can not remain at a standstill, and are 
constantly losing ground and falling behind other nations. When the time comes 
that they shall disappear from history as a nation, it can truly be said of them, that 
"as they sowed so have they reaped." 




'HILE the story of Rome was for many ages that of Italy, there came 
a time when Italy had a story of its own, far different from that of 
any other country of the'world. I have somewhere told you that all 
the lines of ancient history led to Rome, and that all the lines of 
modern history led away from Rome, and we will now give a brief glance over the 
land where Roman greatness grew, flourished and withered. You will doubtless 
remember that in the later days of the empire, there was the greatest distress 
among the common classes of people in Italy, and that those who worked the land 
to supply the needs of the idle and vicious senators of Rome, had no property in 
the soil, and were, for the most part, in the condition of miserable slaves. After 
a time, when the Gauls from the North had become familiar to the Romans, and 
were enrolled in their armies, the native population of Italy grew smaller and 
smaller in the country, and either flocked to the cities and starved there, or were sold 
as slaves in other Roman provinces. Barbarians became the tillers of the soil, and 
in turn sunk into the misery of the peasants they displaced, and at the time that the 
Romans were building their splendid public buildings, and the senatorial families were 
growing richer and richer, Italy, herself, weakened by the oppression of it nobles, was 
ripening for the hand of the Gauls. 

The Gauls had long held important posts in the armies of Rome, and had the 
actual power of naming emperors, for they had the power to enforce their demantlsi 
and the last emperor was hurled from the throne by Odoacer, a Gaul, in the year 476, 
This Gaulish chieftain ruled Italy for seventeen years, but he could not hold with the 
strong hand, what he had taken by the strong hand. 

Italy, with its balm)' air, its blue sky, and its changing beauty of mountain and 
valley, seems to have had a weakening influence, even upon the strong nature of the 
Gauls, and Odoacer, amid the splendors of the Old Roman Empire, became less 
fierce and active than when he was simple chief of tht; barbarian army. 

To the east lay Constantinople, the new Rome upon the Bosphorus, a jealous 
rival of the glory of the Eternal City on the Tiber, and encouraged by the emperor 
of Constantinople, the Goths poured down upon Eastern Italy, and in four years were 
masters of its fairest provinces, and they reigned right royally for si.\ty-four years. 
Again the climate and loveliness of Italy conquered h'er conquerors, and the Emperors 
of the East wrested from the Goths the land they had taken. 



700 



ITALY. 




The Northland 
was full of restless, 
adventurous people, 
u h o turned their 
faces S o u t h \v a r d 
when the long win- 
ter was over, and the 
spring came, when 
their kings and chief- 
tains delighted to go 
forth to battle. 
There was in Ger- 
many, a tribe of these 
Teutonic people, who 
were noted for their 
exceed i n g 1 y long 
beards, and on this 
account, received the 
name of Lombards. 
'They were the fierc- 
est fighters, the most 
cruel and treacherous 
'~ ' of all the Germans. 

Arnvalof the Huu, in Italy. -j-j^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ |j^Jg. 

pendent that they would not all of them serve under the same chieftain, of their 
own nation, but each separate tribe acknowledged only the authority of its individual 
chief. These savage Lombards descended upon the rich cities of Northern Italy and 
made themselves masters of them. Pavia was the capital of their kingdom, and 
Benventum, in the south, became their property by conquest. When Attilla threat- 
ened the civilization of the Western world with destruction, the people of that 
portion of Northern Italy, which the Romans called V'enetia, were sadly frightened. 
They knew that when Attilla said that "grass never grew w here the hoofs of his war- 
horse had trodden," he made no idle boast, and that their cities of Vicenza, Verona, 
and Treviso, would be the first to lay a smoking heap of ruins, plundered and ravaged 
by the terrible Muns. There was one means by which they might escape. 

The Huns had no boats, and tlie \'enetians, therefore, fled from them, carrying 
with them their dearest possessions that could be removed, and built their homes 
upon a number of small islands, at the extremity of the Adriatic Sea, that were sur- 
roundetl upon all sides by slimy salt marshes, which though shallow, were still deep 
enough to prevent the Huns from following them. This new home was very different 
from the old, but the Venetians were compelled to make the best of their surround- 
ings, and they did so with a hearty good will. 

Several large rivers flowed into the sea near their islands, and the boats which 
they used, to sail out into the blue Adriatic, to fish for the support of their families, 
traversed these highway for trade with the interior, but tliey availed themselves little 
of them in the very early days, for the few articles that they were able to manufacture 
were in more demand in Constantinople than in Italian cities, and the salt which they 



ITALY. 701 

learned to make from the water of their marshes, was highly esteemed for its purity 
all through the East. 

After a time, these Venetians built vessels and sailed to the Mediterranean coun- 
tries, bringing home articles of necessity and luxury, and upon the islands where, at 
first, there were but straggling villages, poorly built, and wanting all the necessaries 
of civilized living, rich communities of prosperous and busy people grew up. Each 
of the little islands had at first its own governor and officers, elected by the people, 
and independent of all others. 

Of course each of the islands vied with all the others in its attempts to secure all 
of the commerce, and there was much quarreling and fighting among the people in 
regard to their rights in these matters. About them lay hostile neighbors every- 
where, ready to seize upon them and destroy their prosperity if they persisted in 
quarreling, and the Venetia soon came to the conclusion that their best plan was 
to agree peacefully among themselves. 

The citizens of all the islands, therefore, met at Heraclea, in the year 697, and 
elected one chief who was to preside over all. More than once the islanders had 
enjoyed the protection of Constantinople, and as they were of the same religous faith 
as the Eastern Emperor, they put themselves under his protection, formally, and even 
called their chieftain Doge, which means duke or lieutenant, of the Eastern empire. 
Still the Venetians were too widely scattered in their little islands, to make any effect- 
ual resistance against their foes to the Northward. You will remember that the 
Lombards, in their great anil wealthy town, in the North, excited the envy of the fierce 
Franks, and when the Pope, who was usually found quarreling with the Lombard 
kings, about his rights and theirs, submitted his quarrel to the Franks, in the early 
part of the eighth century, they were only too glad of a pretext of entering Italy, and 
for many hundred years after they did so. mixing in its quarrels and aiding in its 
destruction. 

Charlemagne conquered Italy, and caused himself to be crowned as Emperor of 
the Holy Roman Empire, but he did not quite destroy the power of the Lombards. 
Neither did Charlemagne conquer the Venetians, but Pepin attempted to do so. It 
would seem that Pepin had enough land, without grudging to the Venetians the little 
that they needed for the building of their houses; yet not the land, but the tax upon 
their commerce was what Pepin longed for. The Venetians gathered all their ships 
near the island of Rialto, which was the; least exposed of all the islands, and again 
set themselves to building homes, so surrounded by the waters, that the I"" ranks, who 
were no sailors, would be unable to reach them. They removed their wealth to this 
place and began to build the city of Venice. They laid their foundations deep and 
strong, down under the ground, and erected most solid and durable walls for their 
palaces and houses. The soil was a slimy sort of mud, and to support the walls of 
their buildings, the Venetians were obliged to drive piles, and upon these they 
erected the most magnificent structures. However, there had long been a settlement 
upon the Rialto, before the days of the war with Pepin, but it had not enjoyed any 
privileges that were not common to the others. 

It is said that the French built vessels to invade the islands of the Venetians, but 
they knew little of the nature of the seas that encompassed the communities. Venice 
is separated from the main waters of the Adriatic, by a long sand bank, and between 
that bank and the mainland, half a dozen miles away, is a lagoon of shallow water, 
deep enough for light vessels, but at low tide, not deep enough for heavy ones. 



702 



ITALY. 




When the Venetians were sure that Pepin would come against 
them, they sent to the Emperor of Constantinople for help, and 
he gave them a fleet for the purpose. Pepin attacked some of 
the islands, but the islanders hatl removed all their wealth to the 
Rialto, and made no struggle against him. Thinking that the 
larger islands would submit, Pepin ventured against one of them 
in his ships of war, but the tide went out, before he reached the 
island, and he was stranded in the shallow water and sticky mud, 
and could neither return to the main-land, nor advance against the 
V'enetians. This was the opportunity- for which the islanders had 
waited. In their light vessels, they surrounded the Franks, massa- 
cred them without mercy, and thus Pepin failed to conquer \'enice. 
After this for some years, the building of the city went on. 
There were several Islands nearthe Rialto, and these were con- 
cted with the main portion of Venice by wooden bridges. In 
frV'' \ ijif, «.;,•-"'■ yt;3^r ^~o. or thereabout, the Venetians determined to choose 
Early Italian fosm.m-. for thcmsclves a patron .Saint, whose duty it should be to guard 
their city, while in return they would address prayers to him and offer rich gifts at his 
shrine. St. Mark was the saint they selected, and they sent to .Alexandria were he 
was buried, solemnly removed his bones to Venice and built a splendid church above 
them. They reared huge pillars upon which they caused splendid lions to be 
carved, for the lion was supposed to be sacred to Saint Mark, and their war-cry, upon 
land and sea, was tlic name of their saint. 

The Venetians had shown much cleverness in allying themselves to Constanti- 
nople, for they could expect much more for there commerce when protected by the 
Emperor of the East, than if tiiey had placed themselves untier that of Charlemagne 
and his successors. The rich traffic of the Levant was theirs and they were the 
carriers of goods even from India and China. The Slavonian tribes, on the eastern 
boundary of their possesions, contested with them for supremacy in the Adriatic, and 
they were subjected to the jealousy of every maritime nation of the South of Europe, 
but still they throve and their commerce increased with the passing centuries, until 
\'enice was the richest commercial community of Southern Europe. 

In the course of time, a few little Greek cities on the Adriatic coast realized that 
it would be better for their commerce were they allied to the Venetians, than should 
they stand alone, and be their rivals. They were therefore joined to Venice and 
shared her fortunes and misfortunes. Still later, V^enice gained the mastery of 
several of the Lombard cities that were threatened by the Franks, and so grew in 
power and influence on every side. 

In the year 1085 Venice received, from the Emperors of the East, the provinces 
of Dalniatia and Croatia, and the taxes upon its commerce that had been collected 
by them from the early times was now declared abolished and thus Venice received 
another great impulse toward wealth and honor. When the First Crusade was 
preached throughout all Europe it found a response in the heart of the Venetians, 
who had become more and more Catholic as time went on. They had no army to 
send by land, but they had a fleet and they sent it out, less perhaps to aid the 
crusaders than to increase their own commercial fame. They were successfull and 
secured the bones of another saint to bury in their city. Soon after the first crusade 
a dreadful fire raged upon the islands of t'enice. It burned all of the wooden 



ITALY. 103 

buildings and reduced the poorer part of the population to great distress. There is 
no public misfortune but that has within it the seed of good, and this fire though a 
sad thing at the time, was the best thing that could have happened to Venice. The 
wooden buildings were replaced by beautiful and durable marble and stone, and 
Venice henceforth bore the name of Queen of the Adriatic. 

Baldwin I., who followed Godfrey, of Bouillon upon the throne of Jerusalem, 
determined early in his reign to take from the Saracens all of the ports in Palestine 
that they still held. The Venetians were interested in this undertaking, and their 
Doge sent a hundred galleys to aid the crusader king. The Christians were suc- 
cessful, and in return, as his share of the booty of the East, the Doge of Venice 
asked to be allowed to have In each of the possessions of the Christians in Palestine, 
a mill, a bakery, church, street bath and an officer of the law who should represent 
the interest of Venice. This was not considered such an extravagant demand, and 
as the Doge insisted on none of the immediate gains of the crusade, Baldwin 
readily granted him what he asked. You may understand how important these con- 
cessions were to a people who made their living by trade, and soon the Venetians 
had enlarged their commerce until it reached to every part of the Holy Land. They 
brought home, for their rich merchants, the most beautiful and costly things for the 
adornment of their palaces. Having no land upon which to spend their gains, 
naturally enough, the Venetians either placed it all in their commercial enterprises, or 
enriched their dwellings with it, and thus in the course of time they were surrounded 
by more beauty and luxury, more of the works of art and of the products of the 
East, than any other city of Europe. 

Early in the twelfth century, the Turks began to play a part in the history of 
Western Asia, and when the Mohammedans in Palestine gained certain power, and 
harrassed the Christians, the Doge sent out another fleet and captured ten great 
Turkish vessels and destroyed the Saracen fleet. They then aided the Christians to 
reduce by siege the old city of Tyre. These great victories of the Venetians aroused 
the jealousy of the Emperors of the East. Little by little, Venice had grown until 
now she overshadowed Constantinople. That city was in decline, while Venice 
was in the noon-day of her glory. To allow her the commercial priveleges that she 
had so long enjoyed, was a thing not to be thought of. She had beaten fleet after 
fleet, and it was not at all unlikely that she was only waiting an opportunity to van- 
quish Constantinople. At last the Eastern emperor determined to cripple her com- 
merce as much as he could, and he therefore commanded all Venetian merchants to 
leave every city of the empire, where they were engaged in trade, forbade Venetian 
vessels to touch at the Greek ports, and declared, that henceforth, he would have no 
relations with Venice. The Venetians waited a few months, before they gave any 
sign of the displeasure that they felt, and then they took a dreadful revenge. They 
set forth with several well-manned fleets, captured and sacked Rhodes, Samos, Andros 
and the other sea-port cities of Greece and the Ionian Islands, and, thereafter, made 
no pretense of sympathizing with Constantinople, in policy, religion, or anything 
else. 

It was in the year 1177, that Venice was solemnly wedded to the sea, for the first 
time, though we think it was a strange idea to call a city, the "Bride of the Sea," and 
to bestow eyery year, a wedding ring upon the Adriatic, and conduct all the cere- 
monies of a marriage. It came about in this way. I have told you something of the 
dreadful strife between the Guelphs and Ghibelines, that devastated Italy and Ger- 



704 



ITALY. 




man}- for so long, and you will doubtless remember, 
that when Frederick Barbarossa fell into difficulty with 
Pope Alexander III., the Pope asked the republics of 
Italy to help him against the emperor. Lombardy 
united its cities into a league, and as the Venetians 
owned several Lombard cities, \'enice was, of course, 
made a mer]iber of the league. Genoa was a bitter 
enemy of Venice at this time, and the Genoese and 
the people of Ancona, furnished Otho, the emperor's 
son, who commanded the naval forces with twenty-five 
ships, large and small, to invade the territory of Ven- 
ice, and punish the Venetians. The V'enetians brought 
thirty-four of their famous galleys against the Genoese, 
and beat them so soundly, that they were glad to hurry 
back home with what was left of their squadron. 

The Pope was so pleased at the result of the battle, 
tliat he sent the Doge a magnificent ring, and told him 
KniBh.un,! squire durinK the flrsicrusaae. that 35 Veuice was uudoubted mistress of the waters, 

she should be formally wedded to the Adriatic. There was a magnificent procession 
of priests, chanting hymns, and of artisans with banners; there was feasting and re- 
joicing, and when the ring was cast into the sea, the Doge cried out, "VVe betroth 
thee, oh sea, as our lawful and perpetual dominion." Perpetual, means forever, and 
that is a long time. Forever, is not yet accomplished, and X'enice has been for ages, 
a melancholy relic of past greatness, for out from the west of Europe came the in- 
fluence that laid her low, and destroyed her glory. 

Soon after this first wedding ceremony, the grim, old, red-bearded king, made 
his peace, for the tune being, with the Pope. The Venetians had gone on the cru- 
sades, and had always gained much by so doing, and it is not surprising to find them 
willing to engage in any crusade that was preached. In the year 1202, a brave blind 
Doge of Venice, by the name of Dandola, led the X'enetians in a crusade, but there were 
attractionsby the way to Palestine, that turned their thoughts rather to conquest than to 
thecross,and they contented themselveswith plunderingtheEmpireof Constantinople, 
and even captured the city, causing a fourth part of it to be set aside for the residence 
of \'^enetian merchants. All the laws passed by the emperors that was unfriendly to 
the Venetian commerce, were at once done away with, and Venice grew greater than 
ever. Some years later the Venetians made a sort of peace with Constantinople, but 
it was not sincere on either side, and when the Turks began to ravage Europe, it was 
because they had been called from Asia to help the Eastern emperors against V'enice. 
To be sure, the Turks took some of the Venetian conquests, but as they kept them, 
instead of restoring them to the emperor, he was soon sorry enough that he had 
asked their help, and his successors were more sorry still, but I have told you about 
that in the story of Turkey. 

Although Venice was a republic, it had its noble families who were exceedingly 
proud of their descent and who felt that they were far above common people whose 
parents had been honest tradesmen and nothing more. Those nobles were so 
haughty that the haughtiness of the nobles of France, England and even Spain was 
as nothing when compared to theirs. As the city became greater and its possessions 




THE SARACEN El.EE'I' DESTRDVlli 1;V THE DOCE UE VENICE 



7o6 ITALY. 

increased, these nobles were made the rulers of the various cities and islands that 
beloncjed to the republic, with the title of duke or count. While in the rest of 
Europe, the counts had large tracts of land upon which their tenants lived, and for 
which they paid in gold or produce, and were also obliged to serve their lord a 
certain term each year in the field should he be engaged in war, the Venetian nobles 
were situated differently. They had no landed estates, no Vasals and no slaves, 
except those that they bought from among conquered peoples. All the lords of 
Northern Europe, while they had many faithful friends among the common people, 
also had many enemies, who regarded them as cruel masters, and the laws by 
which they were bound to them as most unjust. Every power that they gained 
was at the expense of the king, who joined with the people of the free cities in 
attempting to curb the great lords. The Venetian nobles, however proud they were 
of their blue blood, were compelled to engage in trade and commerce, like the rest 
of the commuuity, and the laws that were good for the body of the people, were 
therefore the laws that served their individual interests best. 

The people reverenced their long descent sufficiently to allow them to rule over 
them, but they elected the Doges themselves from among the great families, and at 
first, they did not feel themselves as subject to them on account of their ancestry. 
After Venice became a great city, it was the practice for the great families to meet 
together and consult regarding the best laws for the city. Some of these great 
families had, at first, not been noble, but they had so much wealth and influence that 
they readilv succeeded in having themselves considered so, and as there were about 
five hundred of these families they formed, with their friends and supporters, a party 
so large that those, who had no desire to be governed by them could not help them- 
selves. These heads of great families selected, from among themselves, some man 
who posessed the qualities they wanted in a ruler, and he was named as Doge, and by 
their votes was elected to the ofihce. The Doge was not obliged to ask the opinion 
of any parliament or assembly of the populace concerning his laws, but only con- 
sulted the members of the council of the great families, from whom also he selected 
all the officers to administer the affairs of the Republic. It became the practice to 
divide up these officers among the great families, and from father to son, to continue 
the same office in the same family. 

All this time the people had a show of voting, and it was long before they 
learned that their republic, of which they were so proud, and of which they had so 
long boasted, was not a republic at all, and that a powerful aristocracy had grown up 
in their midst, that threatened all of their liberties. In the year 1289, they deter- 
mined to elect the Doge themselves, without the help of the council of the great 
families, and they did so. They had high hopes that he would restore to them their 
liberties and make them truly free, but the aristocrats were too strong for him. 
They gathered in force, drove the new Doge from the city and placed in power a 
daring man of their own party who could hold the government. 

This man was a bold far-seeing statesman, and he persuaded the council that, as 
the same persons were always elected to office each year, or their sons, should they 
(lie, it would be better to do away entirely with a form of election by the people, and 
select ten councillors from among the nobles, who were to have a power above all 
the laws, and whose duty it was to watch the nobles and see that they did not infringe 
any of the rights of the republic. These ten judges were not accountable to any- 
body, and they could order any citizen to death, and there was no appeal from what 



ITALY. 



707 




they said. They met in secret, and in secret they ''id 
many a dark deed. Thus, the aristocracy of Venice 
was recognized by law and became in the course of 
time the most cruel and powerful in the world. Yet in 
spite of their cruelty, they could not exercise it except 
against their personal enemies, and where their own 
personal affairs were not concerned they could be just, 
economical and wise. The subject, for whom they 
had no cause for hatred, could apply to them against 
any outrage that had been committed by. his enemies, ^^ 
and be sure that the council would aid him, and on "y. f 
account of the fact that all of the malice of the rulers 
was exercised against the nobles, the common people 
thought highly of the council of ten and for a long ^;2 
time it was supreme in Venice. The rulers of the re- 
public knew how to increase the wealth of the city, 
encourage its commerce, and add to its prosperity, ami 
so long as they did what they were appointed to do, all 
parties were satisfied, though the nobles trembled when oogc and Dogaressa 

they thought the attention of the council of ten was directed toward theni, 
and were careful not to do anything that would bring them within its power. 

The time came when the council of ten was a council of tyrants with its secret 
spies everywhere, its dungeons, its tortures and its hired murderers. The people began 
to hate it with all their hearts, and longed for the liberty that earlier had been theirs. 
It was not enough for them that their city was the Queen of the Adriatic, the chief 
commercial and manufacturing community of the world, and famous for its learning, 
arts and beautiful architecture. All of those things were matters of pride to them, 
but they longed for liberty, and the tyranny of the nobles galled them dreadfully. 
However, the people themselves had lost the bravery that characterized them in the 
early days, and thought they vastly prefered to hire substitutes, and remain quietly at 
home in their counting houses. Thus when the Turks were called into Europe by 
the Emperor of the East, Venice, with all her wealth, could make no effectual stand 
against them, though in the long wars that she waged against their gradual encroach- 
ments, her treasure was wasted, and her commerce ruined. 

Still, Venice might have recovered her former strength as a commercial city, when 
the Turks had been beaten back by the Hungarians and Austrians, and their con- 
quests limited by the great powers, had not a force, against which she was powerless, 
arisen. In the year i486, Vasco de Gama, a bold Portuguese navigator, had sailed 
down the coast of Africa, and discovering the Cape of Good Hope, entered the 
Indian Ocean by that route. Venice had always been the distributing point for 
Europe, and the Mediterranean, the highway to Western Asia, whence trade was 
carried on across the deserts lying between the West and the far East, by means of 
caravans. Now, these long and dangerous journeys could be avoided, and cargoes 
from England, France, Germany and other European countries, carried directly by 
sea to the ports for which they were destined. The discovery of the Cape of Good 
Hope was followed by that greater discovery, that of a land beyond the Atlantic, and 
suddenly, the whole of Western Europe began to build ships and sail here and there, 
where heretofore, only the Venetians had ventured. They carried cargoes to the 



:o8 



ITALY. 



#v 



East and West, and Venice lost the carryinjr trade that had made her famous. 

Notwithstanding that \'enice had lost the kingdom of the ocean, and had never 
possessed as large a territory as man)' other southern European powers, she was still 
a force in politics. In the sixteenth century, she tried to grasp more territory, but the 
other Italian republics would not permit it, and formed a league hostile to \enice. 
-A hundred years more of war with the Turks, drained the treasury' of \'enice to the 
dregs, yet still she battled, as bravel)' as her resources would permit, against her 

Christain enemies. She hated Spain intensely, ami when Philip I. 

persecuted the Xetherlanders, A'enice, from motives of policy, matle 
an alliance with the Dutch. The \'enetians were Catholic; but so 
were the Spaniards, who were sailing the seas, and taking their trade 
in the far east from them. A little later, the Dutch did the same, 
but the \'enetians could not see into the future. 

During the Thirty Years War, \'enice supported the Protestant 
cause, and nearly came to blows with Spain on that account. In 1645, 
\ enice was forced into another disastrous war with the Turks, that 
lasted for twenty-five years, and though the citizens fought with the 
courage which always distinguished them in a war for commercial 
power, the}' were worsted. Later in the century, X'enice joined with 
Emperor Leopold, and John Sobieski, king of Poland, in another 
Turkish war, which was the last of its long struggles against the Ot- 
toman Empire. It lost Morea, and from that time, its decline was 
rapid. X'enice took no part in the wars of the Spanish and Austrian 
succession. She had fallen from her proud estate, as mistress of the 
seas. Her debt was enormous, her government tyrannical and 
cruel, her commerce and manufactures in decay. Robbers plun- 
dered her on every hand, and her enemies increased as her 
strength waned. 

W hen the French Revolution set Europe in a blaze of 
e.xcitement, the senate of Venice, though 











:V 






>*.?s 



Street Scene In Venice. 



it feared and hated the republican prin- 
ciples of the French, would enter into no 
coalition against them. It hesitated and 
dallied, when Napoleon marched into 
Lombardy in 1796, but in 1797, deceived 
by the Austrians, who declared the French 
had been worsted at Tagliamento; they 
declared against Napoleon, and massacred 
the French throughout \'enetian territory ; 
not even sparing four hundred sick am! 
wounded soldiers in the hospitals. Na- 
poleon at once declared war upon Venice. 
Austria made peace with France, and 
refused to aid the \'enetians, and unaided 
by the allies upon which they had counted, 
the citizens could not maintain themselves 
against the French. X^enice fell, and 



ITALY. 709 

through the treachery of Austria, was in 1S05, made a part of the kingdom of Italy. 

The ancient cities of Italy, all had walls in the early days, for it was necessary to 
thus defend the communities. When the barbarians from the North, swept over 
Italy, they thre\v down the walls and made themselves masters. The people lost the 
spirit of their ancestors, and made no attempt to rebuild their walls, until the ninth 
century, when the Northmen began to swarm southward. The emperors had not 
armies to grant the cities for their defense and were obliged to permit them to build 
walls. The smaller towns imitated the larger, and walls became the shelter of the 
people on the least alarm. Here was a means of defending wealth, and preserving 
it from the grasp of robbers; but to the strong walls were added well-trained soldiers, 
and the cities felt perfectly secure from their foos. To be sure, there were lords, 
noblemen and priests, who regarded those cities as their property', but when the cities 
were in a position to defy them, they did so. The spirit of freedom was nourished 
by the self-dependence of the people, and the security given to life and property. 
Thus upon the ruins of Roman and barbarian rule, grew up republics, which were to 
instruct all of Europe in the art of self-government, and to show them how excellent 
a thing was liberty'. These republics, too. .preserved the arts and cultures of Rome, 
when otherwise, they might have perished from the earth, and to them we owe so 
much in law, poetry, art. science and religion, that it should be a pleasure to learn of 
them. 

There is one of these republics of Italy, in whose story Americans take a peculiar 
interest, for there was born Christopher Columbus; though what he did for mankind 
was so mighty, that the whole world claims him as its citizen. Genoa, unlike many 
of the other cities of Italy, had never lost its walls. Through all the troublesome 
years of the Lombard rule, it had preserved its independence. To be sure, the 
Emperor of Constantinople claimed a shadowy sort of right over Genoa, but he con- 
tented himself by telling the citizens, in so many words, that they must hold their own; 
that he had neither the wnll nor the way to help the city against its foes. 

Genoa was a very old town when the Normans gained a foothold in Italj-, and 
was amply able to defend itself and its possessions from those conquerors. It is 
situated at the foot of the Ligurian Alps, open on one side to the sea, and early 
disputed with Venice for the carrj-ing trade of the Mediterranean. Its people were 
compelled to protect, by their swords, the commerce they carried on. from one end of 
the Mediterranean sea to the other, and they often came into conflict with the Saracen 
pirates. These Saracens had conquered the Balearic Islands, Sardinia and Corsica, 
and harassed Italian commerce dreadfully, for a long time. In the latter part of the 
ninth centur}', they actually entered Genoa, and burning and pillaging, carried ever>-- 
thing before them, until they were beaten off. Pisa. too. another seaport town, a 
little farther south, was troubled by them, and finally Genoa and Pisa united to drive 
the Saracens from Sardinia. After a long struggle, they succeeded in their under- 
taking, and also conquered the Balearic Isles, and the land was divided among the 
most illustrious families of the two cities, and held as fiefs to them. 

When the first crusade was preached in Europe. Genoa was one of the famous 
cities of the Mediterranean, and the three republics. X'enice. Genoa and Pisa, had 
more vessels upon the Mediterranean, than had all the rest of Europe together. 
Like Venice. Genoa aided the Christians in Palestine with a fleet, and stores of 
provisions and supples for war. and was rewarded by commercial privileges in Pales- 
tine. The division that had been made of the lands of Sardinia and the Balearic 



•lO 



ITALY. 



Islands, between the Pisans and Genoese, was the subject of many quarrels between 
the two cities, and more than once there had been war on account of it Pisa was a 
great and beautiful city, with a leaning tower, that was considered one of the wonders 
of the world, and with public buildings of such magnificence, that they were admired 
even by the critical Venetians. In the year 12S2, the Pisans and the Genoese fell to 
quarrelling again. Both covered the sea with numerous tleets, and finally both 
assembled the whole fighting strength of their respective cities for a decisive conflict 
upon the seas. Fortune favored the Genoese, and nearly at the same place where 
the Pisans had defeated them in a battle forty years before, the forces of the 
two cities met, and fought a fierce battle. The glory of Pisa on the ocean was lost 
from that day. P'ive thousand of the citizens fell inthehtrhr. and ten thousand were 




TUF. CITV OK GKNOA. 

taken captive. The prisoners refused to allow their countrymen to ransom them by 
p-iving up the Pisan possessions in Sardinia, and passed their life in captivity. The 
fishermen along the coast enrolled themselves under the banner of Genoa, and Pisa 
could no longer boast that she was the equal of Venice and of her victorious rival. 

Genoa, after the conquest of the Pisans, had only one rival, and that was \'enice. 
The fleet of the Genoese, and that of the Venetians, came to blows over a trifling 
matter in the year 1293, in the sea near Cyprus, and this affair led to a bloody naval 
war that lasted seven years. Wherever a Genoese ship and a Venetian galley crossed 
each other's path in the waters, they at once fell to fighting and continued until one 
or the other was conquered. Finally, after the war had lasted some five years, Lamba 
Doria, one of the famous nobles of Genoa, met the fleet of Dandola. of Venice, at 



ITALY. 711 

the extremity of the Adriatic Gulf, burnt sixty-six of his galleys, took eighteen of 
them, with seven thousand prisoners on board, and returned in triumph to Genoa. 
The Venetians were so ashamed of this defeat, and so fearful that the Genoese would 
gain further glory by the war, that they csked, humbly enough, for peace, which the 
Genoese, who were no less tired of a war which interfered with their favorite occu- 
pation, commerce, granted them after awhile. 

The glory of Genoa was greatly increased by the conquest of these two great 
Italian cities, and her people were called "the bravest and most fortunate of the 
Italians," but like many other nations and private individuals, who are the envy of 
the world on account of the favors which fortune has bestowed upon them, they had 
their own troubles, and these were hard to bear. 

The nobles of Genoa hatl.in the early days of the republic, built their castles in 
strong places on the Ligurian mountains, and there, as in Northern Europe, were 
peasants, who tilled the soil for them and engaged themselves to perform certain 
military services. There were four great families, in particular, who had many fol- 
lowers and great wealth, the Doria, Spinola, Grimaldi and Fieschi. These families 
hated one another heartily, for all of them were greedy of place and power, and all 
of them were wealthy. This hatred was of long-standing, and gathered force with 
every passing century. 

At first, the heads of these families had held office in the State, but there was so 
much quarreling among them, and so many brawls in the streets, that resulted in 
bloody frays, where life and property were sacrificed to no good purpose, that for the 
sake of peace, the Genoese declared they would stand it no longer. They dared 
not take it upon themselves to decide the merits of the quarrels, and as the simplest 
method of ridding themselves of the constant disturbances, refused to allow any 
member of the rival families to hold office. Instead of thus quenching the hatred, it 
grew as fast as before, and when the Guelph and Ghibbelines took sides for or 
against the reigning Emperor of Germany, who was really the over-lord of the 
Italian republics, the Dorias and the Spinolas took sides with the Ghibelines, while 
the Fieschis and the Grimaldis became Guelphs. Their peasants and retainers armed 
themselves in the cause of their masters, and for a long time Genoa was torn by 
dissensions. 

Although these lords could none of them hold office in the State, in time of diffi- 
culty or danger, when the Genoese wanted an admiral for their fleet, or a general for 
their land forces, they always took them from the four great families. The people 
had become accustomed to obeying them, and many of them were drawn into their 
quarrels. 

Genoa was governed by a council called a "Podesta," and when the Podesta found 
that they could not make the Guelphs and Ghibelines obey the laws, they appealed 
to the emperor, Henry \'II., of Germany, who was then in' Italy, and asked him to 
reduce the unruly nobles to order. They gave the emperor complete power over the 
republic for twenty years, by a solemn agreement, but they were soon sorry, for he was 
not a man who could be trusted where hi? own interests were at stake, and though he 
promised to preserve the liberties of the people, he had that convenient faculty of 
forgetting his word, that has often been noticed in kings and princes. One of his 
first acts, after he had subdued the nobles, was to do away with the Podesta, and then 
with the office of "defender of the people," which was also a peculiar institution in 
Genoa. 



712 



ITALY. 



The Genoese loved their liberty, but like most commercial people they loved 
money too. Not content with taking the one, Henry ne.xt demanded an immense sum 
as a gift. The Genoese now realized that they had enacted the fable of the stork 
and the frogs, and they raised such an uproar that Henry was glad enough to get 
away secretly and silently with his life. 

\'enice and Genoa were at war, with intervals of peace, for nearly a century, and 
those battles upon the sea are so full of romantic interest that I should like to tell of 
them. The Uandolas of Venice and the Dorias of Genoa gained great iamc. by 
these wars, but both republics lost millions of treasure and thousands of brave men, 
when it would have been much better for them to have come to an agreement and 
divide the trade, of which each wanted the whole. When the Venetians conquered 
Constantinople, and established themselves as masters of a quarter of the city, the 




iiii" cnv or II. OKI \' I . 

Genoese garrisoned a place in the suburbs, and there menaced their commerce. It 
was not long before they came to blows, and another war and endless quarrels were 
the result of their conflict for the supremacy of the seas. At last Venice won the 
mastery, but Genoa never ceased the struggle. 

In one of these wars, a fleet of the Genoese was totally destroyed, and a man 
named Visconti, of whom I shall tell you something when I relate the story of Milan, 
gave them the money for the rebuilding of their ships. This was not charity on the 
part of \'isconti. for he demanded that the Genoese make him ruler of their republic, 
promising, of course, that their interests were the dearest object of his heart, and 
that he loved them and their liberty too well to do anything but what was good for 
them. 'I'h-; Genoese had evidently forgotten the incident of Henry's brief rule and 



ITALY. 713; 

that the promises of tyrants, and especially of priestly tyrants, such as Visconti, were 
not greatly to be trusted. He was made ruler, and the rebuilding of their fleet cost 
them their liberty, for he kept none of his promises, and had strength enough to 
maintain his authority in Genoa, against the wishes and best interests of the people. 

In the year 1499, the French who had invaded Italy took Genoa, and for nearly 
thirty years the republic was subject to France, and French rulers governed it in the 
interests of their master. The people never forgot the days when they were victors 
of the sea and famous upon land; when all Europe rang with their martial deeds and 
even their enemies granted them admiration. The Dorias, especially, hated the 
French rule, and in the year 1528, gallant Andrea Doria drove the French out of the 
republic and declared that he would found a free government again. Italy was 
sadly opressed at this time, for since the days when Charles VII. of France, entered 
Italy, Germans, French and Spanish soldiers had made raids into its fair provinces 
and attacking its rich cities, had carried away their treasure. Freedom, so dearly 
loved by the Italians, was then only a name, and the refounding of the government 
of Genca sent a thrill of hope through the other free-hearted patriots of the 
peninsula. Doria had not the idea of freedom held in these days. He was a noble, 
and at heart thought that while the common people were excellent in their way, they 
should obey the nobles that Providence had set above them. The old rivalry 
between the four great houses was not dead, and no sooner was Andrea firmly esta- 
blished in office than a Fieschi began plotting to overthrow him. The plot might 
have succeeded, had not Fieschi died just at the point when his courage and 
wisdom were the most needed by the plotters, and knowing that among them- 
selves there was no man, who could cope with Doria and his party, they gave over 
the attempt. 

The Genoese had always been proud of the deeds of the Doria family. In the 
old days, some of their greatest victories over their enemies had been won under the 
leadership of the house of Doria, and they were willing enough, that under the high- 
sounding name of "the Father of his Country," Andrea Doria, and his nephew, who 
had aided him in driving out the French, should hold all the real power. To be 
sure, the Fieschi objected. The Fieschi were Guelphs, and the Guelphs, throughout 
their history, had always loved freedom. Doria dealt harshly with all the Genoese 
who had favored Fieschi's plot, but it was more because the plan had originated with 
the hated house, than because it was unpatriotic. The Fieschi and their friends 
hated the house of Austria, which was then the ruling house of Spain, and declared 
that the emperor was a tyrant, to whom the spirit of liberty was a stranger. Doria 
had attached Genoa to the house of Austria, and not only did the plot contemplate 
the unseating of Doria, but ^Iso the detachment of the city from the emperor. It 
was a sad thing for Genoa that it did not succeed. 

The foreigners, who had, from time to time, ruled over the republic, had done all 
in their power to enrich themselves, and their masters, at the expense of the Genoese, 
and the Austrians were not different from the rest, but they had not the opportunity 
to exercise much tyranny, for the Genoese were determined to keep up the name of 
the republic, though it was dependent upon the empire. What little independence 
was left to them, they cherished most jealously, and though the emperor, more than 
once, tried to over-awe them into submitting entirely to his will, they persevered in 
their intention to remain a republic, at least in name. 

There was a great book in Genoa which was called "the Golden Book," and in 



714 



ITALY. 



this all the names of the nobles of Genoa, who had a right to sit in the council, were 
recorded. Among these, there were none except the ancient nobility, of which there 
were only abouf a hundred and seventy, while more than four hundred of the nobles, 

whose titles were not so old, 

but who owned castles lands 

and wealth, were not allowed 

to sit in the council, or have 

any share in the government. 

.Among these new nobles was a 

man by the name of Julius CcC- 

sar \'achero, who had great 

wealth, and who kept in his jjal- 

ace, a number of ruffians, wlioni 

he hired to kill any one that 

displeased him. The judges of 

Genoa were afraid of \achero, 

for they knew that siiould one of 

^ them give a decision that angered 

5 him. the dagger of a hiddin inur- 

-: derer was sure to find him and 

_ lay him low. X'achero was nt)t 

"' the only noble of Genoa who 

- kept a large train of hired 
"^ ruffians. Many of the new no- 
: bility had them at their com- 
^ niantl, and they joined Vachero 

- in a plot to kill all the old nobil- 

- ity, make a new constitution for 
£ Genoa, and place the republic 
-i under the protection of the 
: Duke of Savoy, who was in 
I league with the conspirators. 
^ In some way the council learned 
3 of the plan, and arrested the 

ring-leaders. They were execu- 
ted, and affairs in Genoa went 
on smoothly enough, though the 
city had begun to decline long 
before. 

Louis XIV, who, though lie 
was called "The Grand Mon- 
arch." often showed himself ex- 
tremely petty, demanded that 
the Genoese should establish 
a depot at Savona, one of their 
ports, to supply one of the 
French fortresses with salt and 
munitions of war. Tlie Genoese, 




ITALY. -,5 

very properly, refused a demand whose performance would have involved them in 
trouble with other countries, and imperiled their independence. Louis XIV. 
thereupon sent a fleet to bombard the city, and for three days, shot and shell were 
poured upon Genoa, until the city was nearly ruined. Had not the Doge and four 
senators humbly apologized to the French commander, and hurried off to Paris to 
make their peace with the king, there would probably not have been left one stone 
upon another in the city. 

Genoa went from bad to worse, for fifty years after the bombardment of which 
I have told you. Its Doges were tyrants of the worst sort, its manufactures and com- 
merce decayed, and its subjects frequently revolted. When the war of the Austrian 
Succession broke out, Genoa opened its gates to the Austrians, but the excesses that 
were committed by the foreigners enraged the Genoese to that pitch, that they rose 
against them and drove them out of the city. The peace of Aix la Chapelle, in 
1748, gave independence to Genoa, under the protection of France, and so it 
remained until 1797, when Napoleon re-organized it under the new name of the 
Ligurian Republic. In 1S05, it was united to France. 

Lying at the base of the Appenine mountains, which like a spinal column, runs 
the length of the Peninsula of Italy, and near the northern part of the western 
portion, is the old city of Florence. The Arno, fresh from the snows of the moun- 
tains, flows through the town, and spanned by numerous bridges, divides it into two 
unequal portions. From these bridges, the snowy crests of the Appenines may be 
seen in winter, and their verdant slopes, in summer, are like a green wall, or screen 
behind the beautiful city. On one side of the Arno, are ruins of a solidly built wall, 
so huge and strong, that one has only to look at it, to recall that it was erected in the 
far, far past, and by those strange people, whom the Romans called Etruscans, for 
Florence is but the extension of the old Etruscan town of F"iesole, which before the 
days of the Ctesars, was a trading town of Etruria. 

The Etruscans, or Tuscans, as they are now called, for some reason loved to 
perch their villages upon the crests of hills, but the traders who brought their wares 
there, to exchange them for some of the many marvelous things, that the Etruscans 
were famed tor manufacturing, objected to carrying their burdens to the top of the 
height, and arranged that the Fiesolians should meet them at the bottom of the hill, 
upon market days. In the course of time, houses sprang up at the foot of the slope, 
and increased and multiplied, until Florence was a considerable town. When Sulla 
held the reins of government in Rome, he sent out a Roman colony to Florence, 
and as the country about the town was exceedingly lovely, as well as healthy, it soon 
became a favorite place of residence for many rich Roman citizens. 

I am particular in thus telling you about Florence, because to this old Italian city 
the world owes a debt that it will never be able to repay. What Athens was to 
Greece, Florence was to Italy. It was the Alexandria of Europe, the wonderful 
center of art and architecture, of learning, patriotism, freedom, and all of those grand 
influences that we have inherited from the past. It gave to us Galileo, and the tower 
is still standing, from which he used to view the heavens at night, and watching the 
motions of the stars and planets, came to the conclusion that the earth did move. 
His idea of the motion of the earth, was suggested by the oscillation of a pedulum in 
the tower of Pisa. You know how he was arrested by Pope Urban, and after 
weary months in jail, was compelled to renounce his doctrine of the motion of the 
earth, in a solemn oath taken upon his knees, and how he whispered to himself as he 
arose, "and still it moves." 



7i6 



ITALY. 




•^^^.v^ 



i>.i 



M .• 



I sa)' that Florence gave to the world 
Cialilen. because, though the philosopher was 
born at I'isa, his father and mother were Flor- 
entines; but Galileo belongs to the later history 
of Florence, ami I only mention him here 
that you may be enough interested in the 
story of the republic, to read the narrative 
carefully. Giotto, who built a famous and 
beautiful tower, Pante, the great poet, Savon- 
arola, the pure-hearted priest and patriot. 
Leonarda di X'inci, and many other noble and 
great men were Florentines, and though their 
bones have been dust for centuries, what they 
thought and did. remains a precious gift to all 
the ages, a heritage that neither war nor time 
can destroy. 

I'lorence shareil the fate of the rest of the 
Roman empire, anil though flourishing and no- 
teil for its manufactures of jewelry and various 
kind of ornaments, in the days of Charlemagne, 
it had no worUl-wiile fame, such as it afterward 



gained. There was a certain noble family tli.it held a sort of claim over I'Kirence, 
in the eleventh century, and when the last of that family died, she willed it to the 
Pope. Before that time. Florence had long been ruled by a duke, aided by certain 
citizens, but now it took the constitution of a free city, and its progress was remark- 
able. Its merchants had branch houses in France. England and the I-!ast, and 
the manufactures of Florence were thought highly of by all nations. The spirit 
of freedom that had always been noteil in the Florentines, was nourishetl by their 
institutions, anil though the people of most of the Italian republics loved their native 
cities, the Florentines were the most patriotic ami devoted of all. 

While all the rest of Italy was torn with the quarrels of the Guelphs and Ghibel- 
ines.the I'lorentines succeeded in keeping free from outside strife for a longtime. They 
had demonstrated to the German emi>erors. that they would not tamely suffer any in- 
terferance with their affairs, as early as the year 1 1 1 v when they had ilefeated the army 
he had sent against them. They were finally drawn into the quarrel of the Guelphs 
and the Ghibelines. through strife in their midst. .Mthough the republic itself had 
not taken sides in the struggle, many of its people had done so. There was a certain 
lord named Buondelmonti. who was engaged to marry a lovely girl, whose father was 
of the noble family of Amidei. Roth were rich and prominent in the city, and 
the engagement had been widely published. For some reason, the Buon- 
delmonti concluded that he would not marry his betrothed, and instead, went to a 
Guelph lord, whom he knew well, and asked the hand of his daughter. It was 
granted to him. and he married her. This deadly insult, to the family of .\midei, 
could not be passed lightly. It is not likely that any of them cared much about the 
poor, jilted lady, but they all thought themselves personally insulted that she had 
been cast off for a Guelph. and they armed themselves to take revenge upon the false 
lover. All of the Ghibelines, of Florence, took the part of the Amidei. while the 
Guelphs sided with Buondelmonti. and the scorned maiden was no doubt a happy 



ITALY. . 7,7 

\vif(j, mulhur, and even yrandmollier. before the quarrel was settle*]; for tli'-ugh 
Buondelmonti himself, was stabbed as he was crossing one of the many bridges of 
the Arno, the Guelphs and the Ghibelines fought, in the city for thirty-three years, 
and made the republic miserable by th^-ir blood-slied. At first, tlie feeling was ex- 
tremely bitter, but it became blunted as time went fui, and the f-Iorentines in spite of 
their political dilferences, had the good sense to be united in an effort to improve the 
administration of affairs in their city. 

Venice, f-'isa, Genoa and some of the other Italian cities that were originally 
republics, in the course of time showed a tendency to entrust their affairs to a single 
]jerson, (.)r set of persons, but the Florentines had a truer idea of liberty, and di'l not 
make that mistake. Under the Roman form of government they had consuls, but 
they did away with them, and instead, divided the city into six portitjns; each portion 
being entitled to two officers or magistrates, who were elected every year for the 
making and carrying out of the laws. One of these magistrates in every district had 
charge of all the peaceful affairs, such as seeing that the laws were enforced and 
bringing about the punishment of those who broke them; the other was the captain 
of the people, and harl charge of the company of young men in his district who were 
• •nroUed for the defense of the republic. There were twenty such companies of 
soldiers in the city itself, and ninety-six in the country. 

The Florentines had seen enough of the dissensions of great families to make 
them wise, and that no family in the city should gain too much power, they made a 
law, which provided that beside these twelve magistrates there should be elected two 
others, who were born in some other place than Florence, and who were the supreme 
authority, exercising a certain control over the twelve. 

This system worked well for some years, but an unfortunate civil war abolished 
it for the time. Manfred attacked the Guelphs, defeated them in battle, and 
became the possessor of Florence. He established a council of aristocrats, and would 
even have destroyed the city, because he hated the spirit of liberty among its people, 
had not the Florentine (ihibelines themselves indignantly refuserl to allow it. 

I have told you, elsewhere, how Manfred was killed in battle, and how after that 
ITorence restored the government of the people. 1 ler troubles were not yet ended, 
however. The nobles had grown so bold and quarrelsome in the years they had 
been in power, that the Morentines were disgusted, and all the more, as now when 
they were out of power, they were more turbulent than ever, and they would not keep 
the peace. You must know that very early in the history of the Italian cities, indeed 
almost as soon as the emperors had allowed them to rebuild their walls, the citizens 
were permitted to assemble at the ringing of the great bell of their town for the pur- 
pose of going out to battle, or of transacting any public business. 

The fighting men of every city were divided into separate bodies, each following 
their own standard-bearer. They fought on foot, assembled around a sort of car 
drawn by oxen, which supported the flags of their city, and in the midst of those 
flags, upon a tall pole, was the standard of the Republic, and a figure of Christ with 
outstretched arms. This car was considered sacred by the free cities, and the soldiers 
would suffer anything rather than lose it. They would sacrifice their lives to protect 
it, and when it was captured were inconsolable until they recovered it. The Floren- 
tines thought so much of their standard that they elected their standard-bearer as 
the highest officer in the State, and he was chosen anew every two months from 
among the representatives of the arts, commerce, and the trades. One of the nobles, 



;i8 



ITALY. 




a very patriotic man, proposed to the gonfaloner, or stan- 
dard-bearer, that the quarrelsome nobles should be 
brought to terms. He was a noble himself, Init that made 
no difference. 

The (iuelph nobles had so long been at the head of 
affairs in Florence that they had grown to consider iluin- 
seives as above the law, and for that reason it was sug- 
gested that their very nobility should be just cause why 
they never again should have a part in the government. 
Tliirty-seven of these families were forever barred, by 
law, from any share in the government, and it was decreed 
that hereafter when they murdered any of their enemies, 
or committed any offense against the peace, they should 
be arrested and punished without trial. This seems un- 
just, but magistrates in those days, as in all others, were 
""''"' not above the influence of money, and their trials of the 

noble Guelphs usually ended in the acquittal of the accused, even though his guilt 
was well established. Worse than all, it was decreed that if any common citizen 
persisted in breaking the peace and disturbing his neighbors, was not obedient to the 
laws, and did not behave himself well, that he should be declared a noble by the 
State, and then he, too, could be punished without trial, his house destroyed, and him- 
self banished from the city. 

The city thought itself fortunate to be able to banish its nobles, but these nobles, 
once outside the town, built strong castles in the mountains, surrounded themselves 
with armed retainers and continued their quarreling. There were two in particular 
who were accounted the richest, not only in the republic but in all Italy, in a ilay 
when private persons held enormous wealth. One of these families was divided 
into two branches, the Bianchi and the Xeri, which in ICnglish means the Black and 
White. These two branches fell to quarreling in their castles and mountain 
retreats and wherever a Black met a White, he straightway fell upon him tooth and 
nail. Their dreadful deeds alarmed the smaller towns and one of these were they 
had much property and where they were continually meeting by chance, fighting in 
season and out of season, banished them. Florence thougth it was now time for her 
to interfere and try to pacify this family. To do so, she invited them to return to the 
city, thinking that their own quarrels would prevent them taking up any grievance 
of the Guelphs, for both the Blacks and the Whites were (juelphs. This was a 
mistake. The Neri united with the Guelphs and the Bianchi with the (ihibelines, 
and their dissensions spread until every city and town in that part of Italy was in 
turmoil. The Pope thought that he could make peace, but he was a higli tempered 
old man who had no patience with anybody who would not agree with him, and 
being bitterly offended by the blacks, he joined the whites and to restore peace in 
Florence called Charles of Calois with eight hundred cavalry into the place. Before 
the Florentines would open a single one of the eight gatf^s in the six miles of wall 
that encircled their citj-, they made the French prince promise to obey their laws 
and limited his authority. Once within the town, Charles threw his promises to tht; 
winds. He joined the Neri and allowed them to do as they would with their 
enemies. Those whom they hated most they were permitted to kill. They were 
allowed to banish others, and to carry off rich heiresses against their will and marry 



ITALY. 719 

then to their sons. Those were not the days of divorce, and indeed CathoHcs do 
not believe in divorce, and once married by the ordinances of the church the 
unwilhng brides were compelled to remain married. The Guelphs who were the 
friends of the Neri took revenge for all the slights, and what they considered the 
outrages, the people of Florence had heaped upon them, and banished all those who 
had stood for the liberties of the people under the law, or who had incurred their 
displeasure. Dante, the great poet, was one of these banished patriots, as was also 
the father of Petrarch one of the sweetest of the Italian writers. 

When Charles accumulated all the gold he could carry away with him, he left 
Florence, and his name was hated ever after by the people. One would think that 
this would have been a severe lesson enough, but the Florentines repeated it after- 
ward. The Guelphs formed a sort of league against the Ghibelines in Italy, and 
there were several great cities joined to Florence in this league. One by one. the 
Florentines lost their allies, and were defeated at all points. The Pope, who had 
taken their part died, and every effort of their magistrates, to raise them a place 
where they would be safe from their enemies, failed. They had received, for many 
years, the aid of the king of Naples, and when in tlie year 1326, this old king sug- 
gested that since they thought their misfortunes were due to the incapacity of their 
magistrates, it might be a good thing to elect liis nepliew, the Duke of Athens, gov- 
ernor for a time, they assented. 

The duke had hel[)ed them on one occasion, when they were at war with Lucca, 
and had shown such bravery and good temper, that they were greatly fascinated 
by him, and they thought that when he took up the reins of government, victory 
would follow upon victor3^ and they would be peaceful and prosperous. The duke 
was a crafty fellow, who though brave and clever, hatl not a spark of honor or gener- 
osity in his nature. When he had been in Florence only a few days, he untlerstood 
clearly, all the jealousies and rivalries of the prominent citizens, and set himself to 
work to ferment them. He caused his soldiers to circulate freely among the lowest 
people of the place, and tell them that if they would make the duke ruler for life, 
they would all become rich and prosperous. He managed so, that though it was 
against every principle of the Florentines, the}' actually declared him ruler for life. 
He surrounded himself with a strong guard, and proceeded to attempt to crush out 
the spirit of freedom. 

He murdered people without form of trial, robbed right and left, and committed 
so many outrages that there were three great phits formed at the same time, though 
none of those engaged in one, knew anything of the others. These plots were for 
the deliverance of the city, and included nearly every man in Florence The duke 
suspected that something was brewing, but could not learn just what it was. He 
arrested a certain man, that he knew was suspected of complicity in the plot, and it 
happened, that without actual knowledge of events, he had secured the head of one 
of the conspiracies. There was such a tumult in the city, that he dared not have his 
prisoner killed, though he was certain, from the effect of his arrest, that he was an 
important capture. Pretending that he wished to consult with the citizens, he 
ordered three hundred of the most prominent and patriotic men of Florence to as- 
semble. He meant to kill them every one, to make way for his tyranny, and they 
knew it. The people, therefore, one by one, silently and secretly gathered in the 
various strong palaces of the city, overlooking the street along which the duke and 



ITALY. 




his cavalry would be 
obliged to pass on the 
w a >• to the meeting. 
The)' filled the gloomy 
buildings with arms and 
missiles, ami waited. 

\\ hen thesoldierscame 
proudly riding down the 
street, and were near the 
; middle of it, where there 
• was no chance for re- 
trcat, the concealed pa- 
triots came boldly out 
upon the balconies, or 
stood at the upper win- 
dows. Those who had 
cross-bows, shot arrows 
down upon the duke's 
men, those who had none, 
hurled lances and stones, tiles, and billets of wood upon them, and they were driven 
out of the city. The duke escaped in the tumult, and Florence was again free. 

The nobles thought this a good time to gain admission to the government but 
the Florentines would have none of them, and told them so in plain words and this 
was the last time they ever attempted to gain the power. Two great families from 
among the common people furnished Florence with the most capable, intelligent 
and progressive rulers for the next fifty-three years, and after that time the fortunes 
of the city were closely bound up with the house Medici. For centuries, the virtues 
of the Florentines were celebratctl all over Italy. The majority of the people were 
always found upon the side of right and justice and were honorable antl upright in 
their dealings at home and abroad. For a time after the expulsion of the Duke of 
Athens, the lower class took advantage of the popular opinion that all had ecjual 
rights in the government: a doctrine then held no where else in Europe, but which 
we know now is the right idea, but they thought that it meant they should not be 
brought under the laws. They soon realized their mistake, and Florence never 
allowed the error to be repeated. The fifty-three years when the democratic faction 
ruled were among the gramiest in the story of I'lorence. The wonderful arts which 
even now make Florence beloved of the world, grew and flourished, poets philo- 
sophers, artists and literary men made the city the center of the life of Europe, and 
the progress was one long and unbroken period, which shines forth gloriously in the 
darkness of the times. 

There was a man in Italy in the early part of the fourteenth century who exited 
some jealousy among the Florentine magistrates. He was the son of a money 
lender whose ancestors were defenders of the rights of the lower orders of people, 
and a great favorite in Florence for his immense werdth, generosity, and liberal 
ideas. This man's name was Cosmo de Medici, and he had at one time been a 
magistrate of the City. His palace was one of the finest in Italy, and there learned 
men, artists, poets, musicians, sculptors and philosophers, loved to meet and while 
enjoying the luxurious hospitality for which Cosmo was famous, talk together upon 



ITALY. 721 

the subjects that interested them. The poor never went away from the doors of the 
rich Medici empty handed, and his purse was always open to merit. He could afford 
to be generous, for he was at the head of one of the greatest mercantile houses in the 
world, that had branches in England, France, the Far East and every large city of 
Europe. 

Cosmo declared often that Florence had wasted its energies in useless wars, 
made some remarks which displeased the magistrates and was arrested and thrown 
into the great tower of the city. The citizens were then assembled by the ringing of 
the bell, as was the custom, to choose officers and to pass upon Cosmo's guilt. The 
men who had charge of the choosing of the magistrates were suspected of being 
secretly favorable to Cosmo and anxious to prevent his death or banishment, for 
they inserted among the names, some of the names of friends to the prisoner, who 
they were elected and he was set at liberty. At the next election his friends in power 
succeeded in getting others favorable to him chosen, and soon he was elected chief 
magistrate, with a friend of his named Neri Capponi as his associate in office. When 
Cosmo thus gained the power he succeeded in keeping it. He built churches 
schools and hospitals and so won the love of the people that they continued him in 
the government. Neri was the greatest statesman of his time, and by his wise policy 
in keeping Florence at peace and prosperous he, too, was continued in office. For 
many years Cosmo held all the real power of Florence and when he died those 
who had watched his course and saw how certainly it tended to the enslavement of 
their city were rejoiced. For a time there was some show of the old popular 
government, but Cosmo's son Peter, though so afflicted with the gout that he could 
neither ride nor walk but had to be carried about wherever he went, inherited along 
with the Medici wealth the family ambition. He joined with a man named Pitti 
(who built that splendid Pitti palace that still stands in Florence and bankrupted 
himself in doing it) and the two managed affairs between them, in ways known even 
now to politicians, that kept the power in their hands. Medici spent millions of 
money in bribing his creatures, and when he died, his son Lorenzo ruled as the chief 
of the Medici party. Lorenzo is known in history as "Lorenzo the Magnificent." 
because of his splendid entertainments and his generosity. It seemed that what- 
ever the Medici's undertook prospered, and though they gave away so much, their 
wealth kept on accumulating in an astonishing manner. 

.Although in his day, Lorenzo was flattered and caressed and deserved some credit 
for the encouragement he gave to art and letters, he was neither a good man nor a 
good citizen. He encouraged the Florentines in all sorts of luxury and extrava- 
gances, and had none of the virtues of his great ancestors. He had no love for 
liberty, and when he saw the spirit of independence was not quite dead in some of 
the Italian cities, he allied himself with priests and rulers, who he knew would aid him 
to crush it should it, appear in Florence. He had made vice the fashion, and vice 
grew so alarmingly that the learning which the Florentines had loved, sank into insig- 
nificance before it, and vice ran riot in the high places in Florence, and was faithfully 
copied among the lower classes. 

Among the Florentines there were some in whom the love of liberty and virtue 
was not dead, and who looked with horror upon Florence and what she had become. 
Among them was a monk by the name of Savonarola, who declared boldly and pub- 
licly that Florence would be visited with the wrath of God if it did not abandon its 
evil ways, and turn to the old pure practices of the earlier days. 



ITALY. 




1'ii|>lu:hlD Monk 



Lorenzo heard of the words of the bold monk who was celebrated 
throughout the whole city for his eloquence, learning and piety, and 
when he was very ill of a low fever, and in fear of death, sent for 
Savonarola. For some years Lorenzo had been an absolute master of 
Florence, as though he were a crowned king, but Savonarola had re- 
fused to render him any mark of respect, to visit him, or speak to him, 
He could not refuse to visit him, however, when he learned that he was 
very ill and desired to see him, and prayed beside his bed. and pointed 
the way to heaven for him. Lorenzo desired Savonarola to give him 
the absolution, which priests of the Catholic church grant to the dying 
who have made their peace with God and man. Savonarola told 
Lorenzo that he would absolve him if he would undo, as far as lay 
within his power, the evil of his life^ recall the patriots he had ban- 
ished, and give back to Florence her independence, so that his descend- 
ants could claim no power of government, but Lorenzo could not bring 
himself to do so. 

Savonarola was firm, and his courage won for him the admiration of 
all those who loved liberty, and hated the rule of the Medici. Lorenzo died withot 
relinquishing his power, and the Medici became the bane of Florence. Even in the 
days of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the women of the House of Medici began to be 
celebrated for their beauty and wickedness, and the first Catherine de Medici was 
born during his lifetime. 

Savonarola was a w^onderful man, and the people of Florence thought that he 
was a prophet, like those of old who fore-told to the Jews the events that were to 
come. He had been brought up in a convent, and it is said that his first attempt at 
preaching was a failure, because his voice was so harsh and his manner so timid and 
forbidding that nobody cared to listen to him. In spite of these defects, however, 
(and perhaps he overcame them) Savonarola soon became one of the most remarkable 
preachers of his time, for he was deeply in earnest, and was much concerned over 
the wickedness of his countrymen. 

He started first to reform the Society of Monks, of which he was a member, and 
his efforts enlisted the sympathy of the Pope, and he was made the head of the order 
in Morence. Next, he told the Florentines that God hated their wickedness, and 
frowned upon their unrighteous mode of living. So many people believed that some 
dreadful thing would happen if they did not repent, that they brought their books 
which contained light and wicked poetry and songs, their jewels, fine clothes and rich 
furniture, and piled them in a great heap before the cathedral door, and burned them, 
as a sort of a sin offering. 

Soon Savonarola began to tell them, that the true way to reform Florence was 
to change the form of government, and he found many followers. When Lorenzo, 
the Magnificant, died, his preaching became bolder. It is said that he predicted the 
coming of Charles VHI. into Italy, and when this prediction was fulfilled, he made 
more converts than ever. He declared that Florence was set apart by God, to show 
the world how his law could be made to operate in human affairs, and so much in- 
fluence did he have over his countrymen, that they drove the Medici family from the 
city, and Savonarola directed the government, though he took no title, and no office. 
He caused the strictest laws to be made against all sorts of vice, and even prohibited 
the people from wearing fine clothing, feasting and reveling. He denounced the 



ITALY. 



723 



splendor in which the 
Pope lived, and bold- 
ly declared that he 
was setting an evil 
example to the Chris- 
tian world, and sin- 
ning against heaven. 
He even intimated 
that the Pope would 
have no part in fu- 
ture bliss, if he did 
not change his ways^ 
and when these say- 
ings came to the ears 
of the Pope, he took 
back his edict which 
made Savonarola the 
head of the Domin- 
ican order of Flor- 
ence, and told him to 
come straight to 
Rome, and be tried 
as a heretic. Savon- 
arola defied the Pope^ 
and in 1497, was cur- 
sed, and declared no 
longer a member of 
the C hur ch. The 

Pope forbade good Catholics to listen to his doctrines, or give him any aid or 
comfort; but still Savonarola was not daunted. He went on preaching as before, even 
when the Medici's, who had been driven out, were returned to power by a vote of the 
fickle people. 

There was a monk of a different order, who hated -Savonarola, and who preached 
against him with great bitterness. To decide which was in the right, the Florentines 
proposed to try the two priests by fire; that is, compel them to walk through the 
flames, and the one that came out unscorched, was to be declared in the right. It is 
not just clear now, why the friends of Savonarola declined this absurd test, for it was 
common in those days to test people in this way. but they did so, and his enemies 
said that it was because Savonarola was afraid. The high heart of Savonarola did 
not know the meaning of fear, and his spirit shrunk from no suffering, in the cause 
of truth and the right. He loved Florence with all the power of his great soul, and 
he hated sin equally, and though the people fell away from him, and he had few 
friends and hardly any followers, he still persisted in preaching. 

The council was now governed by the Medici's, who, naturally enough, hated 
Savonarola, and at their suggestion, he was brought to trial for misleading the people 
with false prophecies. His enemies published a statement that he confessed to 
having done so, but it is now believed that the statement was entirely false, and that 
Savonarola maintained to the last, that he had a mission to perform, and would fulfill 




The Execution c)f S:ivmir,n'l:i. 



724 riALY. 

it in spite of all the obstacles that were put in his way, and that his prophecies, if 
they might be considered as such, were warnings which God, through him, was mak- 
inif known to sinners. At all events, the council found him guilty, and declared that 
he should be burned to death, publicly. There were many people in Florence, who 
thought this sentence unjust, and tried to persuade the council to make it milder, but 
the Pope, of Rome, said it was perfectly right, and it was done. 

Savonarola was led out with two of his friends, and under the fair sky, in sight 
of the lovely mountains, and in the presence of the people of the city, so ungrateful, 
but so beautiful and dear to them, they were burned to death, and no hand was raised 
to save them. With their last breath, the three devoted men, declared themselves 
true sons of the church, and met their fate with the heroism, that in all ages, has 
marked the martyrs of truth. The place is still shown in Florence, where Savona- 
rola was executed, the house where he was born, the churches where he preached, 
and the squares and market places where he e.xhorted the people to forsake their 
evil ways, and return to the purity of the faith of the disciples of Christ. 

The Medici were now noted for their wickedness. They scrupled at no crime, 
and in attempting to govern Florence with the utmost tyranny, after the death of 
Savonarola, they made themselves so much hated that the people finally compelled 
them again to leave the city. This tlid not happen, however, for nearly fifty years 
after their first banishment, and in the mcantimt: a Medici had twice sat in the chair 
of the Pope of Rome, and in the capacity of head of the church and member of the 
ruling house of the city, had practiced such e.vtortion, oppression and vice that the 
Florentines were well nigh desperate. For eighteen years they ruled their republic 
in the ancient manner, and with great cretlit. but their glory was gone forever. 

I have told you that the Florentines were great manufacturers and traders, and 
that they loved wealth and ease. This love of luxur)- had grown with llicni, and 
instead of enrolling in their army their own young men, and training them to the art 
of war, they had long been in the habit of training troops to fight for them. They 
were surrounded on every side by jealous enemies, and the Pope, a member of the 
House of Medici, determined lo compel them to give u|) their constitution, and 
restore the Medici's to power. 

France had once been their friends, but since the days of Charles \'11I., France 
had left them to their fate Too late they realized the danger that beset them, but 
they were true-hearted, and resolved to do the best that they could. iMrst, they 
decided to repair their walls, and called Michael Angelo, the famous artist, sculptor 
painter and architect, to help them. Angelo loved Morence. The Tower of Giotto 
had served him as a model for his great dome of .St. Peter's Church at Rome, and he 
loved liberty too well not to respond to any call made in her name. lie' came, and 
managed the building of the fortifications. 

A celebrated writer upon political topics, h\ the name of Macchiavelli, a man 
who influenced the world so much that his political teachings became the governing 
influence in the lives of kings and princes, though we can not admire them much in 
these days, had warned the Florentines that they must create an army from among 
themselves, and they now tried to do so. Ilardly had they manned their new 
defenses, when the joint army of the Pope and Fmperor sat down before their walls 
to blockade them and starve them into submission. 

The Florentines were anxious to fight, but the enemy would not attack them. 
They used to sally forth from the city at night, under the cover of darkness, wearing 



ITALY. 



725 




white shirts over thtir uniforms so 
that they could distinguish one 
another in the dim light, and silently 
approaching the sleeping enemy in 
small bodies, would kill them ami 
destroy their supplies. They dared 
not attempt to assault the besiegers 
in the open field, but they wanted to 
jjrovoke them to storm the walls. 

The enemy numbered among their xh.- Papn Kev«. 

rank some of the most brutal soldiers of Europe, and they hatl committed so many 
outrages upon other Italian comnumitits, ami even in Rome and upon the cities of 
the very Pope who was now their friend and ally, that the Florentines hated them. 

Outside the city was the bravest of the Florentine Generals, with a gallant band 
of soldiers, who were veterans in the field, for they had been engaged in the long 
wars that then devastated the South of Europe. The Florentines hoped that this 
man would bring up his army against the besiegers and compel them to fight, and 
then they would sally from the town, and attacking the enemy in the rear, ])ut them 
to flight. 

This general had done them good service in supplying them with provisions 
and in keeping several ot the roads open when the troops of the emperor and Pope 
were approaching, and when F"lorence had been blockaded for some time he 
advanced to its relief. He was surprised by the enemy and a dreadful battle was 
fought in which his troops were cut to pieces and he himself was mortally wounded. 
'\s he lay dying one of the brutal soldiers of the army of the Pope stabbed him, and 
others following his example struck the fallen general again and again. He made 
no resistance but looking at them calmly said with a contempt that made them blush. 
"So you kill dead men, do you?" The death of this gallant General was the death. 
too, of the old republic of Florence. When the people in the town heard that he 
had been defeated and killed, they were so disheartened that they made no attempt 
to defend the walls, but each and every one hurried away as fast as he could to hide 
jewelry, money and other valuables to prevent them falling into the hands of 
the soldiers, for they knew that sooner or later the city woukl fall, and decidetl by 
their actions that it should be given up at once. The council sent out and asked 
terms for surrender, and to their great surprise they were only made to pay a large 
sum of money instead of giving their city over to the pillage of the soldiers, and 
were to receive the Medici back as their rulers. The Pope bound himself to take no 
revenge upon the citizens but he had not the smallest intention of keeping his word. 
He caused a council to be gotten together who would tlo exactly as he wished, and 
in the first month after the surrender banished nearly two hundred families and 
before the first year nearly a thousand. 

The Pope had too much on his hands to govern Florence himself, so he sent his 
cousin Alexander with a new constitution for Florence that left the people very little 
liberty, and made the Medici's hereditary rulers of the republic. This Alexander 
was a monster in human form, as were so many of the Medici's and after poisoning 
his cousin who possessed some spark of patriotism and protested against his 
tyrannical and wicked government of the city, he was in turn poisoned by another 
cousin, a man who had associated witli him in the most revolting forms of vice. 



726 



ITALY 




There was a certain 
Cosmo d e M e d i c i 
whom the Floren- 
tines chose for their 
Duke after the death 
of Alexander, for 
since they were com- 
pelled to take a Med- 
ici they made u]) their 
minds to select one 
who would be likely 
to yield to their wish- 
es, and a Cosmo was 
only nineteen they 
thought that they 
could inHuence him. 
They were mistaken. 
1 le was cold, cruel 
and without truth or 
honor. All the vices 
of the detested Med- 
icishad early reache<l 
in him their full 
umiinKi.fG.imiwuiiiQii.iiy. growth. One oi lus 

tirst deeds was to kill his councillors and every one who opposed him was removed 
from his path by poison, the dagger or some other means. Seven Dukes of the 
Medici family ruled over Florence after Cosmo the cruel, but the story of their reign 
is one horrid list of crimes and oppressions. Their reign ended in 1737, and 
Florence was merely the cajiital of the Duchy of Tuscany during that long period. 
Florence shared the failing fortunes of Italy until Napoleon entered the country and 
gave an impulse to liberty by giving back to the old republics some of their freedom. 
His work perished, but Florence, as a city of the New Italy of our own day, is 
prosperous and beautiful though she can not renew her age and again be vigorous. 
She held aloft the torch of liberty in some of the darkest hours of the worlds 
history, ami to Florence we citizens of the great new republic of equal rights, owe 
the deathless gratitude which is her reward for the heritage she, in common with all 
those who struggled for freedom, bestowed upon us and the rest of the world. 

In the Story of Germany, I have told you something of the trials of the city of 
Milan, and how it fouglit for liberty against the German emperors. Milan was one 
of the old towns of the G^uls, and afterward of the Lombards, and is to-day one of 
the most flourishing and progressive cities of Italy; l)Ut its history was sadly check- 
ered with misfortunes in its early days. The contest with the German Emperor, 
Frederick, which resulted in the destruction of the city, so that "not one stone was 
left standing on another," did not end, as you will remember, then. As soon as the 
Milanese felt themselves, for the time, safe from the armies of Germany, they joined 
a league of the Lombard cities against the emperor, rebuilt their city, and for thirty 
3'ears, struggled against tyranny with a spirit that excites the admiration of all those 
*v'.o read the narrative of the trials of brave Italy. Tliis struggle had a mighty effect 



ITALY. 727 

upon the fortunes of the country, for when it ended, by the real defeat of the em- 
peror, and left him only a shadowy claim over all Ital}-, all the free cities of Italy 
gained the privilege of having their own laws, and obeying their own magistrates. 

I have already told you the principal events in the history of Milan, up to the 
beginning of the thirteenth century, The strife of the Guelphsand the Ghibelines 
was naturally very fierce in Milan, and as the Guelphs gained the power, they ban- 
ished the Ghibelines who opposed their government. Early in the twelfth century, a 
Ghibeline archbishop by the name of Visconti, made himself so disliked by the 
Guelphs of Milan, that they banished him. He went to Como, and there assembled 
many of the banished Ghibeline nobles. The Milanese learned of the intention of 
these nobles to march against Milan, and sent out one of their generals against them. 
The general did not have a high opinion of the fighting qualities of the archbishop 
and his friends, and kept such a careless watch over his march, when he went out to 
meet them, that he allowed himself to be surprised and captured. He paid for his 
folly, by a long imprisonment in an iron cage, when the archbishop entered the city, 
mastered it, and made himself the ruler of the place. 

When the archbishop grew too old to rule the city himself, he gave the power 
into the hands of his nephew. This Visconti married his daughters, nieces, nephews 
and cousins to the most powerful families in Lombardy, and through these marriatres 
became the ruler of several Lombard towns. He was a haughty fellow, who did not 
attempt to hide from the people, that he thought very highly of himself and very 
httle of them. He also showed them that he cared little for their liberty, and 
so insulted the other Lombard lords, that they hated him almost as much as did the 
common people. 

At length there was a plot formed against him, that was successful, and he was 
driven out of Milan. Henry VII. took a hand in Visconti's affairs and by threats in- 
duced the Milanese to take him back. The Ghibelines, thus encouraged by the sym- 
pathy of the emperor, raised a party in the city, and drove out the Guelphs, and the 
latter took arms against the emperor; so you will notice, the game of see-saw that was 
played in the other parts of Italy, went merrily on at Milan, and when the Gh'belines 
were up, the Guelphs were down; when the Guelphs and the Pope were up, the 
Ghibelines and the emperor were down. 

This second \'isconti made war against the Guelphs and the Pope for twenty 
years to maintain his authority, but when he grew old and felt death near, his power 
seemed worth very little to him, and he was sorry he had done anything that would 
deprive him of heaven. He feared above all things that the Pope would not allow 
"him, on his death-bed, the last offices of the church, and to prevent that calamity he 
resigned Milan to his son. 

The game of see-saw was played again; the Guelphs took heart on account of 
the inexperience of the new Visconti, and drove him out, but soon the Ghibelines 
went up and they went down. Visconti was recalled and ruled Milan. He was in 
power when Louis of Bavaria, that German emperor who captured his rival, Fred- 
erick of Austria, and treated him with such generosity, arrived in Italy to begin the 
never-ending task of subduing the country. 

This third Msconti treated the emperor with great courtesy, and Louis of Austria 
who was about as false-hearted and untrustworthy a man as ever lived, in spite of his 
goodness to Frederick, returned the fa\ors of \^isconti by arresting him and his sons 
throwing them into a dungeon, robbing them of their wealth and threatenino- them 



728 



ITALY. 




lAHtn Gambottfl. 



with death by torture if they did not give up the 
keys of the fortresses of Milan. When he had kept 
the \"isconti in jail for eight months, he offered to sell 
them Milan, but he asked so high a price that they 
could not then pay it. He released them because 
one of his favorites pleaded with him to do so. and 
they did scrape enough money together in the course 
of time to buy the government of the city from 
Louis. 

This third Visconti, whose long Italian name I 
am sure you could not remember, died soon after 
this, and his son, who bore the singular name of 
Azzo Visconti, was the ruler of Milan until John of 
Bohemia, son of Henry VII., came into Italy with 
an army. 'This prince was so handsome, generous 
and liberal that the Milanese welcomed him with 
open arms, and Azzo gave up Milan to him, and 
received it back from the prince, to rule in his name. 
The \'isc<)ntis continued in power for a long time, and the more we see of them 
the less we like them. They had a fashion of commencing war for conquest of their 
neighbors without making any previous declaration, and by this means became the 
master of nearly all of the old Lombard kingdom. They were not to be trusted even 
in their own families, and they did not scruple to have any one removed who stood in 
their way. 

Their career of victorious tyranny began to wane about the time that John \'is- 
conti, tlie most dreaded and ambitious of them all, became master of Genoa, through 
loaning the Genoese money to build their fleet when they were at war with \'enice, 
and after them the Sforzas, vile and wicked men, ruled Milan. 

One of these mons^rs killed his own mother by poison, and delighted in inventing 
cruel and unusual punishments for those who would not obej' his wishes. He buried 
som(^ of his victims alive, tortured others by tearing their flesh with red-hot pinccrs_ 
and no woman or man of Milan was safe from him. The people were so goaded by 
his cruelty, that led by one of the descendants of Visconti, and two other brave young 
men, they revolted, but when their leaders were seized, like cowards, the people 
deserted them and allowed them to be put to death by the most dreadful torture, by 
the friends of Sforza, whom they had succeeded in killing. This was in the year 
1476, and you see that the wickedness of their rulers had its influence on the character 
of the Milanese, and they were no longer like the brave people, who, for liberty, 
would brave any suffering and danger. 

Three years after the death of the three gallant patriots of Milan, Louis XII. of 
France sent an army into Italy which conquered Milan, and for the next thirteen 
years the French heUl it. They lost it again through the courage of the .Swiss who 
at the call of Milan came to her aid and placed on the throne a Sforza, a man very 
unlike some of his wicked ancestors. The French and Germans fought for Milan 
and the Germans, with some Spaniards, supported the Sforza on the throne, but 
they treated him and the Milanese with such insult, that Sforza thought of rebelling 
and with the help of the King of England, Henry VIII. drivingall foreigners out of his 



ITALY. 72Q 

city. He wanted to arm Italy against them. The Germans learned of his intention 
and sent a Spaniard named Leyva to keejj the Milanese in order, for at the time, 
Spain and Germany were under the rule of the same sovereign. There were the 
most dreadful deeds committed by this bloodthirsty Spaniard, by the order of 
Charles V., and after being besieged for many months in the fortress of the town, 
the French, the old enemies of the Milanese, hearkened to their appeal to come and 
deliver them, but they were defeated. The war ended soon after, leaving the Sforza,. 
now an old man, broken in health and hope, upon the throne of Milan, and the 
people plundered of their wealth and mourning fathers, sons and brothers, who had 
died for the liberty of Italy. A few years later Sforza died without heirs and by the 
terms of the peace, Milan became the property of the Emperor of Germany. I have 
not space to follow the story of Milan, but in its great Cathedral in the year 1805 the 
new Caesar who came out of Gaul, instead of going into it, as did the first great 
Ccesar, was crowned King of Italy. Napoleon did not long hold the crown, neither 
did Milan, which he made the capital of the newCisalpine Republic, long remain the 
bearer of that proud title. In just ten years after the crowning of Napoleon, Milan 
was restored to the Kingdom of Italy. Napoleon was not the curse to Italy that he 
was to Northern Europe, and his ideas vvere great and noble regarding the formation 
of republics there that should preserve the old liberties of Italy, but his best work 
perished along with his worst. The best and worst alike bore fruit to liberty, and 
thus we see in even the shedder of so much blood and the worker of so much misery, 
the instrument appointed by God to accomplish great deeds. 

Before ending the story of these Italian republics, ami I wish I could tell you the 
romance- as well as the facts conncted with them all, I must speak of Rome, the 
Eternal City, from which, in the early days, went out the first note of liberty, and even 
in its decline was great and imposing. Naples, Sicily and many of the other small 
.Southern kingdoms have an interesting and romantic history, but the chain that holds 
it to that of the rest of Europe is slight, and though in their day they had an influence 
on Southern Europe, that influence soon passed away and is forgotten by all e.xcept 
learned historians. Pisa, Ancona, Mantua, Padua Pavia and many other cities too, 
have a fascinating history, but we can only notice those cities whose influence was 
above the effect of time, and this done we must pass on, though perhaps you will 
think highly enough of the fair old towns of vine-clad Italy, to read of them in the 
the many excellent histories of them that have been written. 

I have told you the main facts in the history of Rome, under its Popes, up to 
about the time when they were driven from Rome, and forced to make their resi- 
dence in Avignon. That story is of quarrels, plots and dark doings, and as it is 
neither pleasant nor profitable reading, I shall say nothing more of the Popes of those 
days. I have told you, too, of the different entries and conquests of Papal Rome, by 
the kings and emperors who quarreled with the Popes, and only pause long enough 
to outline to you the story of Cola di Rienzi, who was called the 'Last of the 
Tribunes." 

The Romans wrote his name differently, because his father was Lorenzo, the 
tavern keeper, and the son was Rienzo. His mother was a washerwoman, and until 
Rienzi was a grown man, he passed his life among the lower classes of people, outside 
of Rome, tending sheep among' the hills, or lying in the shade, watching, the won- 
derful cloud effects in the sky or the waters. He thought much, even when he was 
a child, and his thought was singularly pure and elevated. When he went back to 



730 



ITALY. 




Costiinir XVI. fVntiiry. 



Rome to live, his imagination was fired by the monuments of past 
greatness that he saw all about him. 

The Roman people had sunk deeply into miser}- and poverty, and 
had no pride in their great history. The Popes lived at Avignon 
and exercised little real authority in the city, which was vexed by 
the quarrels of three great noble families. The Colonna, Orsini 
&'^'^^^ ;ind Savelli nobles; each had their strongholds in Rome, and these 
were filled witli bands of hired ruffians, who fought one another, 
murdered, pillaged, and robbed, and kept Rome in turmoil. When- 
ever one of these nobles appeared in public, he thought himself 
insulted, if the populace did not toss up their caps "and lift the servile 
shout, at sight of that "great ruffian" Rienzi read history, learned 
the Greek and Latin languages, and soon became honored for his 
learning and eloquence. .\s lie w-ent about the city, examining 
inscriptions upon ruins, or looking upon the l)roken arches that had 
been erected to commemorate some great triumph in the past, a 
crowd always followed, to hear him explain, in his fascinating and 
interesting way, the meaning of those remains, and he spoke with 
such enthusiasm that for the time they forgot the wretchedness of 
their present state, in glorying over their past. He never failed to exhort them to 
rouse their souls, to attain liberty, to make themselves respected by the world, and 
to renew the ancient splendors of their lost empire. 

It happened that Rienzi gained much popular favor, and the people called him, 
"the consul of widows, orphans and the poor." The fights and brawls of the three 
great families, at length became so unbearable, that the Guelph party determined to 
send Rienzi to Avignon, to plead with the Pope for his return to Rome, and the 
reduction to order of the turbulent spirits. They could not find, in all the city, a man 
who loved Rome better, who was more familiar with her past, and more enthusiastic 
for her future. To .Avignon, Rienzi accordingly went, and there he met Petrarch, 
the great Florentine poet and scholar, to whom he confided Iiis dream of renewing the 
Roman Empire for the Romans, and driving out its tyrants. I'etrarch was fully as 
visionary as Rienzi, and though both had an intense love of liberty, one was a born 
orator, the other a born poet, and neither had the least idea of the duties of a 
statesman. 

.About this time a brother of Rienzi was killed by one of the Roman nobles, and 
after trying in vain to secure justice upon the slayer, Rienzi seems to have decided 
on rousing the people to action. The nobles knew him well, and knew of his hatred 
to them, but they said that he was a harmless madman, and were more amused than 
angered at his talk concerning Roman liberty and their own misdeeds. Three years 
had passed since his visit to Avignon, and all that time he had denounced the nobles 
whenever he had a chance. 

In May, 1347, the Colonnas quitted Rome for the time, with the most ruffianly of 
their retainers, and Rienzi, who had tried some time before, to interest the magistrates 
in his ideas, but failed, now assembled the people and appeared among them with 
the papal officer, whom he had won to his cause, and one hundred armed men. He 
made a stirring speech, perhaps not very different from that which is known to every 
school-boy as "Rienzi's address to the Romans," in which he told the people all that 



ITALY. 731 

Rome had suffered from the tyranny of the lords, and what they might expect from 
them in future. 

Then he recalled to their minds the Rome of the old days, and the proud posi- 
tion it had occupied among the governments of the earth, and contrasted it with the 
ruin and decay of the times in which they lived, and all this ruin brought about by 
tyranny and greed of the nobles. He proposed a system of laws for them that would 
remedy all these abuses, and carried conviction to the people. 

The Romans drove out the aristocratic senators, and made Rienzi dictator, with 
the papal legate as his associate in office. The Pope confirmed him in the office, and 
the fact that Rome was again free sent a thrill of admiration through Europe. There 
were kings and princes who feared this new, free Rome, when they remembered the 
course of the old republic upon the seven hills, and how from small beginnings it had 
grown to great achievement, but in a little time their fear was turned to amuse- 
ment. 

At first Rienzi had dreamed the sweet dream of all Italian patriots, from the 
early days, and which, in our own times, has taken a long stride toward fulfillment. 
He dreamed of a united Italy, and he sent messengers to all the Italian republics to 
arrange a meeting of representatives to accomplish it. They joyfully consented, and 
they met in solemn council and actually summoned two kings, who were wrangling 
about the possession of Italy, to appear before them, and answer to them why they 
should make any such claims over free people, and all this before they had an army 
or any resources at their command. 

The nobles at this time were not idle. They gathered in force and attacked 
Rome, defeating Rienzo, who was not brave in battle, and knew nothing of war. 
Rienzi had by this time, less than seven months from the day he was declared Tri- 
bune, assumed much pomp and splendor, and grown vain of success. The Pope was 
angered about the calling of the council for uniting Italy, for a united Italy meant 
then what it meant in 1870. the loss of temporal power to the Popes of Rome, and he 
did not favor it. 

He sent a legate to Rome in the person of a P'rench noble, who v.as, of course, 
favorable to the Roman nobles, who had by this time gained a portion of the city. 
Rienzi sounded in vain the great bell that was to call the people of Rome to the de- 
fense of their liberties, and when he found himself deserted, he fled from the city 
and went to Bohemia, where he made an extraordinary prophecy to the king. 

The king, Charles IV., instead of treating Rienzi as a prophet, clapped him into 
prison and kepc him there until it was convenient to send him to the Pope. He was 
solemnly tried and condemned to death, but Petrarch pleaded with the Pope, and his 
life was spared, though he'was kept in prison some time. 

In Rome the nobles were more violent and quarrelsome than before, and finally 
the Pope sent a legate to them, who took Rienzi with him, in order that he might 
make himself popular with the people. A residence was given the "Last of the 
Tribunes," and he again attempted to seize the power. His misfortunes may have 
turned his brain and made him insane, for he was certainly no longer the pure- 
hearted patriot of old. 

He was suspicious, capricious, and even dishonest. He borrowed money that he 
had no means of repaying, armed a small body of soldiers, and in 1354 seized the 
power. The nobles refused to acknowledge his authority, the people were irritated 
by his pride, his cruelty and his severe taxation to meet his expenses, and when he 



/ J- 



lALLY. 




had ruled like a tyrant for two months, the 
Romans revolted and joined the nobles against 
him. They burned down hispalace and captured 
him as he was about escaping from the city in 
disguise. They dragged Rienzi to the foot of 
the stairs of the Capitol, and stabbed him to 
death on the 8th day of October, 1354, and thus 
died the "Last of the Tribunes." 

From what I have told you of Italy, you 
can readily see that it is very different from 
other countries in its history. It was so long 
made up of republics, duchies and free cities, 
^ nearly independent of one another, that it is 
"^impossible to tell the story without separating 
it into parts, and these parts do not match 
\ery well, nor can we make them one evenly 
< ontinued narrative as is the story of Ciermany, 
I ranee and England. 

After the fall of Napoleon and the destruc- 
tion of the forms of government that he had 
established in various parts of Europe, the old 
dream of the Italian patriots seemed to have taken shape and become something 
more than a dream. War-wasted, crushed by tyranny, covered with the blood ol 
brave men, and the ruins of fair towns, the heart of Italy still beat, and freedom was 
still the hope of the people. France and Austria had designs upon the independence 
of the country, the same they had cherished since the days of Charles VTII., but 
Italy had learned something, and in 1S61 came the hour and the man. 

Garibaldi gathered his heroic soldiers in that year, and after many bloody battles, 
hardships and discouragements, the Austrians and Neapolitans, who were leagued 
for again crushing Italy, were defeated, and all the Italian States except Venice 
and the little republic of San Marino, were joined, and Victor FLnianuel, King of 
Sardinia, was called to take the crown of the new kingdom. 

In the year 1S70 the Papal States were annexed to the kingdom, and since that 
time United Italy has been peaceful. The present King Humbert lacks the spirit of 
his father, and is not the pure patriot that should be at the head of Italian affairs. 
The republican feeling has grown with such amazing rapidity of late years, that it is 
thought by many people who have paid close attention to the affairs of Italy, that it 
will not be long before the Italians will refuse to submit to their present expensive 
and unsatisfactory government, and will establish in its stead a new republic. Thus 
again may we see the circle of time completed, and a Roman republic flourishing on 
the site of the first republic of Europe. 



Vlt 'or Kumn 









land. 



HEN the British Isles were joined to 
the mainland of Europe, and all the 
little islands of the Mediterranean Sea 
were also part of the continent, ic is more than 
probable that a ridge of land extended from 
France to Greenland, and another high, dry pathway, 
bordered on either side by the ocean, extended from 
Alaska to Siberia. This is not guess-work, for in our own 
times, clever and learned men have mapped the floors of 
the great oceans, with nearly as niurli exactness as geographers 
have mapped the different countries and continents, and looking 
at these maps, we see that the seas over those ridges are very 
shallow, and in some cases, the ridge appears above the waters 
and forms islands, that are inhabited by busy peoples. Iceland 
is a part of this elevation, as are also England, Ireland and Scot- 
I tell you this about the floor of the ocean, that you may understand that little 
upheaving caused the ridge to rise higher, and a little sinking, on account of the ele- 
vations of the surface in other parts of the ocean, caused them to sink under the 
waters of the ocean, and in order that you may have some idea how man came to 
inhabit North America, which from the dawn of history, has been so widely separated 
from the other countries of the world, that man could not by any possibility have 
reached the continent by land. History is one of the new studies of man, and long 
before the first history of any people was in existence, the first people of America, no 
doubt, walked dry-shod either from Asia or Europe, into the New World. 

Some great convulsion of nature, caused the ocean floors to sink in those parts 
where the ridge of land had formerly been, and the men who had wandered into the 
Western hemisphere, were permanently separated from those in the Eastern, and in 
the course of ages, their descendants forgot all about the first home of their ancestors. 
All this is not certainly known, but those who have given the subject the most study, 
are inclined to believe that it actually occurred, and that the fact, that the people of 
America, like those of the rest of the world, were cradled in Central Asia, accounts 
for many of their habits and pecularities that would otherwise be verj' mysterious. 



734 AMERICA. 

For the unnumbered centuries, while the savage races of Asia and Europe were 
slowly developing and being prepared for civilization; through the long ages when 
the old Empires of the East, rose, flourished and passed away, to live again in the 
new Empires of Greece and Rome; in the wilds of America, by the streams and bor- 
ders of the lakes; there dwelt the red men, who were so far from all the intluences 
that made Asia and Europe civilized, that they had forgotten most of the arts of their 
ancestors, and were wandering savages. If you should ask me when it was that the 
people of America so far progressed that they could make weapons of flint and stone, 
and learned the use of fire, I should be unable to tell you, and even the learned men 
who have devoted all their lives to the study of this question, are undecided about 
the length of time that the Indians, as we call them, made their home in America. 
You must know that there was a time when all of the region of our country, north of 
the Ohio river, and much of it as far south as North Carolina, was covered deep 
under fields of ice and snow, and tliat these fields of ice disappeared, from time to 
time, and in their place were verdant meadows, and hills green with herbage. Then 
again, some change in the conditions surrounding our earth, would cause the glaciers 
to reform and sweep over mountains and valleys, grinding rocks into fragments, and 
destroying everything in their pathway, as they crept farther and farther towards 
the warm portions of the land. It is certain that men lived in America before this 
time, for deep down in the ruins of glacier-torn rocks, there have been found imple- 
ments of stone and flint, showing that even then, the Indians, as we called them, 
lived by the chase, much as thej' did when Europeans discovered the country. 

There was a time, strange as it may now seem to us, wiicn the people of Europe 
were as savage as the people of North America were four hundred years ago. They 
may at first have lived in burrows in the ground, or sheltered themselves by bending 
down the branches of trees and piling clods of earth upon them. It was not long 
before they learned that they could improve upon this rude shelter by tying the tops 
of small trees together, and winding grass and reeds about the stems in such a way 
as to form rude walls. When they had lived in this sort of a hut until the game 
about them was exhausted, and desired to remove, they succeeded in cutting or 
pulling up by the roots several saplings suitable for the framework of their dwellings, 
and finding that the skins of beasts would keep out the cold and rain much better 
than the woven mi.xture of grass and reeds they fastened these to the poles. From 
this, by slow degrees, the people of Europe and Asia progressed until they had 
learned to build structures of wood and stone, and so long before the time history 
was written had they forgotten about their early rude dwellings, that we have no 
idea how many centuries passed away while they were learning the use of tools 
and the art of building with stone. The poems of Homer were written before the days 
of King David, and even at that time there were people in Western Asia, who had 
beautiful weapons and shields of metal, drove horses to their war-chariots, and 
had houses and walled cities. They also had a perfect language, and though the 
houses and walled cities have fallen to decay and men have long since forgotten 
where Troy was, the language still stands as a monument to the achievements of 
those ancient people. 

The pyramid builders of Egj'pt must have had thousands and thousands of 
years of progress behind them before they built the first of those wonderful 
structures, but even the pyramid-builders lived long before the days of written 
history. Yet when the continent of North America was discovered, the people, who 



AMERICA. 



735 




1 T p 



lived here were ages behind the pyramid-builders in their 
knowledge of tools, and knew far less than did the people 
of Troy about the building of houses and walled cities. 

It would not be fair to conclude, though, that because 
the people of America knew less about civilization than 
did the people of the Old World, that they had not minds 
as capable of education and development as they, The 
fact is that they had not the advantages for learning that 
the people of the Eastern Continent had. You know that 
in the early days of history, and even up to, our own times 
it was possible to go from Asia to Europe and from 
Europe to Africa by land, the streams and mountains 
in the way not being impassable. Thus the several; 
races mixed and learned from one another. The people 
of Asia from the earliest times had flocks and herds, for 
the first home of man was also the first home of the 
horse, the ox and many other of the useful animals that 
have been tamed and furnish man to day with much of 
his food and clothing. Where people have cattle, they -are not obliged to 
depend upoli the wild animals of the forest for their meatand clothing. They can 
spin and weave the wool of the sheep into cloth and use the milk of the herds for 
butter and cheese. They can also lay up a store of food and clothing for future use 
and are not so much inclined to wander as they would otherwise be. They naturally 
seek a part of the country where their flocks can receive pasturage and build 
substantial houses. They may also learn how to save the seed of those grasses and 
plants that the cattle like best and plant them so that they will not be obliged to 
move frequently. Thus, they learn little by little to till the soil. Again Asia was the 
home of many of the grains upon which men from the earliest times have made 
their bread, and as the races wandered from their first home tliey carried with them 
the seeds of the wheat, barley, oats and rye, for their use. To sow these grains in 
the ground a certain preparation of the soil, was necessary, and this work stimulated 
the people to produce better tools for their agriculture, as time went on. When the 
grain was sown and had grown and ripened, it must be garnered and threshed, and 
here again a certain degree of skill was necessary. By the exercise of his faculties 
in caring for the grain man become more and more capable as time passed, for as I 
have told you before, the mind of man is so wonderful that every new idea he has, 
every new tool he makes, gives him power to improve and progress, to have better 
ideas and to make more clever implements. The humble domestic animals, the 
little flax plant, the wheat, oats, rye and other food plants thus played a large part 
in the civilization of the world and were something more than means of supplying 
the needs of the body, they were forces in God's plans for the progress of men. 

In the course of the progress of the nations of the Old World, what one nation 
learned in agriculture, art, manufacture, or anything else, was soon learned by 
another nation. To be sure, all people did not practice these things in the same way, 
but they adapted them to their needs, inventing and adding here, and there, dropping 
old clumsy methods, for newer and better. In America the conditions were very 
different. When the continent of America was cut off from all other continents, it is 
likely that none of the people of the world were more than the merest savages, 



736 AMERICA. 

roaming about, naked and bestial, their only thought the need of the moment. Thus 
the people of America had only the rudest idea of building, and of implements of the 
chase. 

There was no wheat, rye, barley or flax in the country, though indeed there was 
cotton, and in the course of time, the Americans learned to use it, and entirely separ- 
ated, as they were, from the people of the Old World, who had learned to spin and 
weave, they wove the finest and most beautiful cotton cloth the world has ever seen. 
The hair of certain animals, too, served them for wool, but cotton and these hair- 
bearing animals were found onlj- in certain parts of the continent, yet where they 
were found they became a force in the civilization of the people. 

There was a grain found in America, it is true, but this grain was exceedingly 
easy to cultivate. No plowing was necessary, and the Americans, tlierefore, did not 
use the plow. They simply stuck a sharp-pointed stick into the ground, and bored a 
little hole, into which they dropped the seeds of the corn, and covered it over lightly; 
then left it to its fate. It grew and flourished without any further cultivation and 
when it was ripe, needed no reaping or threshing. The ears could be left hanging to 
the stalk, until such time as they were needed. This corn could be eaten green, as 
well as ripened, and needed in that state, no grinding, kneading or baking. It was 
simply boiled. When it was ripe, it could be parched in the fire, boiled into hominy, 
pounded into flour, and eaten with very little preparation. 

There was enough land for all, and it was not necessary to clear the ground of 
the dried stalks, and new fields could be used every year, if the agriculturist so de- 
sired. So easy was this sort of tilling of the soil, that in North America it was 
thought work entirely unfitted for men, and that they disgraced themselves by en- 
gaging in it. To women, tlie producing of the bread of the family was relegated, and 
farming was never a popular pursuit. It was entirely different in South America, 
where the potato was cultivated, where agriculture was so honorable that the great 
braves undertook it. and where communities vied with one another in the production 
of crops. 

Though the people of Central and .South .America, were far in advance of those 
of North America, in culture, the people of the Western continent, from the very 
confines of Arctic Alaska, and the shores of the Northern Ocean, to the extremity of 
Patagonia, were all of the same race, and their surroundings, the influence of soil, 
climate, and natural productions, were accountable for the difference in their degrees 
of civilization. These Indians were such remarkable people that I think I will tell 
you something about their manners and customs. 

They have nearly perished from the earth, and another century will i)robably 
not find any of the North American tribes in existence. For a long time, historians 
spoke of them as though they were little better than wild beasts, and made no study 
of them, but in our own day there has been much intelligent investigation of their 
manners and customs, their arts, and their religions, and the more we learn of them, 
the more we are compelled to admire what they achieved, shut off, as they were, 
from the rest of the world, and surrounded by influences, in a measure, hostile to 
civilization. 

In the Northern part of the Continent were a great number of tribes whose rem- 
nants are now known as Esquimaux. To the South of them were other tribes much 
like them in appearance, and in the North of the Eastern portion of the Continent 
were the Athabascans, and South of them the Algonquins, the Iroquois and many 



AMERICA. 

other tribes all 
more or less sunk- 
en in savagery, and 
with singular ideas 
about religion and 
dress. 

Strange as it 
may seem to us, the 
dress of the In- 
dians of Central 
North America 
had a meaning 
very different from 
that usually ex- 
pressed in the cov- 
ering of the body 
with ornaments, 
and I will tell you 
something of the 
strange ornaments 
of the warlike sav- 
ages who once in- 
habited the coun- 
try where now our 
cities and towns 
stand, and where 
the Indian has be- 
come a seldom re- 
lated tradition. 

In South Ameri- 
c a the Indians 
wore garments 
usually of cotton 
cloth or the fibres 
of tropical plants, 
grass or leaves, and 
their ornaments 
were worn to suit 
their own tastes. 
In Central Ameri- 
ca and the South- 
ern part of the 

United .States, it Esiinlmau of tne Arctic Reglous. 

was not at all uncommon for the people to stick feathers to their skin with a sort of 
gum, or to make skirts and mantles of beautiful, bright feathers, bordered with 
quills or shells, and costing years of labor. 

The dress of the Indians of the central portion of America, about the great lakes 
and rivers, was simple, indeed. In winter they wore garments of skins and furs, went 



73,7 




738 AMERICA. 

about on a queer sort of snow-shoe when the snow was deep, and in summer went 
nearly naked, the young children quite so. They painted and tatooed their bodies, 
and wore feathers for head-dresses. These feather head-dresses, like most of their 
ornaments, were full of meaning. The women did not wear them, but when a brave 
had killed an enemy, in hand-to-hand fight, he stuck a feather upright in his head- 
dress, and all men knew of the deed he had done, as well as we know of any great 
public event, by reading of it in the newspapers. When he killed an enemy in the 
sight of the friends of his victim, the Indian brave was allowed to wear a feather for 
every such deed, and these feathers stuck out horizontally from the rim of his head- 
dress. 

The manner of the arrangement of the feathers, whether slanting or straight up, 
whether at one side or the other of his head, showed what was the rank of the vic- 
tims he had killed, and when he had performed a deed of especial bravery in war, 
the brave was allowed to wear a wolf's tail upon his moccasin. 

The tattooing or printing on the skin, in little holes pricked with a sharp instru- 
ment, all had some meaning, bui I have not space to explain all of these queer marks 
that you have, no doubt, often noticed in pictures on the bodies of Indians. When 
an Indian lad was about fifteen years old, he was obliged to wander away from his 
friends into some secret place in the forest, and fast for several days. He was very 
watchful of his dreams while he was fasting, and should any animal appear to him in 
his dream, that was the animal which the Indian lad supposed contained the spirit of 
a dead ancestor, and he took its name or shape as his "coat of arms," and often 
caused it to be tattooed upon his person. Sometimes the Indian boy's "dream of life" 
was of a plant, an<l he supposed the plant contained the soul of his guardian spirit, 
and was careful not to crush or destroy it. Sometimes the moon, sun, or stars were 
the subject of the dream, and these were always the objects of the greatest reverence 
to the dreamer. 

The Indians, in spite of their isolation from the rest of the world, and the fact 
that they had never heard of the great religions of Asia and Europe, believed that 
the soul lived after death, the good happily, and the evil in misery. They thought 
that some of the miserable spirits were always hovering around ready to -work mis- 
chief, and performed some strange ceremonies to drive them away. Sickness, famine 
or death, bad luck in war or hunting and many other disasters were supposed to be 
the work of the bad spirits and the good spirits were supposed to be at war with 
them. In spite of this belief in spirits, the Indians, unlike most savage people, were 
not generally idolaters. 

It is true that some of the tribes of Central and .South America made hideous 
idols out of mud and clay, and worshii)ped them with bloody ceremonies, but the 
(iod of most of the Indians of the North American Continent, especially of those 
Indians of the interior and eastern coast along the great lakes and rivers, who are 
usually said to be the most perfect specimen of the native North Americans, wor- 
shipped an unseen spirit, though they built no temples. They had their priests or 
nicdicine-men, too, but it was not an easy matter to become a medicine-man. 

Sometimes when a warrior felt himself growing old and unable to go forth much 
longer to war, he would determine to become a medicine-man, and sometimes young 
men presented themselves to the tribes as such. The Indians, to convince themselves 
that the priests had power over the spirits made him undergo cruel tortures, and if 
he survived, then he was allowed to tell fortunes, conjure away sickness by the most 




THE EGG OF COLUMBUS. 



74° 



AMERICA. 




rtirlHtopher Cohiiiibui*. 



absurd ceremonies, and to banish evil spirits 
by beating on drums, yelling, chanting, 
dancing, and in other silly ways. 

Often the medicine-man of a tribe 
offered sacrifices to the good spirit of dogs, 
fruit, or even children, to gain victory, when 
his people went forth to war, and woe to 
him if his "medicine" did not work. He 
was often driven from the tribe, or even 
killed by the enraged people, and the office 
of "medicine-man" was never a very secure 
one among the savages. 

These medicine-men, however often 
gained great influence with the various 
tribes, and they even formed a sort of league 
that made their authority respected-by other 
tribes than their own. Like the priests 
in all nations, they often exercised more 
real power than the chief, though in another 
way. The chiefs of the Indian tribes were 
usually chosen for their bravery, and in- 
heritance of wealth was from the mother and not from the father. The women 
among the Indians were the burden-bearers, the workers in the field, and the 
providers of bread, while to the men was left war, the chase and the settlement 
of all grave aflairs. The wife of a savage always, however, held a certain place in 
the respect of her husband, and should he treat her badly she could divorce herself 
and return to her father. I have not space to tell you of the many singular customs 
of the Indians and their strange dances and ceremonies but will pass to the dis- 
covery of the islands and the continent of America, having already told you some- 
thing of the early voyages of the Norsemen to the Western World, and the influence 
they had in the later discovery by Columbus. 

I have told you the main incidents, in the life of Columbus, before he became the 
Discover of the New World. You have no doubt heard the legend of Columbus 
and the egg, and how when he proposed sailing around the world to India — he was 
ridiculed by the council of priests and noblemen, who believed the world flat. To 
convince them that one man might succed where another fails, he took an egg and 
asked them to make it stand on end. None could do it then he himself took it and 
slighty crushing the shell at one end, formed a sort of base upon which the cjXi^ stood 
upright. There are many other interesting stories related of Columbus, but we will 
pass to his discovery of the New World. 

When Columbus and his crew landed upon the island of San Domingo, in the 
year 1492, after that tedious and dangerous voyage, whose incidents are well known 
to every reader of American history, he was so much struck with the resemblance of 
the country to the most favored portion of Spain, that he called it I lispaniola, and 
this was the name it bore for many centuries. The people in the beautiful island 
were very different from the fierce Caribs of the west, and the Spaniards were 
charmed with their gentleness, the sweetness of their language, and the beauty of 
their women. You must remember that the Indians, varied in temperament and 



AMERICA. 741 

appearance as do the other nations of the earth, and were influenced by their sur- 
rounclinjj^s. The climate and the productions of San Domingo were of a character 
calculated to make life easy and subdue violent inclinations, and the first deed of the 
natives to the new-comers, was a merciful one. They thought that the new-comers 
were heavenly visitants, and when the Santa Maria was wrecked on the coast, as it 
was cautiously feeling its way about the island in search of a good harbor and safe 
anchorage, the chief of the tribe on that part of the island, sent out natives in canoes 
to rescue the Spaniards. The wreck of the Santa Maria formed the materials with 
which the Spaniards built their first fort in the new world, and the fort, La Navidad, 
was the center of the first sorrows of the gentle Indians of Hispaniola. 

The Spaniards were greedy of gold and robbed the natives right and left. They 
shamefuly abused the women and soon convinced the Indians that if they were from 
another world it was not the heavenly one, and that they were to be hated and 
shunned. I am afraid that Columbus himself was not sufiiciently stern toward his 
men, while he remained with them on the island, and when he sailed away it was 
only a short time until the poor natives were driven to desperation by the cruelty of 
the white strangers, and began to return outrage for outrage. The sad story of 
Hispaniola soon spread through the nearer of the islands, and everywhere the 
Indians made the most gallant resistance to the Spaniards, but what could they do 
against steel arms, armor, ami above all the terrible war-horses of the .Spaniards, 
which they regarded as monsters of destruction. 

When Columbus left Palos on his second voyage, in the year 1493, he carried 
with him a crew of selfish, turbulent, Spanish adventurers, who expected to find gold 
enough in the New World, to keep them in idleness and splendor the rest of their 
lives. They were not even willing to perform the necessary duties on shipboard, and 
were so vicious and quarrelsome that he could do little with them. The expedition 
was not a success, and, of course, Columbus received all the blame. On the third 
voyage that Columbus made, he discovered the mainland of South America, though 
he never knew that he had discovered a new continent. This voyage was made in 
I4qS, the year that Vasco de Gama discovered the passage around the Cape of Good 
Hope. 

All Europe had, in the six years since the first Spanish expedition sailed away 
from Palos, been roused to excitement and adventure, by the experience of the navi- 
gators in the Western seas. England sent out John Cabot, also a Genoese, to follow 
in the footsteps of Columbus. The money-loving Henry VII., could not sufficiently 
reproach himself, that he had not been the one to listen to Columbus, and thus gain 
the rich empire to the West, but he thought that he might still claim a part of it. 
John Cabot, and his son Sebastian, were living in the town of Bristol, England, at 
the time of the discovery by Columbus, and as they had been bred to the sea, and 
like most of the Genoese, liked nothing better than sailing about, they applied to 
Henry VII. to equip an expedition for them. Like the Spaniards, they thought they 
might be able to reach Asia, by sailing directly westward. 

They rightly conjectured, that since Columbus had proven beyond a doubt, that 
the world was round, the portion of Asia from which Europe received jewels, 
gold, spices, and many other valuable things, must be directly westward, but they did 
not know what a great body of land intervened. Neither did they know anything of 
the Atlantic currents. The Cabots sighted land, after a long voyage, but instead of 
the luxury of Asia, with its mild climate and rich productions, this land was covered 



r4^ 



AMERICA. 




with snow, was heavily wooded, with trees 
much like those of the forests of northern 
Hurope, and there were abundant signs 
that it was inhabited only by savages, 
who gained their living by hunting and 
fishing. IIenry\'II. was discouraged, but 
John Cabot was not. He came to Amer- 
ica again, the next year after his first 
voyage, and that time he had on board, 
his son. .Sebastian. 

In after years, Sebastian Cabot made 
many voyages to the New World and after 
Henr\ \'II. died, and his son sat on the 
English throne, Ferdinand of Spain, in- 
vited him to his countrj-, and honored him 
by making him a pilot-major of the Span- 
ish navy. Sebastian Cabot was anxious 
to be thought a bolder and more adven- 
turous man than he was, and in the works 
upon Geography that he wrote, he always 
spoke of his voyages, as if he had made 
them alone, and never gave his father 
credit for what he did. I think that was 
I^- . ^^^^s- very dishonest of Sebastian, for he was 

coiumims on the road to Y..ii.,u„i;j. pot, as he claimed, thc discoverer of the 

Continent of North America. 

The companions of Columbus, on his various voyages, succeeded in securing, in 
many cases, thq means of making indeijemlent discoveries, and in the century that 
followed the discovery of America, they made the Spanish name feared and hated, 
wherever it was known in the New World. They carried in their ships, iron fetters 
for the unhappy natives, whom they stole away to sell as slaves, and they thought 
nothing of torturing to death, even the chiefs who were the most kind to them, if 
they thought they could make them disclose the where-abouts of the gold, for whicli 
they were all so greedy. They pretended that they thought it no sin to kill heathen, 
and that they were their natural prey. 

Columbus, during his third voyage, coasted along the shores of South America, 
and discovered the Pearl Coast, which he imagined was the region of Oriental pearls, 
for he still believed that the land he had discovered, was the coast of Asia. This 
third voyage ruined his health, and he stopped at Hispaniola to allow it to be 
restored by rest and freedom from the great toils of the last few years. It was then 
that the envy and jealousy of his enemies began to work him disaster. A man was 
sent oLit to investigate charges against him. and Columbus was thrown into chains, 
and carried back to Spain. Isabella caused him to be restored to his rights, but his 
star had begun to wane. In the four years that passed before he was able to make 
another voyage, private adventurers, following in his track, had visited the New 
World and reaped the profits of his discoveries. Finally, he did prevail upon the 
king of Spain, to give him a small fleet, and with it he sailed to the New W'orld, in 
the year 1502. returning two years afterwards, to die in poverty and neglect, in the 



AMERICA. 743 

ungrateful country for which he had done so much. 

There was, at the court of the king of Spain, at the time Columbus made his third 
voyage, a young cavalier by the name of Alonzo tie Ojeda. He was the son of a 
poor nobleman, who had placed him, in his boyhood, in the household of a celebrated 
Spanish duke, to be trained in the arts of war, about the only profession thought 
dignified in those days. He was a dashing fellow, brave, unscrupulous, and fond of 
adventure. He had an uncle who was a bishop, and who had access to the corres- 
pondence that Columbus carried on with the Spanish Court. 

In this manner he learned all of the particulars of the third voyage of Columbus, 
and the discovery of the Pearl Coast. He was not over-scrupulous about the rights 
of Columbus, and he proposed to one of the high church dignitaries of Spain that it 
would be a good thing for some young and daring man, presumably himself, to take 
a fleet, and sailing to the New World, extend the discoveries and conquests of the 
Spaniards. 

Isabella would not, perhaps, have given her consent to the scheme, but she was 
not consulted. Ojeda had no money, but there were many rich merchants in Seville 
who had faith in him, and who were eager, was all the rest of the Spaniards were at 
the time, for the gold of the New World. ' They were obliged by the terms of the 
contract with the church official, (who, by the way, was a bitter enemy of Columbus, 
and was an.xious to injure him,) to turn over a large percentage of the treasure they 
should find to the king of Spain, but they thought that they would still have enough 
left to pay them handsomely for the venture. 

Accordingly, Ojeda equipped four vessels in Port St. Mary, opposite Cadiz, and 
engaged crews for the venture. There were several seamen who had just returned 
from the third expedition, and among them was a Biscayan by the name of Juan de 
la Cosa, who had accompanied Columbus in one voyage, and who had also visited 
the mainland of South America, with another Spanish discoverer. He was made the 
first mate, or chief pilot, of Ojeda's expedition. Another associate of Ojeda has 
come down to history with more honor than he deserves, for America was named for 
him. You have, no doubt, heard of Americus V'espuci, the bankrupt Florentine 
merchant, who, hoping to restore his fortunes by the adventure, sailed to the New 
World in one of the ships of Alonzo de Ojeda. 

It was in the year 1499 that Ojeda sailed away from Cadiz, and guided by Juan 
de la Cosa, took the route followed by Columbus in the third voyage. He, and his 
squadron reached South America at the end of twenty-four days, and sailed down 
the coast of the Gulf of Paria, being greatly astonished at the volume of water which 
the mighty rivers of the Continent discharged into the ocean. They saw none of 
the natives until they reached the Island of Trinidad, but there they saw strange 
bell-shaped huts, thatched with broad leaves, and some of them so large that they 
could accommodate six hundred persons. They sailed leisurely along the coast until 
they found a convenient place to stop, and anchoring their little fleet in a natural 
harbor, they pitched their camp and began to build another small ship. 

The natives of this part of the coast were exceedingly friendly to the Spaniards, 
who seemed to them to be celestial visitors, and they aided them in every way with 
their work, and bartered the fine pearls which they wore as ornaments, for the glass 
beads and other such trifles that the Spaniards had brought with them for the purpose. 
These natives were much in fear of the fierce inhabitants of the islands whom the 
Spaniards called Caribs, or "eaters of human flesh," and they begged Ojeda to punish 



744 



AMERICA. 




The Kk't*t of r<>lulnhu!« lit .Srii. 



them for an outrage committed sometime before upon 
their tribe. 

Ojeda was always ready for a tight, so with several 
of the friendly Indians for guides, he set out to find 
the man-eaters. When he came near their islands they 
came out in their canoes and shot their arrows at the 
Spaniards, but as those douglity warriors were en- 
cased in mail, they did little harm. 

When the savages saw that the Spaniards con- 
tinued to advance, and that their small canoes 
were likely to be run down by the great ship 
of the foe, they sprang into the ocean, bran- 
^^1 dishing tlieir spears anil uttering their war- 
( cry, thinking to frighten the new-comers. The 
Spaniards thereupon inx-d their guns at the 
Indians, who had never before heard the re- 
port of fire-arms, and were so alarmed that 
_J^^p they fled to the shore for their lives. 

The Spaniards went on shore, and with 
only the loss of one man killed, and twenty 
slightly wounded, they killed hundreds of the naked Indians who fought hand to 
hand with the dreadful strangers with the most heroic courage. When Ojeda and 
his band had either killed or dispersed all of the Indians, they plundered and burned 
their dwellings, and laden with plunder, sailed away to new fields of operations. 

I do not think that the Spaniards should have claimed much credit for tlieir vic- 
tories over the poorly-armed natives of the \ew World, but thty did so, and did not 
seem to see the cruelty of thus attacking weak tribes, murdering, plundering and 
making captives everywhere. Ojeda sailed along the coast of South America, 
exploring the Gulf of Venezuela, and neighboring arms of the sea, but Columbus, 
who was still in the western waters, sent out an expedition against him, for the pre- 
sence of his ships on those coasts was a violation of his rights as expressed in his 
agreement with Ferdinand and Isabella. 

Ojeda thereupon quitted the coast of the mainland, and visited several of the 
islands, killing and robliing the people, and carrying many captives back to Spain to 
be sold into slavery. He reached Cadiz in the year 1500, but he had not found many 
pearls, and the coveted gold was so scarce among the people whom he conquered, 
that the merchants, who had fitted him out, were bitterly disappointed. Americus 
V^espuci returned in safety, and wrote an extended account of what he had seen in 
the course of his voyage. Mis work roused the most intense interest wherever it was 
read, and so great was the author's fame that th(; Continent was named for him, 
though we know he did not deserve that honor, and his account was highly colored 
with fiction. 

Among the cavaliers of Spain, who sailed to the New World was a veteran of 
the Spanish wars by the name of Juan Ponce from the province of Leon, and there- 
fore called Ponce de Leon. Near enough to ffispaniola to be reached by a short 
and jjleasant voyage, was another large island, now known as Porto Rico from the 
Port of Rico that was established there by the Spaniards. In they year 1508, sixteen 
years after the discovery of Hispaniola, Porto Rico was still unsettled by the 



AMERICA. 



745 



Spaniards. Many of the Spanish ships had touched at the island, from time to time, 
for fuel or water, for there were magnificent forests clothing the beautiful hills of 
the islands antl clear streams, running into the sea, but none of their crews had 
ventured inland. They had sighted numerous columns of smoke and evidences 
that the place was inhabited by a large number of Indians, and they did not care to 
disturb them. Ponce de Leon had a thirst for adventure, discovery and wealth, and 
he determined to visit the island and explore the interior. Accordingly, in the year 
150S, with a few companions he sailed from Hispaniola, and after an uneventful and 
pleasant voyage, reached the islands, landed and proceeded into the interior. The 
chief received him with the greatest kindness and entertained him hospitably. 
Through an interpreter he had carried with him, Ponce asked the chief to show him 
his riches, but when the savage conducted him to his fields of Yucca, and his fountains 
of pure water, the .Spaniards asked whether there was no gold in the island. The 
Indians then led them to a stream where the pebbles were streaked with the yellow 
ore, and the Spaniards gathered a quantity of these and carried them back to 
Hispaniola with them. There they had the purity of tlie ore tested, and though 
they found that it was of much coarser grade than that gathered at Hispaniola, the 
quantities in which it was found might possibly recompense them for the poorer 
quality. 

Ponce wanted to be made governor of the island, with power to conquer the 
natives, but he found upon his return to Hispaniola, that the governor who had 
given him the permission to explore the island, had been called back to Spain, and 
that Diego Columbus, the son of the admiral, who was now dead had been sent out 
to Hispaniola for he inherited his father's rights to the government in the New World. 
Along with Diego, a governor of the new island had also been sent at the same time 
though without the consent of Diego, and Ponce was somewhat perplexed as to whose 
authority was to be obeyed. Diego was justly angry at the appointment of a governor 
of one of his islands by the king without his consent, and would not allow him to take 
it. Neither would he have anything to do with Ponce de Leon, but sent two of his 
own friends over to be the governors of the place. They did not remain long in power 
for Ponce had a friend at court who caused Ferdinand to declare him the right- 
ful governor of the new island, and told Diego, in so many words, that he should not 
dare to interfere with him. Ponce thereupon set out with about a hundred men to 
take charge of his new government. Once there, he quietly placed the two go- 
vernors, appointed by Diego, into irons and sent them back to Spain. Then he set 
himself to work to subdue the island. He divided it up into lots, giving certain men 
large districts, with power over the Indians to compel them to work as slaves 
without hire and to flog them to death, if necessary, to compel them to subjection. 
He built forts at different places on the island, and one strong fort, which was to be a 
refuge in case of a general uprising. The friendly chief, who had met him upon a 
former visit was dead, and his son was ruler in iiis stead. The people of Porto Rico 
were more warlike than those of Hispaniola, for they lived neighbors to the fierce 
Caribs and had been accustomed to train themselves to defend their homes. They 
were not disposed to yield tamely to the Spaniards, and even sent word to their old 
enemies, the Caribs, entreating them to form a league with them to drive the white 
men out of the islantls of the West, relating how the people of Hispaniola had been 
treated, and how they themselves had been requited for their friendship to the 
Spaniards. Then they formed a great plot against their Spanish masters, but most 



746 



AMERICA. 



NX 





..fe^^^*).i 



of the savages believed that the white men 
were immortal and that is was impossible to 
kill them. To convince the savages that they 
were wrong, the young chieftain planned to 
kill a Spaniard, who had a plantation in the 
interior and who was isolated from all but 
a few of the other wnite 
men. The plan was told 
to the Spaniard by the sis- 
ter of the chief who was in 
love with the handsome 
stranger, but he only laugh- 
n-d at her. 

Then another .Spaniard, 
' who happened to be prowling 
ibout in the woods, saw a 
number of Indians dancing 
about a fire, and suspecting 
ihat something important 
d.^^^' ^ was to take place, for it was 
not the season for any of 
their feasts or dances, he 
stripped off his clothes, painted himself, like an Indian and went among them. He 
understood and spoke their language perfectly learneil. of the plot and who was to 
be its first victim. He hastened away to tell the doomed man, but was waylaid by 
Indians, wounded and left for dead. In the meantime the lover of the chief's sister, 
started on a journey to the fort where Ponce de Leon made his head-quarters, 
accompanied by Indian bearers and four of his Spanish friends. They were all 
murdered in the forest. The wounded man. at length after much suffering, made 
his way to Ponce de Leon and told him of the plot and soon the Spaniards came 
hurr\ing in from different parts of the island, telling tales of comrades murdered, 
plantations laid waste, and disasters of every kind. Ponce and his little band, about 
eighty men in all. were besieged hy hundreds of Indian warriors but clad in tiieir 
armor and with their terrible fire-arms they worked much havoc among the Indians. 
Finally they killed the gallant chieftain, who had led his countrymen to war for 
their freedom, and the savages lost heart. The Spaniards conquered the poor 
natives, punished them with remorseless cruelty, and soon after Ponce de Leon was 
removed from his office by Ferdinand, who had been prevailed upon Ijy his council 
to acknowledge the right of Diego Columbus to name the Governor of Porto Rico. 
Ponce does not seem to have regretted very much the loss of his government. 
He was of the roving, adventurous disposition that could not be content long in one 
place, and now that he had found out all about the island, and there was no more 
excitement to be had there, he was eager to be gone. He was an old man and begin- 
ning to feel the weight of years, and he wanted to make a discovery that would over- 
shadow the fame of Columbus, and send his name down tlie ages in a blaze of 
glory 

He believed in miracles, for surely it seemed tluit tiie discovery of the New 
World, with all its wealth, was nothing less than a miracle, and there might be others 



AMERICA. 747 

achieved equally marvelous. He had heard of an island in these Western seas upon 
which there was a fountain wliose waters contained a precious magic. Whoever 
drank of this water, or bathed in it, no matter how old, feeble or diseased, was at 
once restored to youth, health and beauty, and remainetl forever youny. 

Alas for humanity that Ponce de Leon failed to find that wonderful fountain! 
Had he done so, no mortal man could compare with him as a discoverer, and no fame 
would be like his. We know that there is no such fountain, that old age, decay and 
death are a part of the Creator's plan for the race, and that the soul alone that has 
bathed in the fountain of virtue, and drunk deep of wisdom, remains forever young 
strong and vigorous, and at last freed from the prison of the body, dwells in a place 
far more beautiful than the fabled island for which Ponce de Leon sought. 

In the month of March, of the year 1512, Ponce de Leon sailed away from Porto 
Rico with three ships, steering straight to the Northward. There were many sober 
and experienced men on the island, who firmly believed that he would find what he 
sought, others were somewhat doubtful, but none seems to have tried to persuade 
him that he was attempting the impossible, and if he had done so there is small 
chance that the old cavalier would have heeded them, for he was an obstinate man, 
when he had once come to a decision. 

In the course of his voyage to the North, Ponce de Leon sighted many small 
islands. He did not pass many of them by without a careful examination, and, no 
doubt, drank a quantity of water, good, bad and indifferent, in the hope that he might 
find the fabled fountain. He examined every island in the archipelago of His- 
paniola, but still being unable to find the fountain, sailed on over the blue and quiet 
seas, until, on the 27th day of March, he came in sight of land, which he thought was 
another island. 

He was eager to land, for this was a strange place that he had never heard of 
Spaniards having visited, and here he might find the island. To his disgust a storm 
arose, and the wind blew with such violence that he was obliged to put out to the 
open sea for fear that his vessels would be wrecked. For two days he drifted about, 
then the storm abated and he went ashore on the new land. It was a beautiful coun- 
try, gay with flowers, and bright with the verdure of summer. He landed on Palm 
Sunday, or as the Spaniards call it, "Pascua de Florida," the feast of flowers, and 
giving the name Florida to the country, tocjk possession of it in the name of the King 
Ferdinand and the Lady Jane, sovereigns of Castile and Leon. 

The Indians on the mainland may have heard of the cruelty of the Spaniards, 
for no doubt, now and then, a native of the islands, oppressed, miserable and despair- 
ing, committed himself in his frail craft to the seas, daring death by the wind and 
waters, rather than suffer under the lash of the Spanish slave driver. These refugees 
had carried their tale of disaster and suffering to the red men on the mainland, and 
they were determined to resist the landing of the white men. 

They attacked Ponce de Leon and his crew with such ferocity that, though they 
were well-armed, and the savages had only their spears, clubs and bows, and though 
they fought in mail against naked men, the Spaniards were glad to hurry to their 
ships and sail away. Provisions and supplies were running low, and Ponce de Leon 
turned back toward Porto Rico, still cherishing the hope of finding the fountain. He 
stopped at a group of islands where there were so man\- turtles that the Spaniards 
named the group the "Tortugas," or the Turtles, the name they still bear. Another 
group of islands was also sighted by Ponce de Leon, and making his way thither he 



74S AMERICA. 

found that the islands contained but a single, ugly, wrinkled, wierd-looking, old Indian 
woman. Ponce de Leon, whose imagination seems to have been exceedingly lively 
in spite of his age, conceived the idea that the old woman was a witch who might be 
able to direct him on his way. With the idea that she knew where the fountain was 
for which he was in search, he carried her with him. The old woman acted as pilot, 
and she guided the ships of Ponce de Leon, in and out, among the various groups, 
through the blue and quiet seas, but had she known of anj' fountain that would have 
restored youth, it is reasonable to suppose that she would have partaken of it long 
before the eager Spaniards ever saw her, for savage, as well as civilized men, fear 
death and love life. 

It is hardly necessary that I should tell you that Ponce de Leon did not discover 
the fountain, but that with added wrinkles upon his face, and a purse empty of the 
gold with which he set out, he returned to Porto Rico. You may be sure that he was 
ridiculed by his countrymen for his "wild goose chase," though, as I have told you, 
there were many who contidently e.xpected that he would succeed. Although the old 
cavalier had not found the fountain of youth, he had discovered a peninsula of the 
mainland of North America, and this was very important to Spain, for it gave her a 
claim to a vast Continent, filled with unknown riches, and which many people thought 
was full of gold and gems. The Spanish king realized the importance of the dis- 
covery, and when Ponce de Leon returned to his native land he was receivetl with 
great honc^r. and was flattered and complimented to his heart's content. 

The Spaniards were so cruel to the Indians of the Caribean Islands, that after a 
time, the unhappy natives, preferring instant death to the tortures of labor and star- 
vation, rebelled and made relentless war upon their conquerors. They would fall, 
unawares, upon some unprotected Spanish settlement, massacre the people, burn their 
dwellings, and then disappear as suddenly as they had come. The war-like Caribs 
espoused the cause of their countrj-men, and held the Spaniards at bay, whenever 
they attempted to invade their island and subdue them. To Ponce de Leon was en- 
trusted the task of subduing the natives, and he was given a small fleet ior this pur- 
pose. He was much given to boasting, and no doubt made much of his commission, 
and told great tales of what he meant to do. He failed, however, and crest-fallen 
and disheartened, returned to Porto Rico, where he remained a sour, disapjjointed, 
old man, for many years. 

While in retirement, and almost poverty there, he heard of the brilliant exploits 
of Hernando Cortez, of whom I shall tell you something later, and determined, that 
though he was an old man, he was not too old to teach the young cavaliers, that 
there were some things that they did not know. He was a proud, brave, old soldier, 
It is true, but seems also to have been one of the men, who could not learn by e.xperi- 
ence, how foolish it is to stake everything upon an uncertain venture. He took all 
the means he had in the world, and fitted out an expedition to explore and conquer 
the main-land of Florida, and set out with high hopes. The voyage was a pleasant 
one, and as the Spaniards were well-equipped for war, they did not doubt that they 
should make short work of the savages. 

The Indians of the main-land were very different from the gentle natives of 
Hispaniola and the neighboring islands, and since the first visit of the .Spaniards to 
the coast, had no doubt heard much of them and their doings. At all events, when 
the expedition attempted to land, it was fiercely attacked by the natives. Many of 
the Spaniards were killed and others wounded. Ponce de Leon himself, was struck 



AMERICA. 



749 



> 

o 
o 

n 
o 




yj^ 



AMERICA. 










Coluinluis III Chains 



by an arrow, and the pain of the wound, and 
the disappointment over the failure of his 
plans, brought about the death of the adven- 
turer, a few days afterward. Thus ended the 
romantic career of one of the early Spanish 
explorers and discov- 
erers, and I will now 
tell you of another, 
no less romantic. 

In telling you the 
story of \'asco Nu- 
nez de Balboa, 1 II^K 
must go back a little p ■ ,, 
way, and relate some- W-. 
thing further of what 
befell Alonzo de Oje- 
da, the cavalier who 
sailed to the X e w 
Wo rid, when the 
fame of Columbus 
was beginning to be 

somewhat dimmed by the envy of his enemies, who lost nc 
opportunity to injure him in the estimation of the king. Oje- 
da made several voyages to the New World, and his friends at court, succeeded 
in having him made governor of the island of Jamaica. It was the policy of the king 
to appoint two governors, over many of the Spanish possessions, in the Indies, and 
thus each was a check upon the other. Ferdinand had appointed, as the associate of 
( )ifda in office, a man whom he hated, but rather than not have any power at all, 
Ojetla was willing to share it with the other. Diego Columbus denied that the king 
of Spain had any right to appoint any one to govern the island of Jamaica, 
without his consent, and straightway apiJointed one of his own friends to the i)lace. 
Ojeda happened to be at Hispaniola, and he told Diego, that since the king had 
named him as governor, he would take the position, and, pending the arrival of his 
associate, would consider himself sole ruler of Jamaica, and would cut off the head 
of Dieo'o's governor, if he dared to interfere with him. This was bold talk, to be 
sure, but at that time, Ojeda was not much to be feared, for he had spent all his 
money, and had not the means to fit out the ships to sail to his new possessions. In 
the voyage from which he had just returned, he was followed by the bail luck, which 
nearly always pursued him, and people generally, were beginning to lose faith in his 
ability to accomplish much in the way of winning wealth. All who were acquainted 
with him knew that he was brave, and he finally gained the favor of a rich lawyer of 
Hispaniola, who agreed, for a certain share in the gains of the venture, to fit out two 
ships. Ojeda was to take one and sail immediately, and the lawyer was to come a 
little later, with more men, provisions, supplies of all kinds, and re-enforce Ojeda. 

Ojeda was followed by his usual bad luck. Hardly had he lost sight of the 
shores of Hispaniola; when contrary winds began to blow. He was overtaken by 
tempests and wrecked on a strange coast. He might have fared better, had he been 
blessed with more prudence, but he angered the Indians among whom he was 



AMERICA. 751 

wrecked, by the means he took of wringing gold from them, and the outrages he 
encouraged his crew to make on them. I have not space to tell you all that befell 
Ojeda antl his men. There were long marches, sufferings from sickness and hunger, 
drifting about on wild seas, and wandering from hostile savages. In the meantime, 
the lawyer had started with his re-enforcements, and they too, were sore beset by 
dangers and difficulties, and the other governor, after shipwreck and disaster, arrived 
at the place where Ojeda's half-starved men happened to be. The vessel of the 
lawyer was long overdue, and Ojeda determined to make his way back to Hispaniola 
and learn what was the matter. He bravely set forth, and after many adventures, 
reached the island, where he was soon afterward killed by an enemy; so, unlucky to 
the last, Ojeda drops out of history. 

While the lavv^yer was preparing to sail, he found that there was no dii'+iculty 
in enlisting men for the new enterprise. There were soldiers of fortune, who were 
deeply in debt and had no prospect of ever being able to pay what they owed, 
except by going to work, and of course a Spanish gentleman thought himself 
sinking low indeed, when fate compelled him to work. All these were eager to get 
away from Hispaniola, and so many of them enlisteil, that those, to whom they owed 
money, seeing small prospect of ever getting their due, carried their grievance to 
Diego Columbus, and he forbade the lawyer to enroll any more debtors. In San 
Domingo at this time was a handsome cavalier about thirty-five years old, by the 
name of Vasco Nunex de Balboa. It was the custom, in those days in Spain, for 
those persons of noble blood, who had small fortunes, and there were many whose 
estates had been ruined by the long wars with the Moors, to place their sons with rich 
noblemen, who educated them and, in return, was followed to the wars or attended 
in peace by these young men. V^asco Nunez, had been brought up in the household 
of a powerful nobleman, and had all those false ideas about labor that were common 
to the Spaniards, who hated it because they hated so heartily the Jews and the 
Moors, the only real laborers of Spain for many centuries. He had followed the 
tide of adventure to the New World, expecting to reap a rich harvest in its mines 
and pearl fisheries. He found it as hard to live in the New World, without work, as 
in the Old, and speedily fell into debt. This fact probably did not worry Vasco 
Nunex a great deal, for he had been in debt ever since he had been in the world at 
all, but his creditors were not restrained from prosecuting him in San Domingo, as 
they would have been in Spain, and the small community soon became a decidedly 
uncomfortable place of residence. Vasco was determined to leave the island, but 
Diego Columbus was so determined also that no more debtors should be allowed to 
go abord the ship of the lawyer, that he set a watch upon it. Vasco was a man of 
ideas, and he caused some of his trusty slaves to put him in a large barrel, into which 
they had previously bored several small air holes for him to breathe through, and 
to fasten him up securely therein with a little bread and water to sustain life until 
such a time as he should choose to come forth again into the world. The lawyer 
supposed that the barrel contained provisions, and was intensely surprised when, 
after the vessel was safely out to sea, Vasco came out of his barrel, made his best 
bow, and begged him to excuse the stratagem he had employed. The lawyer was 
not disposed to forgive the daring Vasco, but on the contrary swore that he would 
put him ashore upon the first deserted island that he came to. 

Nothing daunted, Vasco accepted his fate cheerfully, but turned to with a hearty 
good will, helped the sailors at their tasks, made himself so useful and was altogether 



/D- 



AMERICA. 



such a winning, strong, good natured and brave fellow, that the lawyer decided that 
after all he had better not set him ashore, for there might come a time when his 
coarage, experience and intelligence would be valuable. He did not treat the 
adventurer with any special favor, but allowed him his liberty on board the vessel, 
and it was not long before he was a prime fav(jrite with everybody on board. The 
place, where Ojeda had left his colonists was on the coast of Darien The poor 
fellows had waited for reinforcements so long that they had despaired of ever 
receiving them. More than half the number had died of exposure and starvation, 
and the others were so harassed by the Indians, that they abandoned the idea of 
settling upon the unfriendly coast and attempted to make their way back to civili- 
zation. Thus when the lawyer, after many sad trials and disastrous adventures 
reached the place which he fondly imagined would be a flourishing settlement by 
the time he arrived, with a goodly store of gold and pearls to be poured into his 
strongboxes, he found only a melancholy ruin, surrounded by hostile Indians, who 
constantly hovered about the Spaniards annoying them ceaselessly. 

The unhappy lawyer did not know what course to pursue, where he should go, 
or what he should do. It happened that \'asco Nunez had been in this part of the 
world before, and while there, had learned that there was a portion of the coast 
abounding in food, and rich in gold. He had told to some of his friends on board 
the caravel, something of his adventures, and said that he knew the country so well 
that he could act in the capacity of guide, if it was the wish of the lawyer. When his 
words were repeated to the commander of the expedition, that worthy eagerly ac- 
cepted his offer to act as guide, and at his suggestion, the Spaniards set sail and soon 
came in sight of an Indian town, which \'asco Xunez assured them was the storing 
place of vast treasure. 

When the savages saw the strangers approach, they made prejiarations to de- 
fend themselves and their homes. They sent away the women and children, and the 
men, to the number of five hundred, assembled on a height above the village, where 
they were in good position to meet the new-comers, i'he lawyer was a man of war 
as well as of peace, and when he had commended the; pious undertaking, of robbing 
and murdering the defenseless savages, to the especial care of the \'irgin, and prom- 
ised to lay certain rich offerings upon the altar, if he succeeded, he Iioldly landed his 
men and charged the Indians. The poor natives fought with the utmost courage, 
but they were naked, while the strangers were cased in steel of proof, and carried 
tire-arms whose noise and smoke frightened the savages until they were utterly 
unable to stand before them. 

They fled in fright and confusion at the end of a few hcnirs of fearful slaughter. 
Those who were spared, fled to the shelter of the forests, when they were convinced 
of the folly of further resistance, and the lawyer took possession of the village and of 
all the surrounding towns, for the natives fled before his men, and gathered orna- 
ments of gold worth more than fifty thousand dollars, a great sum in those days. 
So well pleased was the lawyer with the success of the raid, that he decided to estab- 
lish his government in the conquered town, to which in honor of the Virgin, he gave 
the name of Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien, a long name, which means City 
in Darien of Our Lady Mary of Antigua. 

Of course, the lawyer had no right as governor over that place, for Ujeda had 
had been appointed ruler Ijy the king, and Ojeda was absent. Perhaps he would 
have succeeded in holding the power, because he was the partner of the absent gov- 



AMERICA. 753 

-ernor, had he behaved with wisdom; but he did not reaHze that the men with whom 
he had to deal, were very different from those he had been accustomed to transact bus- 
iness with, ant! that they had Httle respect for any right that interfered with their own 
gain. The king of Spain had h^ng before declared it unlawful for private individuals to 
traffic with the natives of the New World for gold, for he reserved to himself the 
power and privilege of robbing them. The lawyer, therefore, forbade his men, on 
pain of death, from trading with the Indians, and when they talked it over among 
themselves, there were many who declared that the lawyer was less an.xious to obey 
the king's injunction, than to have the opportunity to gather into his own strong- 
boxes, all the gold that was to be found in Darien, Vasco Nunez had, by this time, 
gained great favor among the followers of the lawyer. He was generous, cheerful 
and brave, and he had guided them to the place where they were hopeful of gaining 
great wealth. It seems that the lawyer, in spite of all the good qualities of the young 
cavalier, and all that he had done in advancing his fortunes, hated him, and lost no 
opportunity of showing it. 

When the king oppointed two governors, he had laid down a sort of boundary 
between their respective possessions, and Vasco Nunez now declared that the village 
where they were located, was not in Ojeda's province at all. The lawyer, therefore, 
had no shadow of authority over the government of the place. The -Spaniards, when 
they were assured that this was the fact, deposed the lawyer, and placed Vasco 
Nunez at the head of affairs, with two others of their number, as associates in office, 
until such time as the rightful governor should appear. It soon became plain that 
this arrangement would not answer, and all were anxious to again have one person 
in charge, but they could not agree who that person should be. While they were 
quarreling and wrangling over the matter, they heard the sound of a cannon fired as 
a salute, and hurried to the shore, to find there a countryman who had sailed in 
search of Ojeda's associate. 

He distributed presents of arms and provisions among the colonists and so won 
their hearts that they were willing that he should be the governor until the rightful 
one should come. They sent one of their most influential men with this person, who 
soon sailed away in search of the governor, carrying instructions to him concerning 
all that had happened, and begging him to come to them. The governor had been 
ship-wrecked, and he and his followers were almost dead with hunger and disease, 
when they were finally found, and you may imagine the joy with which they heard of 
the good fortune of the colonists in Darien. The governor, however, declared that 
he should compel the Spaniards to deliver all the gold, that they had collected in his 
absence, into his keeping, and was so unwise in his declarations of the severe policy 
that he meant to enforce when he arrived at Darien, that the ambasssadors the 
colonists had sent, took alarm. They were careful not to allow the governor to sus- 
pect that they did not approve of his policy, but departed some days ahead of him, 
and when they reached Darien, informed Vasco Nunez and the others, what they 
might expect. 

The colonists were much disturbed, but they took Vasco's advice, which was to 
prevent the new governor from coming ashore when he arrived. Therefore, as soon 
as the vessel in which he was known to be, arrived in the harbor of Darien, a man 
who had been given the title of public attorney, waded out into the water, and in the 
hearing of the whole community gathered on the beach, warned the governor to at 
once depart whence he came. The governor pleaded and reasoned with the people. 



754 AMERICA. 

but in vain, and at nightfall again put out to sea. The ne.\t day he came back hoping 
that there had been a change. The colonists had held a council in the meantime, 
and to get him into their power, decided to invite him on shore. No sooner had he 
set foot on shore than the rabble rushed forward to seize him. 

The governor was noted for his swiftness of foot, and he sped away followed by 
the entire population. He distanced them all, and took refuge in the woods. X'asco 
Nunez now repented his advice to the people, and was filled with grief to see the gov- 
ernor, a man of noble birth, brave, honest and high-minded, so persecuted, and tried 
to reason with his two associates in otfice, who, fearful that they were about to lose 
their power, headed the mob against the governor. Vasco was eloquent, and pleaded 
the governor's cause with all his might, representing that the king might account 
their action against him treason, and punish them accordingly. 

There was one brawling fellow, encouraged by the head men in office in the place, 
who kept interrupting Vasco in his speech bj' crying in a loud tone, "No, no, no, " to 
everything he said. Vasco bore this patiently at first, then warned the fellow to be 
silent. He continued his interruption, and Vasco paused long enough to lay upon the 
shoulders of the rogue a hundred lashes, which he, in his capacity of mayor, had the 
power to inflict. The men obstinately' refused to receive the governor, and Vasco 
persuaded him to go on board the vessel and refuse to come ashore unless he assured 
him of his safety. 

The governor was induced to land a short time afterward, by a man who was the 
enemy of Vasco, though his associate in office, and was forced to go on board a crazy 
old ship with seventeen of his faithful friends, and set sail for Spain. In vain the 
unfortunate governor pleaded against their cruelty, and begged to remain among 
them a prisoner in irons, rather than dare certain death on the seas. They refused 
his prayer, and he sailed away. The seasons came and went, and vessels sailed hither 
and thither over the western seas, but the craft of the unlucky governor was never 
sighted, no fragment even of its wreck ever drifted on shore, and to this day his fate 
and that of his companions remains a mystery. 

When the governor was thus disposed of, the colonists renewed their quarrel 
concerning who should hold the power. The lawyer still maintained that he was the 
rightful person to be obeyed, but there was a large number of the colonists who 
insisted that Vasco Nunez and his associates could conduct the affairs of the colonies. 
To settle the question, it was i^roposed to send the lawyer to Spain. Clever X'asco 
Nunez knew that the lawyer would be able to plead his cause better with Ferdinand 
than he had done with the people of Darien, and that the colonists might be repre- 
sented at court, suggested that one of the associate governors be sent along with the 
lawyer for that purpose. Knowing how far money might influence the Spanish king 
in his favor, he sent the other associate to Hispaniola to bribe a certain high official 
there, who had great credit with the king, to undertake their case. Thus, Vasco was 
well rid, not only of the lawyer, but of the other two associates in office, and as there 
was now no one to oppose him, was in sole command of the colony. 

This matter settled, Vasco sent after the remainder of the people belonging to 
the expedition of the unhappy governor, who were encamped on a distant part of tlie 
coast. On the way he picked up two Spaniards who had been fugitives from the 
governor's camp, and had learned much of the Indians of the country, among whom 
they had lived for more than a year. The savages had been kind to the white stran- 
gers, and had treated them like brothers, but this did not prevent them from advising 




ALfcXAl/iDPiidEBK^ 



NATURAL FOREST, HISPAN'IOLA 



755 



756 AMERICA. 

Vasco and his men to raid tlie very villages where they had received shelter. 

\'asco was anxious to do something to distinguish himself and win gold for Fer- 
dinand, knowing that was the argument above all others most likely to succeed at 
court. He therefore armed a body of a hundred and thirty of his men, and with 
them set out to invade the villages cf the Indians. The chief received the Spaniards 
as honored guests, set forth tiie best that his villages afforded and in every way 
treated them with kindness. He also showed them all his treasures, but when the 
Spaniards asked him to give them a large supply of food for the colony, he declared 
that he did not have it because his people had been at war with a neighboring tribe 
and had been unable to plant large crops. 

The two Spaniards who had lived in the Indian town, told \'asco, that while this 
was true, the chief had a secret store of provisions. They said that it would be a 
good plan to part in a friendl)' manner from the chief, then return by night, make 
him prisoner, and take the provisions. \ asco thought this e.xcellent advice, and, 
leaving the chief with many professions of friendship, pretended to depart from that 
part of the country. In the dead of night, the Spaniards came back, surprised the 
Indians, took the chief and his family prisoners, and loaded two vessels with the pro- 
visions. Then they set out for Darien, carrying their captives. The chief promised 
to be a friend of the white men, if they would restore him to liberty, and as a pledge 
of good faith, gave to X'asco, for his wife, his lovely daughter. Vasco grew to love 
this Indian girl most tenderly, and he kept her father at Darien but a short time, 
showing him the wonders of his ships, cannon, and other things marvelous to the 
savages, then sent him back to his own country, loaded with presents. 

It was from this Indian chief, that X'asco Nunez learned that a neighboring tribe 
had much gold, and in due time, marched against them, captured the village, and 
with it, vast quantities of the precious metal. Vasco had a wonderful faculty cf 
winning the affections of the red men. He treated them kindly after he had con- 
quered them, and in this way succeedeil in trading with them, and securing much 
gold that would otherwise have been secreted. 

It is said that when the Spaniards were about to return from this raid into the 
Indian country, several of them fell to quarreling about the division of the gold. A 
tall young Indian looked on in disdain, while the white men wrangled, and while the 
dispute was at its height, suddenly dashed his fist among the yellow nuggets, scatter- 
ing them in every direction, and scornfully asked the white men why they so angrily 
disputed about the ownership of the yellow dirt, when beyond the mountains was a 
mighty sea into which streams of gold poured. The chiefs of that country made 
their utensils out of gold, and thought no more of it than the Spaniards thought of 
iron. If they thought so highly of gold, why not go and get all they wanted, instead 
of quarreling, like children, over the little they found in his village.'' 

Vasco Nunez was greatly rejoiced when he heard this, and taking the young In- 
dian aside, gained all the information he possessed in regard to the golden land to 
the westward. The Indian told him that the journey was long, and that there were 
many fierce chieftains to be overcome, and deep and wide rivers to be crossed. He 
said that it would be impossible to conquer the savage tribes, dwelling in the interior, 
with fewer than a thousand well-armed white men; but from that moment, X'asco 
determined to find that ocean to the westward, and hastened back at once to Darien 
to perfect his arrangements for the expedition. 

Scarcely had he returned, when the Indians of the neighborhood made a plot to 



AMERICA. 757 

get rid of all the white men in the country, and had it not been for the love one of 
Vasco's slaves bore her master, the plan would, no doubt, have succeeded. As it was, 
the Spaniards killed and captured many of the Indians, and, as was their wont when 
they had nothing else to do, fell to quarreling among themselves. They were dissat- 
isfied with the division of the gold that Vasco had made, and threatened to depose 
him from power, if he did not at once share with them, all the gold still undivided. 
Vasco wisely made up his mind to leave them to themselves for a few days, and 
disappeared by night from the colony, and took shelter among some of his Indian 
friends. 

The coionists then appointed two of the enemies of Vasco as their rulers, and the 
new officers at once divided the gold. Immediately the dissatisfaction rose to a great 
height. All were displeased with their share, and swore that had Vasco Nunez made 
the division, he would have treated them more fairly. They regretted that he had 
left them, and sent an Indian to tind him and bring him back. They humbly apolo- 
gized for past misdeeds, and when, a few days later, a ship arrived bearing a com- 
mission from the high official at Ilispaniola, of whom I have told you, making Vasco 
Nunez the lawful governor, matters seemed in a fair way to prosper, though the ship 
did indeed bring back the associate governor, who had been sent out with money to 
bribe the king's officer. 

Very little provisions were brought to the colonists, and Vasco prevailed upon 
the associate governor, who seems to have been exceedingly obliging, to return to 
Hispaniola for a cargo of food. Hardly had he sailed, when a sh'p from Spain 
reached Darien, and it bore a letter to Vasco from a friend, telling him that the law- 
yer had pleaded his cause so well with Ferdinand, that a ship was about to sail for 
Darien, ordering his arrest for treason. Vasco kept the news secret, and hurried all 
his preparations. .Should he succeed in making a great discovery, all his faults would 
be forgotten by Ferdinand, should he perish, it would be better than a voyage in 
chains to Spain. 

Vasco assembled his men and told them all he had learned from the Indians 
about the golden island beyond the mountains, and the great undiscovered ocean. 
He represented to them what glory and honor it would be to discover this rich 
realm and asked them if they were willing to follow him. This was in the year 1513, 
and you must remember that date, for next to 1492, it was one of the most important 
years in the history of Spanish, discovery in the New W^orld. The colonists were 
enthusiastically in favor of the new venture and they had faith in Vasco. They told 
him that they would follow where he led them. Accordingly he took a ship and 
nine large canoes, and sailed to the country, where he had captured the Indian 
maiden. He carried her with him, and was received by her father with great kind- 
ness. He left her with about half of his men to guard the vessels and their stores and 
after a service of solemn prayer to God to bless his expedition, set out upon his 
journey to the unknown ocean, on the 6th day of -September. The march was slow 
and difficult for the climate was intensely hot then, as it is now upon the isthmus, and 
there were no roads. Climbing precipices and penetrating rank thickets the 
Spaniards travelled for two days, then they arrived at an abandoned Indian village, 
where they stopped to rest. Vasco knew that the natives of this village had fled 
and hidden themselves upon his approach, and sent out Indians from among those, 
who had accompanied the Spaniards from the coast, to find the chief and bring him 
in. When the chief was brought, Vasco won his confidence to that extent, that he 



758 



AMERICA. 



<rave him guides to show him the way across the mountains. All of the hniians 
told the same story about the sea beyond the mountains and the rich lands of gold 
that its rivers drained, and Vasco knew that he was on the track of a great discovery. 
Late in September the Spaniards again set forth and the way was now so ditikult, 
that try as they would, they could not travel more than five or six miles in a day. 
When they had been four days upon this toilsome march they were attacked by the 
Indians, through whose country they were passing, and a great battle was fought. 
The Spaniards had with them a number ni fierce blood-hounds, and with these and 
their fire-arms they worked such deadly harm to the naked enemy, that when the 
battle was over six hundred dead Indians were left on the field. They killed all oi 
their prisoners, took large quantities of gold and jewels from the Indian villages, 
and pressed on. 

So many of the .Spaniards had been disabled by wounds and by the heat of the 
climate, that only sixty-seven were strong enough, when they reached the foot of the 
mountains, to climb the height with their comrades, and the others were unwillingh' 
prevailed upon to remain in a deserted Indian village, while their friends went forward. 

It was just at dawn of a clear September morning, that Vasco Nunez, and the 
gallant sixty-seven, set out from the Indian town to make the last effort. Gaunt, 
ragged, and worn with their march over mountains, deserts, and through deep streams, 
they were still undaunted and eager. For several hours they toiled upwards, through 
tangles of underbrush, over fallen tree-trunks and huge boulders, until at last they 
reached the bare summit. Here they paused at the command of their leader, for 
their guide had told them that from the summit of a little knoll beyond could be 
seen the blue waters of the Southern Ocean. To Vasco Nunez was due all the 
honor of the expedition, and at the goal of so much suffering and endeavor he did 
not forget that he should be the first to gaze upon the scene and what it held. 
Alone he went forward, and as he saw spread out far below him the calm waters of a 
great sea, and between it and the place, where he stood miles of forests and mountains, 
his soul was filled with a solemn joy. This, then, was the ocean written of so long ago 
by Marco Polo, the ocean upon whose bosom lay the rich isles of spices and gems, 
and whose billows washed a coast where rivers poured out their tribute of gold, and 
where deep down in quiet bays lay the pearls so prized for their rare beauty. If this 
was not the Southern Sea, it was a vast ocean washing, unknown lands, and not even 
Columbus had made a discovery greater than the one before him. 1 lis prayer had 
been answered, and full of thanksgiving, he knelt there upon that far height, bowed 
before God, and humbly acknowledged his goodness. This done, he called his 
people to him, and pointed out the ocean. The priests chanted a hymn of praise, 
and then a tall tree was cut down and fashioned into a cross which he caused to be 
firmly set at the very spot from which he first beheld the ocean. There was a notary 
with the party, and to be sure that nothing was lacking that would ensure the rights 
of Spain in his discovery, Vasco caused him to declare that they took possession of 
the land before them, its seas and its islands, in the name of the sovereigns of Spain. 

Although the glorious ocean was in view, it was still far away. With much enthu- 
siasm, the Spaniards descended the slope, and after more toil through trackless 
wildernesses, more dangers from strange reptiles and wild beasts, more fighting with 
hostile natives, and more suffering from hunger and thirst, they penetrated the forests 
to the west of the mountains, and on the last day of September of the year 15 13. 
waded into the sea, tasted of the waters, found them to be indeed salt like the waters 



AMERICA. 759 

of the Northern seas, and knew that they had not been mistaken in supposing that 
they had discovered a great ocean-highway to undiscovered countries. Vasco Nunez 
de Balboa gathered from the Indians many particulars about the countries and the 
islands to the south, and then he and his companions toiled back over the mountains 
the way they had come, rejoined their friends whom they had left in the village at 
the foot of the eastern slope, who listened with wonder and envy to the tale they told, 
made their way safely, though with numbers diminished by death, to the coast, and 
thence in their vessels to Darien. 

When Vasco returned to Darien it was to find it in the possession of a new gov- 
ernor sent out by Ferdinand. It seems to have been the fate of this discoverer 
always to excite the envy and hatred of small-minded men. The fame of his great 
discovery spread among the colonists, and the jealous governor threw him into prison 
and treated him outrageously, Still Vasco kept up his courage. In his own estima- 
tion now, he was something more than the soldier of fortune, who had escaped done 
up in a barrel, from his creditors, and was living by his wits. He was the instrument 
in the hands of God for great things, and he held fast to the purpose of exploring 
the country he had discovered, and sailing upon the waters of the new-found 
ocean. 

Perhaps in his dreams he saw peaceful homes in the valleys stretching far away 
to north and south, and saw white sails bearing the world's commerce to the silent 
shores of the Western Continent, or he may have only had visions of the vast treas- 
ures he would carry home to Spain, and of the fame he would receive, and the honor 
that would be granted him as a second Columbus. The new governor had been sent 
out soon after Vasco started in search of the Western sea, but as soon as Ferdinand 
heard of the quest upon which Vasco had gone, and later that he had really discov- 
ered the Pacific ocean, he was sorry he had been so hasty, and at once sent a ship 
over to Darien with a messenger, making him joint governor. 

All Europe rang with the name of Vasco Nune/ de Balboa, and the glorious dis- 
covery he had made. The greatness of Spain was at once seen to be assured, for 
with this golden country pouring wealth into her coffers, none could compare with 
her; yet all Europe could not save Balboa from the spite and malice of his enemies. 
I have not space to tell you here the details of how he penetrated again to the borders 
of the Pacific, determined to explore its coast and the nearer islands, but he did suc- 
ceed in making a truce with the governor, and at the head of a few brave men set 
forth. What written words could describe the long toil which was endured by those 
Spaniards, what hunger, thirst, weariness and discouragements, as, far from their 
native land, in the midst of savage foes, and in the depths of the wilderness they 
struggled forward. 

Vasco Nunez was determined to navigate the Pacific, but how could he carry ships 
across the intervening mountains and thick forests. There was only one way that it 
could be accomplished, and that way he chose. The timbers, rigging, anchors and 
iron used in the building of four vessels, he caused to be carried across the mountains 
upon the backs of men. The Indians were the pack-animals, and unused to the hard 
toil, they died daily by the score. Those four vessels cost the lives of five hundred 
Indians, but Vasco Nunez did not regret it. and when they were at last finished, the 
daring discoverer felt that all his hardship was well repaid, for to him after-ao-es would 
give the honor of being the first European to launch a vessel in those waters. 

The Spaniards had now traveled the trail across the Isthmus three times, and 



76o 



AMERICA. 



there was a sort of coiniminication kf'i)t up with Darien. It is now tolerably certain 
that the jealous governor had believed that Vasco Nunez de Balboa would fail to 
launch his ships, and would probably lose his life in the wilds, and he was filled with 
rage when he learned that he had actually succeeded. While Vasco was in prison 
he had sent out expedition after expedition intending to rob \ asco of the htuior 
of his discoveries, but they had all faile<l, and X'asco had succeeded again, it was 
the bitterest gall to the governor. 

You will, no doubt, remember that the enemies of Columbus charged him with 
desiring to throw off the authority of the Spanish king, and this charge the governor 
of Darien trumped up against Vasco Nunez de Balboa. He declared that the adven- 
turer only wanted to separate himself from the rest of the Spaniards in order to 
found a new empire, and that he was a traitor to his king and his country. Mad 




Vasco Nunez indeed desired to do this, he would never have returned to Darien to 
answer to the charges, and he did so against the advice of his friends. 

In times past he had every opportunity' to sttparate himself from his countrymen 
and found a new empire, and might have done so, for he had a wonderful power over 
the Indians, and governed them through gentleness, while his countrymen treated 
them with the utmost cruelty. Long before, when Vasco was in sole charge of affairs 
at Darien, he sent out a party of six men to make some explorations. Among these 
was a certain cavalier by the name of Francisco Pizarro. When but a few miles from 
the settlement the little party was set upon by Imlians, and after a brisk fight in which 
all received wounds, succeeded in escaping from their foes with one exception, for 
one was taken captive. When tlu; five men returned to Darien and Vasco learned 
that they had left their comrade in th(; hands of the enemy, he compelled them all. 



AMERICA. 76 r 

weary and coveretl with wounds, as they were, to go back and rescue their 
companion. 

I am afraid that Pizarro never Hked Vasco very well afterwards, at all events, he 
accepted the commission of the governor to arrest him. He found the discoverer a 
few miles from Darien, where he had stopped to rest, for he was making his way to 
answer the charges of the governor against him. lie went with Pizarro willingly 
enough, for he was conscious of his innocence. While, in every court of Europe, the 
name of Vasco \unez cle Balboa was being spoken with honor, while navigators were 
praising his brave deeds, and kings and princes were envying Spain the possession of 
such a hero, in Darien he was being tried for his life. The governor and court of his 
enemies declared him guilty, and he was beheaded, be it said to the everlasting shame 
of his ungrateful countrymen. 

-Seven years after the death of Balboa, Pizarro fitted out an expedition, crossed 
the isthmus, found the vessels built by such heroic effort, and launched on the Pacific 
so long before by the brave Vasco. They were rotting in the harbor where he had 
left them. He repaired one of these, and procured another, and with a crew of 
eighty men discovered Peru, the land of gold, thus gathering in his unworthy hands 
the reward of the suffering and death of the greatest of the Spanish heroes of the 
New World, Vasco Nunez de Balboa. The story of Pizarro belongs in another place, 
and I will relate it in due time. 

Among the companions of Pizarro upon his voyage to Peru, was a man by the 
name of Ferdinand De Soto. His share of the profits of the expedition made him 
immensely wealthy, and he returned to Spain with his hoard to spend it. To live in 
ease the rest of his days, was not his idea of enjoyment. He believed that in the 
North of America were cities and villages, as rich in gold anil precious stones as those 
found by Cortes and Pizarro in the South. So many wonderful discoveries had been 
made that the people of -Spain were ready to believe almost anything of the riches 
of the New WorUl, and young and old were eager to venture across the ocean in 
search of fame and fortune. 

De Soto, therefore, had no difficulty in enlisting six hundred men for the purpose 
of sailing to the southern part of North America and robbing the Indians. The 
expedition sailed, and after an uneventful voyage, landed on the coast of Pdorida 
They at once started for the interior, carrying with them a load of chains for the 
Indians they meant to take and carry off as slaves, for they had made great plans for 
profit in the slave trade. They took along a gang of priests who daily chanted the 
services of the church, and implored the divine blessing upon the crime and cruelty 
of the Spaniards. The white men were bravely opposed, as they advanced into the 
interior, but the savages were usually routed with great slaughter. From the captives 
they took, the Spaniards learned that there was a region farther toward the west- 
ward, abounding in gold. There was, in fact, no such region, but the Indians soon 
learned that if they denied any knowledge of gold, the -Spaniards would torture them 
to wring the supposed secret from them. Again, the savages were anxious to draw 
the white men into the wilderness, far from the coast, where they were almost certain 
to perish of hunger, or fall by the hands of the red men. 

The Spaniards were thoroughly deceived, and pressed ever farther and farther 
westward into the thick woods. When they came upon any signs that showed the 
presence of human beings in the wilderness, such as cleared fields or the ruins of 
huts, they were filled with the liveliest hope that at last they were approaching the 



;6: 



AMERICA. 




Indian Biil> 



rich cities that they imagined were to be found in North 
America, but the}- were always disappointed, for the only towns 
they found were miserable Indian villages, which, indeed, they 
did take and plunder, though they destroyed the booty as being 
worthless to them. 

Thus De Soto and his men wandered about for two years, 
enduring many dangers and hardships, fighting with the Indians, 
and exploring regions never before trodden by the feet of white 
men. It was in the year 1541 that they came to a broad and 
deep river, where they halted, for a time, and built vessels. 
Even then De Soto would not acknowledge tiiat he had been 
mistaken in supposing that North America contained rich cities 
like those to the South, and cheered his men, as they toiled 
at their boat building, with the prospect of finding riches upon 
^;^__>^ the opposite shore, when they had penetrated the forests beyond. 
After much labor, the Spaniards succeeded in crossing the stream, 
and wandered forward. One by one the way-worn cavaliers 
died from wounds or disease, but the spirit and cruelty of those, who remained were 
as great as ever. The Indians upon the westc'rn side of the river, were at first dis- 
posed to treat the strangers kindly, but when they found that the Spaniards made 
prisoners of those, who entertained them with the best that the poor villages 
afforded and that these poor captives were burned at the stake, tied to trees and left 
to die of starvation, or were thrown to the blood-hounds of the white men, who 
amused their leisure in this dreadful manner, the savages became dangerous, and 
from ambush harrassed them every hour of the day. The Spaniards were encased 
in armor, against which the Indian arrows were almost powerless, but now and again 
when a cavalier ventured a little way from the camp without his armor, the swift 
arrow found him. The heat of the climate, and the unhealthy air of the swamp-land 
killed the Spaniards by the score, and pestilence and fever raged among them. At 
length De Soto himself fell ill. and, after a few days of suffering, died. 1 lis soldiers 
were afraid to bury his body OJi land, knowing that should the Indians find his grave 
they would wreak their vengeance upon the corpse. They therefore, carried the 
remains of their dead leader back to the Great River, the Mississsipi, felled a tree, 
scooped out the heart of it as best they could, so that it might serve for a coffin, 
wrappe<l the dead body of the explorer in his cloak, placed him in the hollow trunk, 
sealed it up, and sunk it beneath the waves of the stream he had crossed with such 
high hope. This done, they held a council in which they sadly recounted all the 
dangers through which they had passed all the disappointments they had endured, 
and asked one another what should be done now that the expedition was without a 
head. They had no difficulty in deciding. There was but one voice and that was that 
they should leave the fatal country and attempt to reach some of the Southern 
Islands. They therefore killed their horses, dried and smoked their carcases for 
meat, plundered the fields of the Indians to supply themselves with corn, for their 
bread, hastily built rough boats upon which they loaded their stores and embarking 
floated down the Mississippi. .About three hundred gaunt, famine-wasted wretches, 
bankrupt in pocket, hope and health, found thi-ir way to Cuba. Many of these were 
so broken in constitution that they died from the fatigue and exposure they had 



AMERICA. 763 

undergone. The expedition was a total failure, but it nevertheless laid the foun- 
dation for Spain's vast claims in North America, and De Soto is rightly regarded as 
one of Spain's great discoverers. 

For many years after the voyages of the Cabots, the English made no attempts 
at discovery and settlement in North America. They had been disappointed in 
finding gold, and cared litte for a country that was covered with snow a portion of 
the year and was evidently inhabited only by savages. They considered North 
America as an obstacle to the approach to Asia by sea, but thought it only a narrow 
strip of land, and had no idea that it was a vast continent, with resources rivaling 
those of Europe and mineral wealth, such as in their wiklest dreams they had never 
imagined. When Magellan sailed around Cape Horn, in the service of the king of 
Spain, in the year 1519, and his ships entered the Pacific by this route, coasted 
along the shores of North America, entered the Indian Ocean, then sailed around 
the Southern point of Africa into the Atlantic and returned to Europe, a new impulse 
was given to exploration antl discovery, for it was then, for the first time, certainly 
known that the land to the westward was a continent. Magellan himself was killed 
in a battle with the natives of the Philipine Islands, and only one of the five ships 
that he took away, from Spain succeeded in making the circuit of the globe, a voyage 
never before attempted, but this had proven that the theory that South America 
extended to the .South Pole was false. It was at once conceived by some mariners, 
when they heard that the globe had been circumnavigated, or sailed around, from 
the southward, that if South America did not reach to the South Pole, North 
America did not extend to the North Pole, and there was probably a passage to the 
Pacific at the north, as well as at the south. 

Several French and English navigators attempted to find this Northwest 
passage, and many noble ships were crushed in the ice-drifts in the northern ocean. 
Many brave mariners laid down their lives in trying to find northern ocean pathway 
to the Pacific. Even in our own times expedition after expedition has been sent 
into the Arctic regions for the same purpose, but the passage has never been found, 
and if it ever should be, it would doubtless be of little use, for it would be filled with 
Boating ice the greater part of the year, and too dangerous for vessels to attempt. 
Little was known of the Arctic waters, however, in the fifteenth century, and almost 
as little of the Northern Atlantic. In the year 1524, a Florentine navigator in the 
service of the French king, tried to find the Northwest Passage, and in so doing 
explored the coast of North America from the mouth of the Cape Fear River, to the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. This exploration gave France a claim to that part of the 
country, and for a long time it was called New France. A Frenchman by the name 
of Jacques Cartier thought he had certainly found the Northwest passage, when he 
entered the Gulf of .St. Lawrence. He sailed far up the river, and as he advanced 
discovered his mistake. He saw that the broad stream all the time grew narrower, 
the salt character of the water disappeared, tributaries poured into the river from 
the north, and the farther he went, the denser the forests became, and the more 
numerous were the Indian villages along the shores of the river. Upon the upper 
reaches of the stream, especially, the Indian towns were so numerous that the 
French gave the name "Canada" to the country, taking it from an Indian word, 
which means "a collection of dwellings." This was in the year 1534 and from that 
forth until the victorious English took it from them, the French held possession of 
Canada. 



764 



AMERICA. 




Ill ti.tii KiiHlnni.' t' iri' 



Sir Walter Raleigh, that unfortunate favorite of Oueen 
Elizabeth, of whom I have alreadj' told you something in the 
Story of England, had an intense interest in the colonization of 
the New World by the English, and thought it a shame that Eng- 
land should make no effort to hold the country to which she 
was entitled by the discoveries of the Cabots. Raleigh interest- 
ed the queen in the subject, and she granted him a large 
tract of land in the Xcw World. Raleigh sent out two brave 
captains, named Amidas and Barlow, in the year 1584, for the 
purpose of examining his new territories. ' They came back 
^^ \ with the most glowing descriptions of the country, and the 
:Sl 2Z1L next year Raleigh sent out a company of colonists, commanded 
by Sir Richard Grenville, to settle in the country which the 
fjueen had given him, and which he had named Virginia in her 
honor. This colony settled upon Roanoke Island on the coast 
of North Carolina. 

The persons who engaged in the enterprise, had no idea of the hardships which 
they should meet in the new land. They thought that gold was so plentiful every- 
where, that it lay on the surface of the ground, and was taken with nets in the 
streams. None of these adventurers had any thought of settling in the country, and 
making it their home. All intended to till their pockets with gold, then return to 
England to spend it. They took no women with them, and though they did carry 
along in their ship^, some tools for tilling the soil, and clearing the land, they did not 
use them. They had no taste for work, but instead of providing for their living when 
the scanty supply of food they brought with them, should all be eaten, they scorned 
the idea of planting crops, and at once began to look for gold. 

These first English colonists had an idea that .America was only a narrow strip 
of land, across which they might easily travel on foot, and reach the Pacific Ocean, 
and golden lands upon its borders. The Indians encouraged them in the idea, for 
they tlid not want the white men on their hunting grounds. As soon as they learned 
that the strangers prized gold and pearls above everything else, the Indians told 
them extraordinary tales about the quantity of gold, that was to be found to the 
westward, across the mountains, but a few days journey away. 

The colonists believed these tales, and fired with the memory of the wonderful 
adventures of the Spaniards in the South, set forth. They had not traveled far be- 
fore their provisions gave out, but they killed their dogs, divided the rations between 
them, and went on. Soon they found that the Indians had deceived them, for 
whereas they had declared that food was to be found in abundance, a little way 
inland, the country was a wilderness, full of dangerous animals and uninhabited ex- 
cept by hostile savages. They turned back, half-starved, wholly disgusted, and 
nearly naked, returned foot-sore and disheartened to their old camp on Roanoke Is- 
land. A ship from England visited them, a little while after their return, and the 
colonists went on board and returned to England. 

Raleigh was disappointed at the failure of his .scheme, but did not give it up. 
He at once equii^ped another expetlition, and this time the colonists took their wives 
and little ones, tools for tilling the soil, and seed for planting. They were put ashore 
and the ship sailed away. When, after a time, another ship was sent out with sup- 
plies for these people, they found only the ruins of dwellings. The colonists had 



AMERICA, 765 

disappeared. Whether they had been killed by Indians, or captured by them and 
carried into the interior, or whether they had embarked on some vessel to return to 
their native land, and were swallowed up by the sea, was never certainly known. The 
colonists may have been tempted into the wilderness, and there died of starvation: 
but to this day, the fate of "The Lost Colony of the Roanoke," is one of the many 
sad mysteries that cluster about the early history of the settlement of the New 
World. 

This second venture crippled Raleigh in fortune. England was busy afterward 
in warring against Philip of Spain, and Raleigh was here and there defending his 
country, and fighting for the queen on the high seas and in Ireland. He had no time 
to equip expeditions, even if he had the money, which is doubtful. When Elizabeth 
died, and James came to the throne, Raleigh was suspected of engaging in a plot 
against that monarch, though there is no proof that he actually did so. I have told 
you how he was imprisoned for twelve long years in the gloomy old Tower of Lon- 
don, and how he finally lost his life. 

It was while Raleigh was in prison, and sixteen years after the failure of his 
second colony, that another company of Englishmen, this time under the leadership 
of Bartholomew Gosnold, came to the New World, to attempt a settlement in Vir- 
ginia. The adventurers pitched their camp on a little island, in a fresh water lake, 
near the New England coast, but the members of the company soon fell to quar- 
reling about the furs they bought from the Indians and the roots they dug, and in the 
year 1602 they all went back to England. 

Gosnold was convinced that America was a vast field for enterprise and industry, 
and set about the task of forming a company which should get from the king a grant 
to certain territory. He was successful in the undertaking, and in the latter part of 
the last month of the year 1606, set sail for America with a party of colonists in three 
small ships. Beside Gosnold himself, the leading men of the colony were a rich 
English merchant by the name of Wingfield, a preacher, and an adventurer, who, 
though he bore the very common name of John Smith, was not, by any means, a 
common man. He had been a soldier of fortune all his life, and liked nothing better 
than roaming about the earth, fighting when there was fighting to be had, and in times 
of peace relating marvelous tales of his achievements. I am afraid John Smith told 
many stories of his adventures that were not true, for he was fond of making a story 
end in a way that showed him to be clever, brave and lucky, but he had certainly led 
a strange life, even in those marvelous old days. 

When Smith was quite a young man, he went over to the Netherlands to help 
the Dutch fight against Philip of Spain, and after many battles and much hardship, 
he was cast ashore in France, clinging to the wreck of a vessel upon which he had 
embarked for a voyage. Here he was robbed, and wandered about for some time 
hungry, ragged and wretched, and at length took ship to sail to the Far East. On 
board this ship were many Pilgrims to the Holy Land, for though it was long past the 
days of the crusades, pious Catholics still made pilgrimages to shrines in Europe and 
the Far East. For some reason, perhaps because he told such marvelous stories of 
his own misfortunes, the Pilgrims looked upon Smith with suspicion, and when a storm 
arose they thought that Smith was a Jonah, and cast him out from among them to 
perish in the waves. Smith found no whale to swallow him and disgorge him upon 
land, but almost as marvelous to relate, he swam ashore. 

The Turks were at this time making those raids into Eastern Europe, of which I 



766 AMERICA. 

have told you, and any man with a strong arm and reckless courage was not likely to 
lack long for employment. Smith enlisted in the Christian army, and when he related 
what he accomplished, his hearers were letl to believe that had he not done so, the 
war might have ended very differently for Christendom. Of course the history of 
those wars does not mention Smith at all, but according to his own account, he was 
one of the most valuable and valiant men that ever defended a town or pursued a 
flying Moslem host. 

He declared that he invented a kind of tire-work that was applied by the Chris- 
tians to the destruction of their foes, and that he made a system of signals that were 
adopted by the Christian army. I am free to say that I do not believe these state- 
ments at all, but I do believe that Smith was a valiant man, who would have done 
great deeds had the opportunity presented itself. In telling about his adventures, 
there was one story that Smith was fond of relating. He declared that upon one 
occasion during the siege of a town by the Christians, a Turk rode out and chal- 
lenged any Christian in the army to tight him for the amusement of the ladies. 
Smith accepted the challenge, ami killed three Turks in succession, for which feat he 
was ever afterward allowed to bear three Turks' heads upon his coat-of-arms. 

Had this deed been related as happening in the century before his time, I might 
believe it, and recommend it to you as true, but long before Smith was born the Turks 
had learned to use bombards, a huge sort of canuon, when they> besieged a town. 
Single combat went out with the lance, the cross-bow and steel armor, and fire-arms 
were generally used in war in Europe. Yet it might have occurred, nevertheless. 
Smith said also that he was made prisoner after a time by the Turks, and carried 
into their own country. He was made a slave, and his master treated him so 
cruelly, that one day he beat him to death with a flail, dressed himself in his 
clothes, and mounting a horse, escaped and made his way into Russia. Here he 
was befriended by a rich and beautiful woman, and linally found his way into his 
native land, still a young man. 

Gosnold's ships were many months in making the voyage to the Xew World, and 
when they arrived the winter was over and the country was rich in the beauty 
of early spring. They had intended landing near where the former colonies had 
been planted, but were driven by the winds into the Chesapeake Bay. They 
named two capes, one on each side of the bay, in honor of the sons of their king, 
Charles and Henry, and ascending the river, called it the James. About fifty miles 
from the mouth of the river, on a pleasant, low-lying peninsula, which is now an 
island, they selected the site for their settlement, which they named Jamestown. On 
the long voyage there had been many disputes as in whom the real authority 
over the colony rested, for King James, with his usual stupidity, had sent along sealed 
"instructions upon the subject, which were not, on any account, to be opened until the 
colony was landed. As soon as the people went on shore, these instructions were 
opened, when it was found that Wingfield had been named by the king for governor. 
Smith had been named as one of the council, but Smith was so popular among the 
colonists that Gosnold and the; oth(M- five appointed as councillors, resolved not to 
permit him to be one of the council, for they feared that he would make himself 
governor, because certain rights of election that were common then in England, 
were permitted to the new colonists. 

The first permanent settlement made by Englishmen in North America is so im- 
portant in the history of our country, that I will tell you more about the people who 



AM ERICA. 



767 



made up the colony. There were fifty-four gentlemen, four carpenters and twelve 
laborers, all told, and none of them had any idea of the hardships before them. 
The ship had been so long on the way, that it was too late to plant crops, and the 
first want that the people felt was the want of food. There was in the hold of the 
vessel, a quantity of moldy grain, that was all but spoiled by the twenty-six weeks in 
the warm, moist atmosphere, and this was the sole supply of food for all these per- 
sons. Each man was allowed about half a pint a day of porridge, made of this grain, 
and as much of the muddy, foul, river water, as he wanted to drink. The president 
was so much afraid that his men would mutiny against him, that he would not, at 
first, allow them to build any fort, except a rude sort of stockade in the shape of a 
half-moon, which Smith and a few others built. One of the first things that he did, 
was to send Smith and twenty other men, to discover the head of the river, and while 
they were gone, the Indians attacked the camp and killed seventeen men and a boy. 
This attack brought the governor to reason, and when the party returned they built 
a sort of fort. 




Birds Eye View nf the TTuited States. 

Soon the jealousy of the governor against Smith, rose so high that he accused 
him of defying the authority of the king, and summoned him to trial, for if found 
guilty, he was to be sent back to England upon one of the returning vessels. To 
make sure that he would be condemned, the governor bribed several witnesses to 
swear that Smith had done and said certain things, but when the trial was called, 
these witnessses told what the governor had attempted with them, and Smith was 
not only acquitted, but Wingfield, and one of his associates, were made to give up 
their office, and to pay Smith a thousand dollars damages. Smith gave the money to 
the colonists and soon afterward the ship sailed away. Gosnold and many others, 
had died with the fever, and the new governor appointed by the colonists, trusted 
everything to .Smith. 

It is well that he did so, for the brave adventurer saved the colony. He sailed 
up and down the coast of Virginia, exploring and mapping the country, making 
the acquaintance of the Indians, and trading with them for food for the starving 
English. Thus the colonists lived till winter; then there was plenty of game in the 
woods, and wild-fowl in the marshes, and there was no more talk of returning to 



768 AMERICA. 

England with the very first ship that came over. Upon one of his many expeditions 
into the interior, Smith was made prisoner, and after being led throughout the whole 
region and exhibited, he was condemned to death. In telling the story of his escape 
long years afterward, Smith declared that he was saved by Pocohontas, the daughter 
of the chief, a child eleven or twelve years old, who threw her arms about the neck 
of the white man. when his head was laid upon a block of wood, and a savage had 
already raised his club to dash out the captive's brains. Be it true or not, and his- 
torians now say that it is not. Smith returned in safety to the colony, from every one 
of his expeditions, and so managed affairs that it was in a flourishing condition. 

Vessels kept sailing to the New World with more colonists, but those who were 
sent over, were for the most part, idle, vicious fellows, hard to control, quarrelsome 
and good for little. In the year 1609, there were five hundred men in the colony, and 
it was in a flourishing condition." Good log cabins had taken the place of the hovels 
at first built, and the people, under the leadership and example of Smith, had begun 
to realize that the only way to succeed in the new country, was by hard labor. In 
this year, and just as the new governor appointed by the king, had sent out two men 
to rule the colony, Smith suffered from a peculiar accident. 

He was out hunting and lay down one night too near the fire. His powder bag 
exploded, while he was asleep, and mangled his limbs in a niost agonizing manner. 
Smith sprang up, and plunging into the river to cool the pain of his wounds, was 
almost drowned before he could be rescued. In a state of great suffering, he trav- 
eled one hundred miles to Jamestown, where he had his wounds dressed. The gov- 
ernor, who had granted Smith so much power in the colony, was dishonest and had 
comriiited certain crimes. Smith was to be a witness against him, and the wretch 
hired a man to kill Smith, while he was ill in bed. The heart of the murderer failed 
at the last moment, and Smith was told of the plot. It was then, that the brave fel- 
low determined to go back to England, where he would be safe from his enemies 
until his wounds had healed and he was able to defend himself. 

What followed in the colony shows what a really great man, captain John Smith 
was, in spite of his faults. Some of the men stole a ship and turned pirates. Others 
were killed by the Indians and all refused to work and passed their time in such 
dissipation as they could find the means to indulge. They cheated and angered the 
Indians until they refused to sell them food or have anything to do with them, and 
in si.x months after Smith left, the five hundred men were reduced to sixty half- 
starved wretches, who had sustained their lives by eating the corpses ot dead 
Indians, and their own dead comrades, and who would have all perished miserably of 
starvation had they not been taken on board a chance English vessel that happened 
to sail up the James River. They were all about to return to England, when they 
were met at the mouth of the river by Lord Delaware, the governor appointed by 
the king, who was bringing three ships, loaded with supplies, and having on board a 
number of settlers. This dreadful time in the colony was long remembered as the 
Starving Time, and the experience of survivors made them more willing to labor in 
stead of idling their time away, and though a hard lesson it was a useful one. 

I must tell you something more of the story of Pocohontas, who was said to 
have saved the life of Captain John Smith, when he was a prisoner among the 
Indians. Some years after Smith returned to England, a certain man, who was 
making a voyage up the Potomac river for the purpose of trading with the Indians 
for corn met an old chief who had in charge the young Indian princess. This crafty 



AMERICA. 769 

old fellow was very anxious to become the owner of a bright new copper kettle the 
white men had, and offered to trade Pocahontas for it. The captain of the expe- 
dition agreed and was delighted with his bargain, for he thought that with the 
daughter of the great chief in his possession, it would be an easy matter to compel 
the chief to pay a large quantity of provisions to the colonists as the price of her 
freedom. He took Pocahontas to Jamestown and sent a message to her father 
telling him how much corn they would take for their prize. The old chief was very 
angry, and declared that he would not give the whites anything for the girl, but he 
would march out his warriors against them and take her back by force. It happened 
however, that there was a young man by the name of John Rolfe, in the colony, who 
was much struck with the beauty and modesty of Pocahontas and wanted to marry 
her. The Indian maiden was willing, and another messenger was sent to the chief 
telling him that no ransom would be demanded for his daughter, and relating how 
she had fallen in love with the young man. The lovers were married, and as long as 
the old chief lived, there was peace between him and the English, though Poca- 
hontas died in the flower of her youth, leaving a little child from whom many people 
now living trace their descent. 

For the first few years the people of Virginia were uncertain what they should 
raise upon their land. They tried grapes, silk, and several other things, but were 
not successful, and there was nothing that they raised in the colony that would pay 
them for the trouble. The Indians, as you probably know, had no idea of money 
■except a sort of shell, which they called wampum, and which was very hard for them 
to smooth, bore and properly manufacture, for they had few tools. The clever white 
men, with their iron implements, drills and lathes, could make large quantities of the 
wampum with the greatest ease, and in trading with the Indians the wampum passed 
as money, but of course the London merchants cared nothing for it, they would only 
receive gold and silver or something that had a market value, in exchange for the 
cloth, arms powder and other things sent to Virginia. When the Spaniards 
discovered the West Indies Islands, they found that the natives took great pleasure 
in smoking a pungent sort of weed which they called tobacco. The Spaniards tried 
this and found the practice so agreeable, that they fell into the habit of smoking, and 
in a short time the custom spread in Europe and made its way into England. The 
churchmen and the doctors united in declaring the practice of smoking an abomi- 
nation, but in spite of everything, it became the fashion. It is said that when 
smoking was yet very unusual, a servant of Sir Walter Raleigh was one day sent 
by his master to bring to him a large mug full of ale. Returning to his master's 
room, what was his fright to see that Sir Walter was evidently on fire, for the smoke 
was pouring from his mouth and nostrils. Without waiting to ask any questions, the 
frightened man dashed the ale into Raleigh's face, and shrieking that his master was 
on fire and would be burned to ashes, he rushed from the room, calling for help. 

Some experiments were tried at Jamestown in the culture of tobacco, and to the 
great joy of the colonists it was found that the soil, climate and all the conditions for 
raising large crops, were very favorable. The people of Virginia from that time 
forth devoted themselves to raising tobacco, and it is said that at one time the public 
streets of Jamestown were planted with the precious weed. Tobacco became the 
money of the colony and was used in London in payment for their debts for it found 
a ready market. The king's taxes were paid in tobacco, and if the colonists thought 
that any man was raising such a large crop that the supply would be too plentiful 



770 




AMERICA. 

and the value of the product thus lessened, they compelled him to 
burn a portion of it. The traffic in tobacco brought pros perity to 
the colony, and, little by little, the settlement grew, pushing out into 
the wilderness, founding new towns, wresting lands from the In- 
dians, and clearing and planting fields, until in fourteen years from 
the time the first settlers landed on the soil of Virginia, about 
three thousand persons had found homes in the New World. 
These people of \'irginia seemed to breathe in freedom with the 
■i-:... very air of their new homes. They had left behind them the old 
traditions of rank, and such of them as survived in the new world, 
.were not so offensive as they were in England. King James did 
if r7'not approve of freedom in any form, but the men, to whom he had 
iven the right to manage the affairs of the colony were high-minded 
and liberty loving, and in the year 1618 granted the Virginians 
a great charter, which gave them a share in making the laws under 
louiau w„™a„u.^„7^mpended pc,uo. which they Were to live. This is a very important thing to remem- 
ber for it was the planting of the tree of liberty in American soil, the first seed of 
our freedom and independence. Soon after the signing of the charter, ninety young 
women were sent out from England to become the wives of the settlers. It is usually 
said that the settlers bought their wives with tobacco, but this is not true. What 
they did do, was to pay the passage of the woman, whom they selected for their 
wife, if she consented to the match. There was no bargain and sale more than this, 
and the young women, who came out, were many of them honest, hard-working 
country girls, who did their share in developing the country, and should have due 
credit. 

When the colonists were thus provided with wives, they became more contented 
with their life in the New World. They could then have comfortable homes and 
something to work for. and work they did with a good will. They gave up all 
idle and dissolute ways, established schools and churches, and improved their towns. 
In the course of time James dissolved the Virginia Company, and appointed royal 
governors to rule the colony. With these governors the Virginians had many diffi- 
culties, but in spite of these, and of a few Indian wars, the colony grew and 
prospered. 

While Virginia was thus growing into a great State, to the northward another 
colony was enduring its first trials and hardships. In the story of England I had 
occasion to speak of the Puritans, those brave people who declared that the king had 
not the keeping of the consciences of Christians, and that the Church of England 
was altogether too much like the Church of Rome. Some of these Puritans even 
went so far as to withdraw themselves from the Church of England, which thereupon 
persecuted them in various ways. Finding at last that they could not hope for peace 
in their native land, a number of these people, together with their pastor, left the 
town of Scrooby, in the North of England, and crossed over to Holland, where they 
lived several years. 

Finally they determined to seek a new home in America, far from the tyranny of 
the king, and they accordingly fitted out a small ship, called the Mayflower, and one 
hundred men, women and children embarked in it for the New World. Another 
hundred was left in Holland, and were to come later on. These brave people, who, 
from their wanderings for the sake of their religion, are known in history as "the 




AMERICA. 771 

PilCTrims," had plenty of time in the long voyage to talk of their 
plan of government in the new country. 

They drew up a document appointing one of their number, 
john Carver, as their first governor, and all agreed to obey the 
laws. These laws were selected from the Bible, and while strict 
as to matters of religion and morals, were full of the spirit of 
political liberty. There were many storms by the way, and the 
little Mayflower was sadly tempest-tossed, but after a weary voy- 
age of three months and ten days, anchor was dropped in Cape 
Cod Bay, and four days before Christmas, according to the present 
way of reckoning, the Pilgrims, weak from sea-sickness and poor 
food, landed on the bleak snow-covered shore. captam .luhn smith 

The place where the Pilgrims landed had once been an Indian village, but some 
pestilence had carried off all the natives the season before, and there were no 
savages to molest them. In spite of this fact, however, they were sadly hindered in 
the work of building houses for themselves, for the climate was so much colder than 
that from which they had just come, that many of the colonists fell sick and died. 
By the time the late spring came there were only thirty colonists left, and they were 
obliged to live mainly on shell-fish. From a friendly native they learned how to 
plant corn, and used the deserted clearings of the Indians for the purpose. They 
had succeeded in building nineteen houses and a stockaded fort of logs, and they felt 
tolerably safe from Indian attacks. 

Their settlement was made in the year 1620, and soon other Puritans came to 
join them, for the bigoted King James delighted in persecuting them. At first the 
colonists suffered much from the lack of food, for the new-comers did not bring 
sufficient supplies to last them until they could grow crops of Indian corn, and the 
scanty supply already planted was not enough to supply their wants. 

The colonists, however, bore their sufferings and hardships with great courage, 
and as they had come to the New World with the intention of remaining and making 
homes for themselves, and as they had no wild ideas about gathering gold from the 
surface of the ground or the bed of the streams, they labored patiently on and their 
colony prospered. The Indians were hostile to them, and they were obliged to build 
a wall of logs around their town, and to mount cannon on their meeting-houses. 
They carried their guns to church with them, and were often obliged to sally forth 
and beat off their foes. 

The persecutions of the Puritans in England continued, and they came by the 
thousands to the new land. The narrow bounds of the first colony were enlarged, 
and little companies began to push out into the forest, selecting some favorable spot 
for a settlement, and then clearing away the trees for their corn-fields, building their 
houses of the logs, and forming the centers of new communities. At first these 
people were content with huts made of round logs, piled one upon the other, and 
roofed as best they might be with rough boards and bars. After a time floors made 
of split logs, hewed smoothly upon one side, were added, and the stick and mud 
chimneys gave way to chimneys of stones fitted neatly together. 

The greased paper which had served the place of glass, was replaced by shining 
panes, the blocks of wood which answered for plates, were displaced by pewter, 
brought over from London in ships and sold to the colonists in the larger towns for 
the furs, lumber and other things which formed the staple of their trade with the 



772 



AMERICA. 




;fe^^ 



mother country. To be sure, there was little education at first, for 
the early settlers had all they could do to make a living for their 
families, and young and old worked early and late to do so. The 
only relief from the hard toil was upon Sunday, when the people 
went to church and sat for two or three hours and listened 
toa long sermon. 

The colonists of New England, like those of Virginia, learned 
from the Indians in the course of time, how to set traps to snare 
game, and to hunt the various wild animals whose flesh was fit 
for food, and whose skins were valuable. They learned how to 
make moccasins from buckskin, and leggings and hunting-shirts 
from the same material. The Indian women made most of their 
household utensils from the birch bark, and the whites imitated 
Pocahontas. them. They learned, too, from the squaws, how to make sugar 

from the sap of the maple-tree by freezing it or boiling it to evaporate the water, 
and as sassafras served very well for tea, they had all of the necessities and some 
of the luxuries as well. As their skill as hunters and wood-cutters increased, they 
had large stores of fur and lumber, and soon began to build ships to trade with the 
mother country. These ships came and went over the Atlantic, and in a little time 
they carried large cargoes of fish, as well as other things, and fish became one of the 
most valuable articles of export. Schools were founded in every settlement, and in 
fifteen years from the landing of the Pilgrims on the shores of New England, Har- 
vard College, that great institution of learning of which Americans are so proud, was 

fountled. 

/rhe Puritans, in spite of their love of liberty, made the mistake, in their new 
government, of uniting church and state. They did not understand then, as we do 
now, that the State has only to deal with the business affairs of life, and not with 
man's conscience, and that perfect freedom is impossible, where law regulates the 
time and manner of man's worship. It has been said of the people of the first Puri- 
tan colony in our country, that they loved liberty so well that they were unwilling 
anybody else should have her, and it is certain that they were nearly as harsh with 
those who differed from them in religious beliefs, as the bigoted King James had 
been with them.j 

In about ten years after the landing of the Mayflower, there came out from Eng- 
land, to the colony planted on the "stern and rock-bound coast" of Massachusetts, 
an earnest, educated, and brave man by the name of Roger Williams. I le was a 
minister, and his eloquence stirred the Puritans, but it did not move them to any 
good, it only made theni intensely angry, for Minister Williams preached a doctrine 
that deeply hurt their pride. In making the constitution for their colony, the Puri- 
tans had been careful to frame laws regulating the daily behavior of the people, and 
they were very proud of those rules of conduct. 

Roger Williams, in his sermons, said that he was heartily in favor of those laws 
of the Puritans, which dealt with the business and political affairs of the community, 
but he pointed out to them that liberty could never flourish where men's conscience 
was fettered. He said that the soul of man was free and accountable to no earthly 
judge or king, that religion was a thing between man and his Maker, and that any 
state that made laws to regulate religion, was trampling upon the liberty of the soul. 
This, Roger Williams preached in the church at Salem, a town that in the ten years 



AMERICA. ']ii 

since the landing, had grown to be quite an important place, and when the elders 
among the Puritans talked his sermons over, they decided to try him for heresy 
The General Court of Massachusetts brought Williams to trial, and the people of 
Salem were mtensely interested in the result, for many of them had been brought to 
believe as the new minister did. The preacher was fearless in defending his faith, 
and the Court therefore sentenced him to banishment. 

Williams went forth among the Indians, who were kinder to him than his own 
white kindred, and after some wandering and hardship, he succeeded in persuading 
the savages to give him some land. This land was that portion of our country now 
called Rhode Island, and the colony that Williams founded there, was made up of 
those people who had been converted to his belief in Salem. Williams named his 
new colony Providence, for he was thankful that God had led him to such a pleasant 
spot, where he might enjoy that freedom of conscience which alone can be considered 
perfect liberty, and there grew up one of the most enlightened and progressive states 
of New England. 

After a time, another sort of people came to Massachusetts. These were called 
Quakers, and in England they had been most bitterly persecuted. These Friends, as 
they called themselves, had seen the miseries resulting from the long and bloody 
wars in Europe, and therefore declared that war was a sin againt God and man, and 
pledged themselves not to serve as soldiers. They had a horror of the extravagant 
dress and affected manners, and the slavish way in which the common people would 
bow and do honor to the nobles, offended their idea of dignity. They therefore 
made it a rule to keep their hats on their heads, instead of in their hands, in the pres- 
ence of the great, maintaining, that since God had made all men, to him, and not to 
his creatures, all honor was due. They thought it sin to swear in courts of law, and 
that the Bible forbade it. 

Those were the days when women wore absurd head-dresses, several feet high, 
gowns elaborately trimmed, and painted their faces. The men wore lace ruffles, 
gaily-colored satin and velvet knee-breeches, pig-tails tied with ribbons, and chains 
and jewels. The Quakers dressed in plain, dark-colored garments, wore their own nat- 
ural hair, either flowing on their shoulders or cut short, and their women made their 
gowns plain and straight, and tucked their hair behind modest caps. They were 
ridiculed in England and persecuted without mercy, and hearing of the new colony 
in America, and the peace that was to be found there, they came in large numbers to 
Massachusetts. 

I regret to tell you that the Puritans treated them most unkindly. They caused 
them to be tied to a stake and whipped, bored holes in their tongues with red-hot 
irons, executed them by beheading and hanging, and were so savage to them, that 
the English king, from whose tyranny they had fled, interfered and forbade the peo- 
ple of Massachusetts to further persecute them.. I am happy to be able to tell you 
that the Quakers who went to Rhode Island were well treated, and that never in the 
history of that State, was there a persecution of any class of people on account of 
their religion, and it is the only state of New England of which the same may be 
said. 

In the years following the settlement of Salem and the other towns of Massa- 
chusetts, there were colonies being planted in many places along the New England 
coast. Fishermen and luniber-cutters settled along the shores of Maine and New 
Hampshire, Connecticut was colonized by Puritans from Massachusetts, and the 



774 



AMERICA. 




Indians were being slowly crowded 
back irom the coast. In twenty- 
tiiree years after the landing of the 
I'ilgrims, there were twenty-four 
thousand persons in New England, 
and the country to the southward 
was filling up rapidly, as was the 
country lying to the west, in what is 
now the state of New York. 

The New York colony was one of 
the oldest in America, but it did not 
at first belong to the English. In 
the year 1609, two years after the 
Plymouth Kock. ■ found Ing of the Virginia colouy, Hen- 

ry Hudson, an Englishman in the service of the the then famous Dutch East India 
Company, was sent out to find the Northeast passage to Asia, which was supposed 
to lie somewhere to the North of Russia. Such a passage has, indeed, been discovered 
in our own day, but then it was not known, though the Dutch were confident that 
witli the right sort of effort it might be found. Hudson was known as a daring 
sailor, and he felt certain he could lind it. 

This Northeast passage was thought to be the end of the Northwest passage so 
long and vainly sought, and when Hudson found that the sea to the north of Russia 
was so filled with floating ice that it was impossible to sail very far, he turned his 
vessel, a little craft called the "Half-moon," and set sail for America, thinking that it 
would be all the same to his employers if he discovered the Northwest passage. 
Hudson had received some maps from his old friend. Captain John Smith of \'irginia, 
and with them some information that Smith had gathered from the Indians, about a 
stream of salt water to the north of X'irginia. Hudson was convinced that this was 
the passage, and after he reached the New World, and explored Chesapeake Bay he 
sailed into the Delaware Bay. At first he thought that Delaware Bay was the pas- 
sage of which the Indians had told Smith, but he soon convinced himself that it was 
not, and sailed along the cocst until he came to New York Bay. 

He found that a river, apparently of salt water did, indeed, empty into this bay, 
and ascended the stream which now bears his name. As he left the vicinity of the 
mouth of the river, where its waters were not affected by the tide, he found that it 
was fresh water, and having some curiosity about the country, went on. The Hudson 
river is surrounded by some of the loveliest scenery in the United States, and the 
Dutch were delighted with the find. When they returned to their own country and 
reported what they had discovered, the Dutch sent out colonists and established 
trading posts on Manhattan Island, and near where Albany now stands they erected 
a fort. They claimed the territory from the borders of Rhode Island to Delaware 
Bay, and in a few years established a colony on Manhattan Island, which soon became 
the center of a thriving commerce. 

The Dutch called their town New Amsterdam, and as it was situated near a fine 
harbor, they no doubt thought it would in time rival the Amsterdam in their native 
land. They called their country "The New Netherlands," just as the English called 
their colonies "New England," the Erench called theirs "New France," and the 
Swedes, who had settled on the Delaware, called their land "New Sweden." These 



AMERICA. 



/ / n 








ISirihBi'k Cai jp 



Swedes were the cause of much jealousy to the 
Dutch, and finally were crowded out of their lands, 
and formed a part of the Dutch colony. 

The people of New England were in turn jealous 
of the Dutch, for England and Holland were then at 
enmity, and they crowded the Dutch out of the coun- 
try about the Connecticut river, which they claimed 
by the right of their early explorations. In the 
year 1664 King Charles II., that merrj' monarch, 
whose character we have studied somewhat, did a 
thing that was a part of the many ungrateful deeds 
that he accomplished when he returned to his king- 
dom. He had been well treated in Holland through- 
out his long exile, supplied with money and honored 
by the Dutch, and now, as a way of paying off the 
debt, injured the Dutch in every way that he could devise. 

He knew that they had a flourishing trade upon the Atlantic Coast of North 
America, and that several other nations also had claims there, but he gave away to 
his brother James, Duke of York, the vast territory upon the Atlantic Coast south of 
New England, claiming that because the Cabots had first sighted it, that it was his to 
do as he pleased with. He sent four armed ships across the ocean to take possession 
for his brother, and these suddenly appearing in the harbor of New York ordered 
the people of New Amsterdam to surrender their government or take the 
consequences. 

The Dutch governor of the place was a brave old fellow, though he was lame, 
and he was for fighting the English, but the town was totally unprepared for war, 
and the people beggetl him to submit. He did so, and thus the Dutch, without firing 
a shot, surrendered their vast possessions in the New World, which were at once 
rechristened New York, in honor of the Duke of York. The colonists often had 
reason to bitterly regret the change of rulers, for while the poHcy of Holland toward 
them had been the most liberal, and that best calculated to ensure their progress, the 
rule of the English was often very oppressive. The royal governors sent out by the 
king were cruel and tyrannical, and every increase in wealth in the colonies, every 
new enterprise, was made the subject of heavy taxation. 

The people of New England were very much rejoicetl that the Dutch had lost 
the territory to the south. With the French on the north, and the Dutch as near 
neighbors, the people of New England always had enemies at their doors beside the 
Indians, whom both the Dutch and French often roused to make raids upon the 
English settlements, for race hatred was not stronger in those days than national 
hatred, and the French were the born enemies of the English. 

It was in the year 1656, but eight years before the capture of New York by the 
English, that the Quakers came into New England, and were so bitterly persecuted. 
Three years after the settlement of Providence a colony was planted in the New 
World where perfect religious liberty was allowed to everybody, and strangely enough 
it was a Catholic gentleman by the name of Lord Baltimore, who founded that 
admirable colony, in the territory which is now known as Maryland. The tide of 
persecution had set towards the Catholics in the Old World, and Lord Baltimore 
desired to found in America a place of refuge for them He had seen the evils of 




776 AMERICA. 

persecution, and though a devout Catholic, realized that faith is a matter beyond 
earthly laws, and belief a concern in which no king or potentate has the right to 
interfere. The colony prospered and became the refuge of the oppressed for con- 
science sake. 

A few years later the Carolinas were settled by French Protestants, anil in 1732 
Georgia was colonized by the efforts of a noble-hearted English gentleman, who 
desired to found in the New World a home for the worthy poor of England, and for 
those w^ho had lost their all in the long wars, or in the many dishonest schemes that 
designing people had floated in Europe. Thus, by the tune of the settlement of 
Georgia, a chain of English-speaking colonists was stretched from the I'>ench pos- 
sessions upon the north, to the Spanish possessions on the south. 

When James Duke of York came to the English throne, he gave some of his 
American territory to two of his favorites and these sold it in the course of time to 
others, who founded the colony of New Jersey, upon the land. In the course of the 
I'nglish war against the Dutch in the Old World, a certain English admiral, named 
William Penn, gained great honor from his countrymen. This man had a son, who 
was born in London in the year 1644 and who was carefully educated until he was of 
age to enter the great College at Oxford. There the young man became interested 
in the doctrines of the Quakers, to his father's great anger and disgust. Had the son 
confined his interest within certain bounds, the father would have forgiven him, and 
considered it but a youthful folly, but youiig William had some of tlie stubborn 
qualities of his war-like father, and when certain rules and religious ceremonies were 
introduced in the College, he refused to obey them and with several others was 
e.xpelled from the institution. This expulsion from college determined the career 
of one of the greatest of the early heroes of America, a hero, whose victories were 
untarnished with blood and unsullied by crime, and the world has few such. He 
went home, but when he told his father that he was a Ouaker, the old admiral was 
so angry that he turned him out of his house. The fearless young man thus cast 
adrift felt at liberty to pursue his own way, and at once became a preacher of the 
(!)uaker faith. He was thrown into prison many times, but was so steadfast and 
true-hearted, that his father, who had watched his course carefully, began to have a 
high admiration and respect for him, and before he died, took his well beloved son 
again to his heart and home. 

It seems that the elder Penn had a large claim against the government of Eng- 
land, for services rendered during the wars, and these claims along with his other 
property, descended to his son, who laid them before Charles II. and demanded 
payment. The merry monarch had no money to meet the claims, and when young 
Penn suggested that a charter of land in the New World would be accepted in 
place of gold, the king eagerly consented and gave him a wide tract on the west bank 
of the Delaware river. Penn named his new colony, Pennsylvania, or Penns, Woods, 
and a week after he received the patent to it, set sail for America with a hundred 
emigrants on board. The dukes of York and Baltimore had long been in dispute, 
concerning the ownership of the state of Delaware, and as Penn desired an outlet 
for his colony by sea, the Duke gave him a deed to the land in dispute. Penn 
arrived in America near the close of the year 1682, after a sad voyage in which 
nearly half of his hundred colonists had dietl of small-pox. He found about three 
thousand settlers in his territory, Dutch, Swedes and English, and after he had re- 
covered from the weariness of his voyage, he assembled them and told them that he 



AMERICA 



in 




wanted to live in peace and justice with 
all men, and rule them gently and right- 
eously. They were so struck by the sweet 
face of the young (Juaker preacher, his grace- 
ful figure, his eloquence and benevolence, that 
they declared they would serve him with 
all their hearts. A little while afterwards 
Penn went up the Delaware to found a city on 
the site of the present city of Philadelphia, 
the "city of brotherly love," there Penn called 
the chiefs of the Indian tribes together. He 
had already purchased their land, instead of 
robbing them of it and beating them off, as 
was done in the other colonies, and he now de- 
sired to make a treaty of perpetual peace with 
them. He talked to the Indians and told them 
that he had come among them as a brother, 
with a brother's love toward them and desired 
to deal justly and live in friendship with 
them. The Indians promised to be the friends 
of the Quaker forever, and so righteously ciid 
Penn and his people deal with them that it 
is said that history does not record a single 
case, where Quaker blootl was knowingly shed 
by the Indians. 

While the Quakers were living thus, in peace with the savages, bloody Indian 
wars were raging in the other colonies. The white men of New England and the 
settlements all along the Atlantic sea-board, made no pretense of being just to the 
Indians, and, naturally enough, the red men made the most deadly and determined 
resistance to them. They could not understand how it could be right for people to 
come to them, drive them from the land that had been in the possession of their 
tribes for ages, and give them no return. When these white men preachetl to them 
the doctrine of peace and love, they scorned to receive it, for they had no confidence 
in those who took every advantage of their weakness, to pluntler them of all they 
had. 

They knew little of the great world, and could not form any idea of the civiliza- 
tion beyond the seas, and that the tide of emigration that flowed westward upon 
them, was no puny stream, but a great flood. I believe that had they known from 
the beginning what madness It was to strive against the torrent of civilization from 
the east, they would still have fought to the last, as they did, for though they were 
savages, they loved their country dearly, and their religion and their patriotism both 
taught them to revenge their wrongs. The treatment to which the Spaniards In the 
West Indies, subjected the unhappy natives, in a short time killed them all off, and it 
was the custom of the white men In New England and the other colonies, when they 
captured Indians, to sell them to planters in the West Indies for slaves. They even 
kept In their own families, many Indian slaves, whom they compelled to work and 
often brutally abused. 

For unnumbered centuries the Indians had been free savages, living in the woods 



William Ptoii. 



7;8 AMERICA. 

and performing only such light labors as were necessary to ensure them food and 
shelter. We all inherit from our ancestors our physical and mental traits, and the 
Indians inherited weakness of those muscles which are developed by hard labor, 
Avith a tendency to indolence. They hated work, and loved to roam about at will, 
and to compel them to stay long in one place, or within the four walls of a house, 
was in itself a cruelty to them. Often these captive Indians would escape to their 
friends, and tell tales as sad as ever were told by the whites who were captured by 
the Indians. These white captives were often sorely tortured, but it was always in 
revenge for some wrong that the Indians had received from the whites. It was not 
unusual, however, for Indians to adopt captured white children into their tribes, and 
bring them up as their own. Hundreds of persons from the various colonies who 
were captured by the savages, were thus adopted, and often the\' grew to love the 
wild, free life, and their savage companions, so well that they could not be induced 
to return to civilization. 

The slavery to which the colonists condemned the Indians was not rare in those 
days. The very year that the Pilgrim fathers sought liberty in America, a Dutch 
trading ship brought a cargo of negro slaves from Africa, and sold them to the 
tobacco planters of Virginia. It is well known that Queen Elizabeth encouraged this 
dreadful traffic, and helped the first English slave-trader to fit himself out foF the 
wicked untertaking of stealing negroes from the land along the coast of Africa, car- 
rying them far from their home and friends, and selling them into bondage. The 
queen shared the profits of this shameful trade, though she knew that of every 
hundred slaves taken on board the vessels on the coast of Africa, at least twenty 
died at sea, were killed by the brutal captains, or were thrown overboard to lighten 
the vessel in storms; sometimes whole cargoes being thus cast into the angry waves. 
She made no objection to it, and even pretended to think it was a lawful and praise- 
worthy business. In the West Indies, large numbers of these slaves were bought for 
the purpose of working the sugar plantations. 

From time to time the government of England had sent into Virginia, many men 
and women who had been convicted of petty crimes in their native land, and these 
were let to the planters at so much a year, until their term of punishment e.xpired, 
when they were at liberty to return to England, or remain in the colony if they de- 
sired. When the Dutch traders brought their cargo of negro slaves to \'irginia, the 
planters were rejoiced, for now, instead of being obliged to depend upon the labor of 
unskilled criminals, they could secure for a small sum, permanent servants. The peo- 
ple of all the colonies where rice, indigo and tobacco were raised, purchased these 
negro slaves, for the climate of their plantations was such that Europeans could not 
readil}' accustom themselves to it, and even those who were vigorous, strong and 
healthy, soon became la/y under the southern sun. 

The negroes w-ere accustomed to living in damp and unhealthy places, and the 
planters purchased them in great numbers. ;\s time went on, the Southern planters 
realized that they had made a great mistake in introducing slave labor. Such large 
crops were raised, that in the markets where they were accustomed to selling their 
produce, the prices sank correspondingly low. The slaves multiplied so fast that 
within a hundred and fifty years after the first cargo of Africans was landed in \'ir- 
ginia. even those colonies which at first had been so eager to purchase slaves, were 
anxious to prevent the slave-traders from bringing any more of their living cargoes 
into the country. In this time there had been bloody insurrections of slaves in many 



AMERICA. 



779 



of the colonies, and in all of them where slave 
labor was used, it was considered a disgraci 
for a white man to work, and those whites wh< > v-^s^ 
had large plantations and many slaves, had ^^ 
a hard time to make a comfortable livinn 
I shall have something more to tell you of p^ 
the evil of slavery, in the course of the story 
of our country. 

The number of original colonies, at the K 
time of the war with England for our na- £ 
tional independence, was thirteen, and it = 
that be an "unlucky number," as those who g 
believe in signs and omens say, it was cer- * 
tainly not true in this case. All of thesf 
colonies, while differing in some particulai 
in their government, and at first granted t 
companies and individuals, in the course dt 
time came under the rule of the king, though 
the people of New England chose their own 
governor. Most of the colonies had an As- 
sembly of the people, and this Parliment, if 
we may so consider it, had the right to 
spend the public money. The governor ap- 
pointed by the king, was always obliged to' 
send to the Assembly, to ask for money 
for the king, his master, and as the Assembly 
and the governor seldom agreed as to the 
just dues of the king, there was a great deal 
of quarreling between them. Money is a 
great power for good in the world, and also a great power for evil, and many of the 
wars about which we have read in this volume, were brought about by disputes con- 
cerning money or other property. As those wars, in the long run, usually resulted 
in some good, as well as much evil, money may be considered one of the forces 
that has sent the world forward, down the "ringing groove" of progress. 

The people of Virginia, were from the very first, exceedingly aristocratic in their 
tendencies, and living upon their fine plantations, in roomy houses, surrounded by the 
huts of their slaves, they kept up much of the same state as the lords andbarons of 
England. Many of the Virginia gentlemen and ladies, traced their descent from the 
Norman lords who came over with William the Conqueror, or the adventurers who 
siezed upon English lands at that time, and were made lords by the fierce old fighting 
duke. They sent their sons and daughters over to England to be educated, and kept 
themselves in close touch and sympathy with all that was transpiring in the mother 
country. When the revolution which hurled Charles I. from the throne occurred, 
the people of Virginia were intensely indignant at the action of the English Parlia- 
ment, and when that unhappy monarch was beheaded, and Cromwell siezed the reins 
of government, they refused to acknowledge his power, and as long as Charles II. 
was in exile they called him their king, and would not renounce him, until the 
Parliament sent a fleet to reduce them to subjection. They finally came to an agree- 




t'nhiit li-avi's Ijbrailnr. 



78o AMERICA. 

ment with the Parliament, upon the terms that their constitution should not be dis- 
turbed, but there was joy throughout Virginia, when the royal exile "returned to his 
own." Of course, Puritan New England had no use for kings, and favored Cromwell 
most heartily. The New Englanders were so opposed to Charles II., that it was full)- 
two years after his return to England, before they would acknowledge that he had 
any rights as their sovereign. 

In the beginning of the year i6SS, a strange notion siezed upon the people of 
New England. In that day it was supposed that certain people had unholy powers 
over others and were possessed by the Evil One in such a way, that they could 
perform all sorts of unnatural mischief. This was called witch-craft, and most 
savage nations, as well as many ignorant persons among civilized communities, believe 
in it. There was a minister in New England, named Mather, who believed devoutly 
in witch-craft and wrote several stupid books about it. A certain young girl became 
involved in a quarrel with an Irish woman, the servant of her father, and pretended 
that the poor creature had bewitched her. Mather and the other clergymen came and 
prayed with the girl, who would pretend to have the most dreadful convulsions, but 
who was always cured of them by the prayers of the ministers. Mather declared 
that she was indeed bewitched, and the poor old Irish woman was arrested as a witch 
and hanged. Three years after this, (and in the meantime Mather had written much 
on witch craft,) there broke out a mysterious disease, something like epilepsy, and it 
spread to Salem. Mathers declared that it was the work of witches, and the most 
horrible persecutions were begun. Every one, who had an enemy, imagined that he 
was being bewitched, and the most astounding lies were told about the deeds of the 
witches. The people of Salem and other places in New England, were excited 
beyond all reason, and in one year many innocent persons were burned to death, 
hanged, tortured and killed in various ways on suspicion of being witches. Even 
ministers of the gospel suffered, and young and old alike fell victims to the popular 
insanity. It passed away finally, but it left a deep stain on the memory of New Eng- 
land. It did more, it caused the colonies a long and bloody war with the Indians. 

Almost at the time that colonists came to the New World to settle in the 
southern parts of the Atlantic seaboard, the Trench made settlements in Canada. I 
told you in the story of Spain, something about the remarkable Society of Jesus, 
formed by Ignatius Loyola, and wherever these devoted Catholics went they accom- 
plished great deeds. As early as the year 1636, there was a company of French 
Jesuit priests in Canada, and never did men show more heroism than did these 
missionaries. They were accustomed, in their own country, to all the refinements of 
life, for the Jesuit priests you know, were not monks, but they cheerfully left their all 
antl followed the Indians into the wilderness, lived in their dirty hovels, ate the dis- 
gusting food upon which the savages were often forced to live for long periods at a 
time, cared for the sick, taught the children and were often months and years at a 
time, where they never saw the face of a white man or heard a word spoken in their 
native tongue. One of these Jesuits, went among the Huron Indians, and his life 
was so full of devotion and good deeds, that he brought the whole tribe to accept the 
Catholic faith. They established mission houses in the wilderness, and gained a 
strong hold over the Indians. Tiie people of New England, being Protestants, 
accused these Jesuits, when England and France were at war, of inciting the 
Indians to many of the bloody raids upon the English settlements, and there early 
sprang up between the English of New England and the French of Canada, a bitter 



782 AMERICA. 

hatred. There were raids by the English into Canada, and by the French and 
Indians into New England, but there were five powerful Indian nations on the 
borders of the great lakes, who were a sort of bulwark between the English and 
French, and kept them both busy repelling their attacks. These Indians were 
disgusted with the whites of Xew England, who were so cruel to their own country- 
men in the days of the Salem witch-craft scare, and were more hostile to the 
English in the proportion that they favored the French. 

In the year 1645 two young French travelers, who were bold and adventurous 
fellows, went westward from Ouebec toward the river which the Indians called "The 
Father of Waters," and two years later they visited Ouebec and told marvelous tales 
of the rich country thej' had discovered. The Jesuit missionaries followed in their 
footsteps, and it was they who first heard of the great river. Marquette and Dablon, 
two bold priests, were sent out to e.xplore the land and carry the Catholic faith and 
the French flag in the new country. They won the hearts of the Indians, and when 
Joliet. an of^cer appointed for Louis XIV., by the government of Canada, went west- 
wartl tor the purpose of taking possession of the land in the name of the king, the 
two faithful missionaries called the Indians together at the Falls of St. Mary, between 
Lakes Huron and Superior, and there was made a treaty of peace between the red 
men and the French. 

A missionary house was built there, and soon afterwards Marquette and Joliet 
went in search of the great river of which they had heard so much. They came 
down Lake Michigan to the mouth of the Vox river, in birch-bark canoes that were 
light ad strong. When they came to the portage, or carrying place, between the 
Mississippi and the lakes, they carried their canoes across to the Wisconsin river, 
launched them on that stream and floated down to the Mississippi. Thence they 
voyaged southward, past the mouth of the Missouri and the Ohio, on through the 
overhanging forests, where canoe of white man had never floated before, past the 
Arkansas and the Red river, until they were sure that the lordly Mississippi did not 
change its course, but flowed southward into some other body of water distinct from 
the; two great oceans. 

La Salle and other French explorers proceeded in the path of discovery, and 
colonization marked out for them by Joliet and Marquette, and the whole country 
drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, and reaching from the Spanish posses- 
sions in Florida to those in Mexico, were in time claimed by the French, who called 
the country Louisiana, in honor of their king. They established a trade in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, and it is almost certain that Louis XIV. dreamed of the conquest of 
the entire continent. 

In the course of time settlers from the colony of X'irginia ventured across the 
Alleghany mountains into the Indian country beyond, anil reported that the land was 
fertile and well-watered, heavily wooded, and with a climate favorable for coloniza- 
tion. Bold Virginia hunters explored the rich valley of the Ohio river, and the 
fores.ts and prairies about the Great Lakes. The French knew nothing whatever 
about the Ohio Valley, though they did, indeed, discover the mouth of the river, and 
the English claimed that the valley was theirs by the right of discovery and ex- 
ploration. 

The Indians owned the land, and as they had already some experience with the 
English as colonists, they favored the French. The English were farmers who cut 
down the trees where the Indians had for ages built their towns, and who cultivated 



AMERICA. 



78j 




the fields that had once been their huntin','- grounds. 
The P'rench were mere traders who aided the In- 
dians to procure the luxuries they wanted, by ban- 
tering with them for their furs, and where they ' 
did settle among the Indians, it was as merchants- 

The French had such sympathy with the for- 
est life of their red neighbors, that they often nupjut nm..... 
married native women, and became in all their habits as truly Indian as though born 
and bred among them. Therefore, when the P>ench declared that the Ohio river 
ought to mark the boundary of the English possessions in America on the West, the 
Indians pledged themselves to the French king to fight one and all for the land that 
the French had declared to them should be their hunting grounds forever. 

The French, since the days of Marquette and La Salle, had advanced greatly in 
influence among the Indians, and every year the French and English in the New 
Workl had grown more jealous of one another, and more inclined to fight for what 
each considered their rights. In spite of the claims of the French, daring pioneers 
had penetrated beyond the Alleghanies, and had built their log cabins in the fertile 
Ohio Valley, and in the year 1749 the French in Canada sent a large body of soldiers 
into the Ohio X'alley to drive the English out and keep them out. The English had 
not been idle in the meantime. They had formed a great trading company for the 
purpose of bartering with the Indians for their furs. 

Virginia claimed the Ohio Valley region, because Virginians had discovered 
and explored it, and when the governor of Virginia learned that it was the intention 
of the French to build a fort on the Ohio river, at the junction of the Alleghany and 
Monongahela rivers, where the city of Pittsburg now stands, he determined to send 
a letter to the French commander who was stationed on French Creek, fifteen miles 
south of Lake Erie, and present the English claims. This was a long journey in 
those days, when the traveling was on foot or horseback, through a wilderness where 
there were no roads, and through the forests which were full of hostile Indians. 

There were mountains to be crossed, streams to be forded, and dangerous forests 
to be traversed, and since this was the case, it was necessary to proceed with the 
utmost caution, and the most of the way on foot. The commander selected for this 
dangerous mission was a young man whose name was then nearly unknown to the 
people of America, but is now a household word, not onlv in our own land, but 
wherever bravery and liberty are loved. 

George Washington was the messenger who was to travel that dreary six hun- 
dred miles, bearing the letter of the governor of Virginia. He was only twenty-one 
years old, but already esteemed by all who knew him for his bravery and intelligence. 
He was the son of a widow whose husband had died some fifteen years before, and 
had been carefully brought up and well educated for those days. With Washington 
there were sent seven others, Indians and white men, antl it was late in the year when 
they set out. 

After a toilsome journey, the little party reached the place where the French 
commandant was stationed, and were very politely received, but when Washington 
presented his letter, the French officer firmly refused to agree to do as the governor 
of Virginia recommended, which was nothing more nor less than that the French 
should at once give up all claim:^ to the Ohio Valley and get them back into 
Canada. 



784 AMERICA. 

On the return to \'irginia the little party suffered very severely. When they 
came to the place where they had left their horses, they found the poor brutes almost 
dead with starvation, and the whole party walked the entire distance rather than 
burden them with their weight. One da}^ they met an Indian who promised to guide 
them to the place where the Alleghany and the Monongahela unites, but as they 
were tired upon from ambush, tiiey suspected that their guide was hired by the French 
to accomplish their murder, and by a clever ruse, rid themselves of him, and walked 
all night to place themselves beyond danger. 

Upon the evening of the day following this adventure, Washington and his com- 
panions reached the Allegheny river, so tired from their tramp of twenty-four hours 
without rest, that thej' were glad to scoop beds for themselves in the snow, and lie 
down wrapped in their blankets. The next morning they determined that it would 
be best for them to cross the river, but how it was to be accomplished was a question. 
The backwoodsmen of those dqys were not easily discouraged, and though Wash- 
ington and his friends had among them but one poor hatchet, they succeeded in cut- 
ting down enough small trees that day, to bind together with strong grape vines and 
linn-wood bark, to make a small raft. It was after sunset that the party embarked 
upon their frail craft and committed themselves to the stream. Washington him- 
self shoved with one of the raft-poles, but the shoving of the whole party was in vain 
when they were about in the middle of the stream, for the raft was jammed so firmly 
between floating cakes of ice, that it could neither go backward nor forward. In 
making an effort to free the raft, Washington fell overboard, and only prevented 
himself from drowning in the icy waters by seizing one of the raft-logs. The raft 
was not far from an island, and they were all obliged to abandon it, and swim to the 
shore of the bit of land near wliere it was jammed in the ice. 

They suffered dreadfully that bitter winter night, for tlieir clothes, saturated with 
water, were frozen stiff. In the night the river froze completely over, and the little 
party succeeded in crossing to the shore. They still had a long journey before them, 
and their friends began to despair of ever seeing them again, but at length, after an 
absence of four months, the weary travelers were again in Virginia, and the first 
public service of the great and good Washington was accomplished. 

When the governor learned that the French had no intention of gi\ing up the 
Ohio Valley, without a fight, he at once sent out a party of men to build a fort, where 
Pittsburg now stands, thinking he could thus hold the navigation of the upper Ohio, 
but the French drove them away, and thus the war known as the French and 
Indian war was begun. Washington himself, with a small command was sent against 
the I'rench, but he was defeated after a campaign, which showed that as young as 
he was, he had all the ciualities of a great general. When the English heard of the 
defeat of the Americans, the^- declared that the rich territory' of the Ohio Valley 
must be saved to the British. The I'rench claimed a part of Maine, too, and this 
could not be allowed, for with the vast territory of Louisiana, Maine and the Ohio 
Valley in their grasp the English would soon be driven from the continent. The 
government thought that the failure of the Americans was due to the fact that they 
did not fight according to rule, and it was decided to sentl a General by the name of 
Braddock with ten thousand trained and disciplined troops against the French and 
Indians. Braddock himself had a high idea of his own abilities, and those of his 
troops, and thought that he would strike- terror to the savages by a warlike display. 
The \'irginians knew better, and told him so. Tiiey had a long experience with the 



AMERICA. 



785 




Indians in war, and knew that they could not be in- 
duced to come out into an open iield,asdid civilized 
armies, and fight a stand-up battle. Their manner 
was to lurk in small parties, behind trees, rocks and 
in ambush, and themselves unseen, strike down the 
foe with arrow or bullet. The French had sup- 
plied them with guns and ammunition, and though 
the}' never learned to use firearms with the same 
skill as did the white woods-men, they nevertheless 
did deadly e.xecution. All this was told to Braddock 
and he was warnetl that he must enter the country ' , H 
with the greatest caution, dividing his army into J|^^?^l^^*»- 
small parties and marching swiftly so as to fall upon j..^ 
the Indians before they were aware of his intentions. _ .3j^^ss^i 
The English general treated these warnings with the ^ ^ -^jSe^^^T^. Zl-_'" 

utmost scorn, and advanced against the savages at '^ - ■ -=^_ -— ^ 

a snail's pace, cutting wide roads through the woods Bi.Kk n,mse. 

for the passage of his artillery, building bridges over every stream and instead of 
taking a white scout, who knew the country well, followed the guidance of an Indian, 
who pretended to be friendly, but who led the army through the most difficult and 
dangerous parts of the country. 

The savages throughout the whole Ohio Valley had ample time to put them- 
selves in good order for war, and the French in the fort they had finished and named 
Fort Duquesne, were kept as well informed of the movements of the enemy as 
though they were present with them on the march. When the army of the English 
was within a short distance of the F"rench fort, it was suddenly attacked on all sides 
by the French and Indians. The enemy was hidden from the view of the English 
soldiers and they hardly knew where to direct their fire. Instead of allowing them 
to get behind the shelter of the trees and rocks, Braddock compelled them to remain 
in their lines, and huddled together, they shot as many of their own comrades as they 
did Indians, and finally threw away their guns and took to their heels. This did not 
occur, however, until they saw their general fall to the ground mortally wounded, for 
Braddock acted with the utmost courage. The Virginia woodsmen refused to obey 
the orders of the English General and remain in line, for they knew that their only 
chance for life in Indian warfare was to fight from behind cover, and they sheltered 
themselves as best they could. It is declared that one of the back-woods riflemen, 
who was thus seeking shelter, was ordered back to the lines by Braddock, and when he 
refused to go, that officer struck him a blow across his face with the flat of his sword. 
The brother of the woods-man, a noted Indian fighter, was sheltered behind a tree 
and when he saw Braddock do this, and looked at the ranks of the English soldiers, 
which were being mercilessly mowed down by the bullets of the French and Indians, 
he quickly made up his mind that the only way to save the entire army from death, 
was to shoot the commantler, who insisted in exposing them to such danger. He 
waited his opportunity, then taking aim shot Braddock through the lungs. Wash- 
ington fought by the side of his general until the rout was complete, and though he 
had two horses shot from under him, and four bullet holes through his coat, he was 
not wounded. Braddock died in great agony of body and mind four days after the 
battle, and the remnant of his defeated army made its way sadly back to Virginia. 



786 AMERICA. 

Many of the poor soldiers, who fled to the woods, were afterwards captured and 
carried to the !• rench fort, where they were cruelly tortured co death by the savages. 
The French and Indian loss was very small, while that of the English was so great 
that they counted it one of the bloodest defeats they had ever suffered. 

Washingtons's second military expedition, like his first was a failure, but again he 
received as much honor as though he had been victorious, for it was well known 
that he had warned Braddock in vain against his course. On the sea the English had 
fared, but little better than on the land and the pride of the people was so greatly 
touched that they hanged the commander of the fleet that had been defeated, turned 
their Prime Minister out of his oftice antl elected in his stead one of the greatest 
statesmen that Iingland ever produced. This man was William Pitt, afterward Lord 
Chatham, and he was not only a statesman, but a great orator. He bestirred him 
self to remedy the mistakes of the feeble fellow, who held the ofifice before him and 
in a few months the whole face of affairs was decidedly changed. The French 
armies were beaten by land and sea and I'rance lost her possesions in India to the 
linglish, while not only the Ohio X'alley but Maine and all of Canada was taken 
from her. 

This French war was not only important to the English but equally so to the 
colonies. Soon after it was ended, the English king began to ask himself, who was 
to pay for it, for war is an e.xpensive game, and this war had been unusually costly. 
The colonies were called upon to pay the bills, and as a reason for it, the King 
declared that the war in America had been for their defense. The colonists said they 
had all along borne their share of the expense of the .American war and had fully paid 
for all that they had received in the way of benefit, but declined to let the King and 
his Parliament put their hands in the treasury of the colonies and rob them for their 
own benefit. They said that the loss the English had sustained in money and men 
was fully paid for by the large territory they had gained, and that the territory was 
not gained for them, but for the king, who would proceed to do with it as he thought 
best. Furthermore, the colonists had built up the commerce of England, because 
they had always been obliged to send all their products to the English, whose 
merchants sold them to others and received all of the profits. In the English 
Parlaiment there were those, who had the audacity to declare that the American 
colonics had been planted by England, nourished by her care, and protected by her 
arms, and that they now refused to pay the small tax required of each Individual as 
their share of the burden. A brave man, who had spent many years in America, 
was so angry at this statement, that he declared boldly in Parliament that the 
American colonies were formed of people who had been driven from England by 
the cruelty and oppression of the government, and that they had bravely sought 
homes in a new country, battled with every danger and difficulty, and it was not until 
they were known to be prosperous that the king and his Parliament had concerned 
themselves about them. Then they had sent governors out to rob them, by taxation, 
of the product of their toil. That instead of the English having taken up arms to 
defend the American colonists, they had fought bravely to preserve territory for 
England and to add to that territory. He and others maintained that the Parliament 
had no right whatever to tax the colonies, because they were not represented in Par- 
liament as was every other county and province of the British Islands, and this was 
the general opinion in America, where many learned and patriotic men who were 
proud of their union with England, but who loved the liberty which they declared 
was the birth-right of every English subject. 



AMERICA. 



787 




Benlaiiiln Frankliu, 



Soon after the close of the French and Indian War 
George III., who came to the throne in 1760, gave 
officers in America the power to enter the house of 
any citizen in the colonies and search for articles upon 
which tax had been levied, for taxes had been levied 
upon a great many of the necessaries of life. English 
sea-captains had the same rights upon the waters, and 
could stop any American ship, search it, and take from 
it any articles upon which the duties had not been paid 
This roused such anger in the colonies that the tax- 
collectors were assailed by mobs, and when the colonists 
learned that the tyrannical king intended to take away 
their charters, and rule them as though they were 
slaves, they refused to trade with England if the law 
was carried out. 

In the year 1764 the Parliament, which still main- 
tained its right to tax America, placed a duty upon 
paper, which was known as the "Stamp Act," for the 
law made every person who wished to draw up a contract of any kind use the 
stamped paper or the contract was not legal. There had been a bitter dispute over 
the right of the Parliament to do this, and Benjamin Franklin, a devoted patriot 
and statesman, who was sent to England, told everybody who questioned him upon 
the matter, that the Americans would never submit to this tyranny. When the act 
was accordingly passed, the colonists refused to transact any business, their ships 
were held in the harbors, the offices and places of business were closed, no marriages 
were performed and the officers who attempted to sell the stamped paper were mob- 
bed, their property ruined, and they were compelled to flee for their lives. 

In Virginia a brilliant and enthusiastic lawyer by the name of Patrick Henry, 
made most eloquent speeches against the tyranny of the English Parliament, and in 
New York a patriot named James Otis, wrote against it. The colonies, as one man, 
prepared to resist it, and for two years there was so little trade with England that 
the British merchants began to complain bitterly, and Parliament was forced to recall 
the Stamp Act. Still the Parliament insisted on taxing the colonies. The noble Pitt, 
who all along had taken the part of the Americans, fell ill, and a wrong-headed man 
by the name of Townshend, was made prime minister of England. 

Now one would think that the Parliament would have known something of the 
spirit of the American colonies by this time, but it seems that they could not learn 
without a severe course of training. When Townshend proposed that troops, which 
were to be supported by the colonists themselves, should be quartered among them 
to "reduce them to obedience," the Parliament actually passed the foolish measure. 
The very next month the Parliament, still bent on collecting taxes from the colonists 
without allowing them a share in the government, declared that the collectors 
of the various taxes on commerce in the colonies were independent officers of the 
king, with whose appointment and duties the colonists had nothing to do, and whom 
they must obey. Now you may imagine what effect this had on the colonies, who 
were rejoicing over the repeal of the Stamp Act. 

New York flatly refused to give food and shelter to the British troops that hac' 
been quartered in the colony for the purpose of overawing the people, and to "make 



788 AMERICA. 

an example" of New York, the king took away the charter of the colony. Massa- 
chusetts, peopled by the stern descendants of the stubborn Puritans, sent a letter out 
to all the other colonies, asking that they all join in asking the king and the Parlia- 
ment to right their wrongs. The Parliament ordered the Massachusetts Assembly to 
recall that letter, but the assembly was made up of men who were not given to turn- 
ing back when they had once begun a good work, and it calmly and with firm dignitj^ 
refused to do so now. 

The commissioners who attempted to collect the customs in the port of Boston, 
were mobbed, and the governor of Massachusetts, a man appointed by the king, sent 
to the Parliament and asked for troops to quell the disorders in his colony. The spirit 
of resistance was spreading, and the grizzled veterans of Indian wars were eager to 
fight for liberty, but still there were hopes of peace among the cool-headed and 
moderate men, who knew what a great force the English could bring against the 
colonies. 

In the year 1770 General Gage was sent to Boston in answer to the demand of 
the governor for troops to uphold the law, and it was not long before he was in diffi- 
culty with the people. There was a collision between the British troops and the 
people of the city, in which three of the citizens were killed. This event is known 
as the "Boston Massacre," and it excited the people of Boston intensely, 

Samuel Adams, an eloquent and fearless man, gathered five thousand of the 
citizens and they went to the governor and compelled him to remove the British 
soldiers from the city, and it was well he did, for there would have been further blood- 
shed had they remained. The love which the people of the colonies had always 
borne toward England, was now becoming changed into hatred, for the colonists saw 
that the Parliament was determined to deny them their rights, and would probably 
use force to compel them to submit. For the next two years after the Boston Mas- 
sacre, there was great distress among the merchants of the colony, for they had held 
to the agreement to refuse to import any taxed goods. One by one these taxes were 
removed from the articles from the lack of whose sale the British merchants were 
beginning to complain, but the right of Parliament to impose these taxes was main- 
tained. 

At length the tax was removed from everything but tea, and as there had been 
no tea imported to the colonies for a long time, there was great quantitiesof it stored 
in the warehouses of London. I do not think that the colonists suffered much by 
being deprived of tea, for most of them used it in a singular way in the early days, 
if we believe what we read in the old histories. They buttered the leaves of the tea 
after they had been steeped, and ate them, washing the "greens" down with the 
sweetened beverage. 

They learned to use sassafras and the leaves of the peach tree instead of tea, 
and were not in a great worry because they did not get the pure article from China 
by the way of London. The merchants who dealt in tea determined upon the advice 
of the Parliament, to send several ship-loads of cheap, but taxed tea, to the colonies, 
thinking that if the colonists bought it because it was so cheap, the Parliament would 
establish their right to tax them, and the Americans could hereafter make no plea, 
under the law, against any future taxation. 

The colonists were clever enough to understand that this was the purpose of the 
Parliament, and when the tea-ships reached New York and Philadelphia those in 
authority were compelled to send them straight back again to London. A tea-ship 



AMERICA. 789 

that entered the harbor of Baltimore was burned by its owner, on account of the 
indignant protest of the people, and because he feared they would deal severely with 
him if he did not do so. 

At some of the southern ports where the officers had compelled the people to 
allow the landing of the tea. the citizens would not allow it to be sold, but purposely 
caused it to be stored in damp cellars, where it was all spoiled. Finally, in this same 
year, 1773, a cargo of tea reached Boston. The people requested the collector of the 
port, who was a tool of the king, to send the tea back to England. He refused to do 
so, and fearing that some of the disloyal persons in the city might purchase it, a party 
of sixty men, disguised as Indians, boarded the ships, broke open the tea chests with 
their hatchets, and emptied all of the contents of the three hundred and forty-two 
chests into the water. 

When this became known in England, the king and Parliament sent orders that 
no ships should leave Boston Harbor, or be allowed to enter it, until the people had 
paid for the tea they had destroyed. This worked great hardship to Boston, and the 
mills and factories, the workshops and places of business, were soon idle. Lord 
North, the British minister, declared that he could subdue the rebellious people of 
Massachusetts in three months, but they held out singularly well. The fact was that 
all the other colonists sympathized with Massachusetts, and determined to aid her, if 
the worst came, in maintaining her liberties by force of arms. 

General Gage was supposed by the British to know a great deal of the affairs of 
the colonies, and he e.xpressed the greatest contempt for the rights of the people, 
and said that he was confident that the resistance to the Parliament could easily be 
suppressed by a show of force. He was, therefore, sent with a force of troops and 
began to throw up fortifications about the city of Boston. Instead of being alarmed 
by these preparations, the people were only made the more determined. Every one 
of the colonies now plainly saw that war was to come, and in Virginia and many 
other colonies, companies of men were formed and drilled for the approaching- 
struggle. 

There was a store of gunpowder belonging to the Massachusetts colony in a little 
village near Boston, and Gage took possession of this. Outside of the city there 
were the wildest rumors of what was being tlone by the British in Boston, for in those 
days when there was no railroad or telegraph, the sending of news was not as easy 
as it is now, and the people could only guess what was transpiring. These rumors 
flew through the colonies, and thirty thousand men advanced toward Boston to 
help the citizens, but finding that their services were not needed, went home 
again. 

In the fall of the year 1774 a Congress of the colonies was assembled at Phila- 
delphia for the purpose of considering the affairs of the colony and devising some 
way of settling them. The most noted men of America were present as delegates. 
Washington, now a dignified middle-aged man, Patrick Henry, the fiery orator, 
Richard Henry Lee, and many other patriots offered their wisdom in that assembly, 
and it was decided to state their grievances to the King and to express the people of 
Massachussetts, their hearty sympathy and encouragement of their heroic course. 
The congress prepared an address too, to the people of Great Britain, in which they 
related the acts of the king in attempting to abridge their liberty, and sent to 
General Gage of Boston, a respectful letter, asking him to deal more justly with the 
people of Boston, for he had oppressed them in many ways and made every possible 



790 



AMERICA. 







<i^ 1v^ ' 



Pequod luiltai) Wlewain. 



attempt to humiliate them and break 
their spirit, Parliament and the King 
refused to read the protest of the Amer- 
ican Congress, and all through the winter 
of 1774, affairs grew more and more 
threatening. Companies of "minute men" 
trained to the use of weapons and ready 
to respond on short notice, were drilling 
in ever)' part of Massachussets, for w^ar 
was now certain. In the spring of the 
year 1775, General Gage, who was strong- 
ly intrenched now on Boston Neck, heard 
that the patriots had a supply of arms 
and ammunition at Concord, eighteen 
miles from Boston, He determined to capture tiiis and very secretly issued his 
orders to a party of his soldiers to capture and bring in the supply. To be sure 
that the sharp eyes of the patriot sentinels in Boston should not see the men, he 
ordered them to set out at midnight on the 19th of April and move with the utmost 
caution. 

By some means the patriots of Boston learned that the British were to make 
the attempt to seize the stores, and a man was stationed in a certain church tower, 
where he was to hang up a lantern if the British made any movement, while another 
by the name of Paul Revere waited at Charlestown until he saw the signal. Then he 
sprang into a boat, was rowed across the river and taking a swift horse rode with all 
speed to Lexington, and Concord, warning the people of danger and rousing the 
minute men. In every village along the road the ringing of bells and the firing of 
guns, told the people that the time had come for them to seize their weapons and 
fight for their liberty. All of the arms and ammunition that could be taken away 
was carried off from Concord and safely hidden. There were seventy men, who 
responded to the call to arms, when the bells were rung at Le.xington, but small as 
was that little band they did not hesitate to front the eight hundred British soldiers. 
How the battle began is not quite clear. The Americans delcare that the British 
commander. Major Pitcairn, called out to them when he cauic within hailing distance 
"Disperse ye rebels!" The Americans stood their ground and he ordered his sol- 
diers to fire among them. This was probabl)- the case, for it could not be supposed 
that the little handful of men thought that they could gain the victory over such an 
overwhelming number of their foes, though the British say that they began the 
battle by firing upon their soldiers. At all events the British stood still and fired at 
the little group of heroic men, until those, who were not killed or wounded by their 
volleys, took shelter in places of safety, and they then marched on toward Concord, 
leaving eighteen men weltering in their blood upon the village green. 

The British found little at Concord to repay them for their long tramp, and about 
noon, tired and tlusty set out upon their return to iioston. Ikit a few hours Ik'I 
intervened since the fraj- of the morning, but the time had been long enough for the- 
news of the bloody deed to spread far and near. From the little villages, fror.^ 
farms and workshops, men in homespun, with their guns in their hands hurried to 
the wooils lying between Lexington and Concord, and hiding themselves near the; 
road o^ "r which the British were sure to pass upon their return, waited silently and 



AMERICA. 791 

with grim determination to avenge their fallen neighbors. There were the relatives 
of those, who had been killed in the morning; there were young men who had been 
drilled for months in anticipation of war, and old men who had fought the Indians 
single-handed in the wiklerness and under the command of noted woodsmen in the 
French ami Indian wars. All knew how to shoot straight and true, and all burned 
for revenge for their own wrongs and those of their harassed country. Every 
hedge, rock and thicket harbored these messengers of vengeance, and as the British 
made their way toward the city, they could seldom get a sight of their unseen 
assailants. The patriots did such deadly work, that nearly half of the eight hundred 
British were left dead by the way and only eighty five of the patriots felt the lead 
of their enemies. 

The news of this battle sped like wildfire to every colony. Every man laid aside 
his implements of peaceful labor, and seized his weapons. Some declared for the 
king, but the New England colonies were all for the cause of liberty, and recruits 
from every colony poured into Boston. In a few weeks the colonies, with the single 
exception of Georgia, threw off the authority of their royal governors, and the 
patriots everywhere armed themselves for the cause of liberty. The farmer-soldiers 
quickly blockaded Gage in his fortified camp, so that no aid could come to him by 
land, but he received reinforcements by water, until he had five thousand well-drilled 
troops at command. 

In May, Ethan Allen, of Vermont, marched with a company of men known as 
"The Green Mountain Boys," to take possession of Fort Ticonderoga. at the south 
end of Lake Champlain, valuable because from there an invasion might be made 
from Canada. Upon receiving the news of the battle of Lexington, a young captain 
of a band of fifty-eight militiamen made a fiery speech to a number of his townsmen, 
assembled to discuss the news from the seat of war. 

This gallant young captain, Benedict Arnold, made the selectmen of the town 
deliver up the keys of the arsenal, much against their will, armed his men, and set 
out with all speed with his company for Boston. He had thought of the 
fort of Ticonderoga, and presenting himself at the patriot camp, asked for a 
commission to take the place. It was given him, and straightway he mustered four 
hundred men, and at the rate of fifty miles a day, marched toward Ticonderoga. 
Twenty-five miles from the fort they met Allen and his men. Arnold showed his 
commission, but Allen refused to allow him to command. 

In spite of his long toil, rather than imperil the success of the expedition, 
Arnold gave Allen the honor of leading, and enlisted his men in his ranks as volun- 
teers. The little army moved forward, and with such swiftness and caution that the 
garrison was taken completely by surprise, for it had evidently not heard the news 
from Lexington and knew nothing of tlie outbreak there. Arnold and Allen entered 
the fort side by side in the dead of night. "Surrender!" thundered Allen. "In 
whose name?" demanded the terrified officer of the garrison. "In the name of the 
Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" cried Allen, and without any further 
explanation proceeded to disarm his captives. 

Allen's fame for this exploit went throughout the colonies, and as this was the 
first time that Benedict Arnold appears upon the stage of American historj-, I tell 
you his part in it, so that seeing the remarkable series of brave deeds that he accom- 
plished for his country and the disappointment that nearly always pursued him, and 
forever wounded his proud and ungovernable nature, you may understand better the 



792 



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cause of his unhappy treason, for he did turn traitor. 

By the capture of Ticonderoga the Americans gained a large supply of powder 
and other stores of which they were greatly in need; and their army was inspired 
with confidence, but in the latter part of the same month it was learned that several 
ships of war were on their way from England to America, having on board a large 
number of soldiers and some of the best officers in the English army. Gage was 
still in his fortified camp, and the Americans concluded to fortify one of the hills that 
rise within easy gun-shot of Boston, where they would be in a better position to 
receive a British attack. 

Boston is built upon several little peninsulas, which are approached by two 
isthmuses, one called Boston Neck, and the other Charlestown Neck. Upon Charles- 
town Neck are two low hills, the higher called Bunker Mill, and the lower Breed's 
Hill. It was decided to fortify Bunker Hill, for from some source the Americans had 
learned that Gage intended to attack them on the i8th of June. 

Two days before the expected attack, a little before sunset, a thousand picked 
men were mustered for special duty on the green, at Cambridge. Their commander 
was General Prescott, who had seen service in the French- and Indian war, and with 
him went Israel Putnam, a Connecticut farmer, who was also a tavern-keeper, and 
who was noted throughout the country as an Indian fighter and able leader of men. 
Solemn prayers were said by the patriots, and then they set forth. Silently and 
stealthil)', as the shades of nigbt gathered, these brave men marched on, thinking, 
who can tell, what tender thoughts, of their homes and of the loved ones whom they 
might never see again. The dusk and the mist hid them from the English sentinels, 
who paced back and forth on board the ships, whose guns were turned toward the 
American camp, and they passed them in safety and undiscovered. 

Across the Charles river, in their camp, the soldiers of the British army slept, 
while above them on the height, silently and swiftly the farmer-soldiers of the patriot 
army, accustomed to toiling in the field, worked away with spade and pick-axe as 
they had never done before. They had made a mistake in their orders, and had for- 
tified Breed's Hill instead of Bunker Hill, and great was the surprise of Gage and 
his men in the morning, when they looked up and saw the formidable eartii-works 
that had grown up, as it were, in the night. Armed sentinels paced to and fro, 
watching carefully every movement in the camp below, and before noon, five hundred 
more patriot troops marched up the slope to re-enforce Prescott. 

Soon there was a stir of preparation among the British, and about noon the grim 
farmer-soldiers on Breed's Hill, saw a splendid array of three thousand scarlet-coated 
troops, with glittering arms and waving banners, cross over to Boston, and march to 
the Charlestown peninsula, burning the village of Charlestown by way of diversion. 
Proudly this legion advanced to attack the patriot works upon the hill. They fired 
their cannon as they climbed the slope, thinking, no doubt, that at the first sound of 
their guns the Americans would fly. 

Every British soldier was provided with rations for three days, for their general 
was so confident that they would drive off the Americans that he had given each sol- 
dier this burden to carry beside his arms and equipments. They kept up a con- 
tinuous fire as they advanced, but it did little harm, and was not returned by the 
Americans. The patriots could not afford to waste any ammunition, for powder was 
so scarce among them that only a quarter of a pint was allowed to each man, and 
the bullets, which were made from the melted lead-pipes of a Cambridge church 



AMERICA. 




organ, were so 
scanty that only 
fifteen were given 
to each man, those ^^B 
were the days be- ^^' 
fore cartridges, 
such as are now in 
use were inven- 
ted, and the am- 
munition was bull- 
ets, wadding an( 
powder. 

"Wait until you 
can see the whites 
of the eyes of the 
British, then fire 
and shoot low,'' 
commanded oh 
Israel Putnam, the 
veteran fighter. 
"Let no man fire 
until the word of 
command isgiven.'' i 
Resolute and stern 
the patriots waited , 
and the British, 
sweating and ve y 
weary, had reachec 
the foot of the re- ^ 
doubt, when in a M 
low tone, but loud fe; 
enough to be heard g 
by every one of the ^ 

little band of de- g 

fenders, the word ueorKe w^ishinpou. 

was given, "Take aim." The men who had shot birds on the wing in the swamps, 
and the deer in the forest, and whose hands were steady and judgment sure, 
raised their pieces, and each singled out his mark. "Fire!" the unerring bullets 
sped, the enemy recoiled and fled down the hill, appalled at the dreadful execution 
of the Americans. They knew that the patriots were armed only with fowling 
pieces, and old muskets and rifles, and thought that these old-fashioned and cum- 
brous weapons wouUl be good for little in war, but they saw their mistake. 

Again the British advanced up the hill until they were almost at the redoubt, and 
again there was dead silence in the American ranks until they were in close range, 
and then as before, there was a simultaneous roar of musketry, and continued scat- 
tering fire as the British again fled down the hill repulsed. 

General Gage, who was a passionate, hot-headed man, foamed with rage at the 
idea that his trained troops, the flower of the British army, should be beaten by 



794 



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despised American colon- 
ists, with fowling-pieces. 
He rallied his crestfallen 
men, commanded them to 
tling awaj- their knap- 
sacks, blankets, and every- 
thing else but their guns 
and ammunition, and end 
the tight that was cover- 
ing them with disgrace. 
The Americans now had 
. only one round of ammu- 
j; nition left, for they had 
c used their bullets in firing 
K at the British in their two 
■■i retreats down the hill. 
i: They reserved this 
r round until the British 
j:- were near the breast- 
p works, and then, with 
K clubbed muskets and na- 
q ked hands, fought the foe 
z until they saw that resist- 
- a nee was useless, when 
they fled down the hill 
across the neck to 
c Cambridge, pursued all 
'^' the way by the fire from 
the guns of the English 
ships. It was a defeat, 
but a defeat so honorable, 
and against such great 
odds, that over the en- 
tire country the hopes of 
the Americans were rais- 
<(1. They had shown the 
liritish that they could 
hold their own against 
even their best disciplined 
troops. 

All this time the .•\merican army had no head, and no authority of any kind for 
its existence, except the will of the people to defend themselves against their foes. 
The Congress now made George Washington the commander-in-chief of the American 
forces, and took measures to supply their troops with clothing and other supplies. 

There were now enlisted in the patriot army about fourteen thousand men, who 
were untrained to regular warfare, ami lacked everything. Throughout the remainder 
of the sumuKM- of 1775, there was nothing more done in the way of fighting on either 
side. The Americans were drilled and exercised in their camps and grew tired of 
the hard-ship and discipline of soldier lite. Most of them had enlisted onl)- for three 




P 1 
£ and 



AMERICA. 795 

months and when their time was out went home to their families. They had rea- 
Hzed that war is not play, and were so disgusted with it, that they could not be pre- 
vailed upon to enlist again. Recruits came in too slowly to supply the loss, and the 
beginning of the j'ear 1776 saw the colonists with a raw army much smaller than the 
old, and the British with a new commander. In the month of February the Congress 
sent the long desired supplies to Washington, and he decided to make the British, 
whose plan seems to have been to tire the A'liericans out, fight or give up Boston. 
In the first week of March, Washington marched a party, silently and secretly in the 
dead of night, to take possession of Dorchester Heights. To cover their movements, 
the patriots kept firing their cannon towards the British, so that the smoke should 
hide from the eyes of the sentinels there the forms of their party, who worked away 
with such a will, that when day dawned, they had completed a strong redoubt of earth 
and bales of hay. The British saw the necessity of driving the Americans from this 
position, and were about to re-embark in their vessels to cross the arm of the sea, 
lying between Boston and Dorchester, when a strong east wind commenced to blow 
and for three days the weather was so contrary that the British were compelled to 
lie quietly in their camp, while the Americans so strongly entrenched a large force on 
Dorchester Heights that the British, knowing it would be madness to attack them, 
embarked all their soldiers and sailed away to Halifax in Nova Scotia, leaving the 
whole of New England free from them. 

In June the Congress talked over resolutions of Independence from England. 
The States were not all agreed that it would be wise to separate themselves from the 
mother-country, and the matter was allowed to go over until the fourth day of July, 
when the resolutions were passed and all hopes of peacefully settling the quarrel 
with the King and the Parliament were at an and. England now bent all of her 
energies to subduing the colonies. A strong fleet and a well drilled army were sent 
to take New York, and Washington sent Putnam to hold them there by taking a 
position in front of Brooklyn. The brave old general was attacked in August by an 
overwhelming force of British, and was beaten. I'his defeat was very discouraging 
for it convinced the patriots that they could not hope to hold the State of New York. 
The soldiers grumbled because in the three month they had been in the service they 
had accomplished so little, and when their time was out they went home by the 
hundreds. Those who stayed were miserably provided for by the Congress They 
were without shoes, and their clothing was in tatters, but Washington encouraged 
them all that he could, and went about among them, cheering them and inspiring 
them to be patient. When Washington saw that it would not be possible for him to 
hold New York, he retreated toward Philadelphia, followed closely by the British 
army. When he came to the Delaware, he stopped their pursuit by collecting all 
the boats for nearly a hundred miles, and taking them across with him and his army 
to the opposite of the river. There were no bridges, and the British were brought to 
a halt. It was in the winter now, and a very cold and bitter winter it was. Wash- 
ington and his men suffered great hardship and so great was the dissatisfaction in 
the army, that the General realized that he must gain some sort of a victory, or 
there would be mutiny. 

The British found that many of the English were not willing to fight against the 
colonists, who were their own friends and relatives, and the government therefore 
hired a large number of German soldiers, called Hessians, to come over to America 
and aid them. These men made war their profession and hired their services to the 



796 



AMERICA. 



highest bidder. They were 
ignorant brutal fellows, and 
the}- committed so many ovit- 
riiges upon the people, that 
many of the colonists, who be- 
fore their coming had been 
inclined to side with the king 
and the Parliament, were tvn-n- 
ed against them by their pol- 
icy, in hiring these barbarous 
men. A large number of the 
Hessians were encamped at 
Trenton, in the State of New 
X. Jersey, and Washington, very 
i cautiously marched towardthe 
£ place, and upon Christmas 
eve, when they were drinking 
and carousing, the patriots, 
surprised them and captured 
a thousand prisoners together 
with their arms and supplies. 
This victory roused the fail- 
ing courage of the army and 
when it was followed a little 
later by a victory over the foe 
at Princeton, the confidence 
of the army and of the Con- 
gress in \\ ashington was re- 
stored. The patriot army 
spent the winter at Morris- 
town New Jersey and there 
Washington laid his plans for 
the future. 

About this time La Fayette, 
a gallant young French no- 
bleman, came over to America 
and offered to help the Amer. 
icans fight England. Through 
his personal influence I'rance 
became more than ever interested in the struggle between America and England. 
You must not suppose that France, at that time, had any interest in the principles for 
which the patriots fought. Self-government was hated there as heartily as it was by 
the English noblemen, but France had a grudge against England on account of her 
victories in the French and Indian war, and to "get even" with her foes, secretly 
encouraged the Americans with the idea that when the proi)cr time came, the French 
Avould aid them. In the year 1777 the British took Philadelphia but this victory was 
more than balanced by a great victory of the Americans in the .state of New York. 
About ten thousand British troops had been sent from Canada through northern 




AMERICA. 797 

New York with orders to conquer those States lying nearest to Canada. They were 
brave troops, veterans in the English wars, and were under the command of a skillful 
general by the name of Burgoyne. When the people of New England heard that 
they had entered New York, they flew to arms. It did not matter to them that they 
.vere not enlisted, every man took his gun from the walls of his cabin and went forth 
to find the British, and they were harried night and day by the American sharp- 
shooters, minute-men, farmers, and everybody who could hold a gun and make their 
way to their line of march, until the British halted near Saratoga. 

The British general realized that it would be impossible for him to go farther, 
for the provisions were destroyed or hidden, the people were in arms against him, 
and his dangers increased every day. It was at Bemis Heights where the British and 
their alii - the Indians — for they had employed the bloodthirsty savages to help them 
against the Americans — were found by General Gates, the patriot leader, and upon 
the 19th day of September, a bloody battle was fought. Early in October the patriots 
again attacked the British, this time at Saratoga, where Burgoyne had gone into camp 
w'ith his men. The British were defeated with great loss, and were compelled to 
surrender with eight thousand men and all their arms and supplies. 

This great victory caused much excitement in Europe, and that excitement was 
increased when France boldly joined the Americans, and sent them "aid and com- 
fort." England was so badly frightened that the king and the Parliament asked for 
peace, but as they refused to grant the Independence of the Colonies, the Congress 
refused. For the next year the war assumed an aspect of great cruelty. The 
dreaded Iroquois Indians and their allies joined the British, and with them made 
raid after raid into peaceful settlements, killed women and children, burnt villages 
and towns, and committed so many atrocities that to this day the name of the British 
is hated in those localities. 

I have already mentioned the name of Benedict Arnold, and told you that he 
turned traitor to the American cause, and as his was the only case where an influential 
officer in the American Revolution went over to the enemy, I will tell you more about 
it. After the capture of Ticonderoga, Congress decided to send a force through the 
wilderness of Maine to attack the British in Canada. There was not another officer 
in the army who could have successfully undertaken this hard task, but Arnold cheer- 
fully accepted it. The march of that little band of heroes was more remarkable in 
its way than the famous passage of Hannibal across the Alps, or the achievement of 
Napoleon in the same mountains. 

Through dense forests, where there was no road of any kind, they made their 
painful way, carrying their boats between rivers, scaling precipices, shooting rapids, 
and enduring such cold, hunger, and hardship of every kind, that it is a wonder 
that any of them lived to tell the tale. When they arrived before Quebec, which 
they hoped to take entirely by surprise, as their mission had been kept a close 
secret, they found that the English had learned of their approach, probably from 
their Indian spies. The British shut themselves up in the city, and nothing that 
the patriots could do could draw them out in the open field. Arnold had no 
means of storming the place, and was obliged to wait for Montgomery, who 
arrived later with an army, and assisted in the siege of the town. 

Arnold conducted himself with great bravery, but Quebec was not taken, and 
the Arnericans were driven from Canada. In several battles which followed after- 
ward, Arnold won the love and admiration of his soldiers for his gallant and fearless 



798 



AMERICA. 




conduct, but in Congress, and 
among some of the influential 
"tticers of the army, he was 
hated, because though he had 
talent, he had also a very sharp 
ujngue and a hot temper, and 
would not allow the older offi- 
cers to impose upon him. These 
enemies succeeded in preventing 
his promotion to a higher office 
in the army, though there were 
many others who had not dis- 
tinguished themselves half so 
much by their services to their 
country, who were promoted, 
while Arnold was left in a iuim- 
ble position. 

This irritated the proud-spir- 
•\""'-"'" ';••'•"' ii.>' ■'•'"> jjgj Arnold very much. It hap- 
pened that Gates, who was intensely jealous of the brave young officer, who was so 
much more beloved by the army than he was himself, upon a trifling pretext deprived 
him of his command placed him under arrest the evening before the battle of Sara- 
toga, for in spite of all the slights of Congress. Arnold had gone to the front, ready 
to fight again ft)r his country, ami again if need be, shed his blood, for he had been 
dreadfully wounded once before. 

When the firing began ujjon the morning of the battle. Arnold, sitting lonely and 
solitary in his tent, heard the sound, and mad at the thought that he was sitting 
there idle, while the men whom he had so often led were in the thick of the fight, he 
resolved to disobey Gates and go into the battle. He therefore mounted his black 
horse and hurried to the front. .-\s soon as Gates heard that he had gone, he sent 
an officer to call him back, but it would have been a swift and fearless messenger, 
indeed, who could have foiuid the dari.ig Arnold. 

In where the shot fell thickest he dashed, and when the men saw the form of 
their beloved leader, they forgot that he was in disgrace, and had no right to com- 
mand them. With a cheer heard above the roar of artillery, they answered his shout 
"On to victory!" and pressed after him. Soon he "vas directing the whole battle, 
and it was well that he did, for otherwise it would certainly have been lost. Here 
and there, like the very demon of war, he plunged upon his black horse, and when 
the sun went down over the hard-fought field, the British had been driven behind their 
breast-works. Arnold was determined upon complete victory, and rall^'ing his men 
he reminded them that he had always led them to glory, and bade them follow him 
now. 

It was a desperate thing to attack an army behind the fortifications of their camp 
but Arnold would, no doubt, have welcomed deaih, and was perfectly fearless. The 
day was won, and through him. Congress could not withhold his promotion, after 
this, but it was given ungraciously enough, and instead of sending him into the field, 
where his talents would have been so useful, he was sent to take charge of Philadel- 
phia, after the British left that city. 



AMERICA. 799 

Gates was drunk in his tent tlie whole day of the battle of Saratoga, but on every 
side Arnold was compelled to listen to his praises, but his own action, while it was 
admiretl by the army, was belittled by the officers, who almost to a man were jealous 
of him. Arnold had been carried from that hartl-fought and victorious field desper- 
ately wounded, and it may have been in the weary days of his long illness that his 
sore heart, brooding over his fate, which seemed to have made him the victim of 
malice and envy, conceived the deed he afterward accomplished. His temper grew 
violent, and it had never been mild, and this fact atlded to the hatred of his enemies. 
They lost no opportunity of wounding and injuring him with the army. 

Arnold was not a truly great man. in spite of his bravery, or he would have 
trusted to time to right him in the eyes of his country. He acted very differently 
from the line of conduct pursued by Washington. When people lost confidence in 
the great general who commanded our forces, he bore their reproaches and com- 
plaints with noble dignity and patience. He left nothing undone that he could do to 
make success sure, and placed the cause of freedom so high above all personal con- 
siderations, that nothing his enemies could do or say could shake his fidelity. 
Had every man despaired of liberty, Washington would have trusted in God, and 
hoped. Arnold, on the other hand, was so wounded in his self-love, that he would 
have struck liberty dead at his feet to secure revenge. 

He succeeded in getting command of the fort at West Point, upon the Hudson 
river, intending to hand it over to the British, and thus allow them to gain a foothold 
in New York, and command the Hudson river. He laid his plans with great care, 
but they failed. The messenger who acted as go-between, the gallant and handsome 
young British major, Andre, was arrested, and upon his person were found papers 
describing the whole plan. He was tried and condemned to death, and suffered with 
the utmost heroism. His unhappy fate was deeply mourned by Americans and 
British alike, but the stern laws of war must be obeyed, and the doom of the spy is 
death. 

The unhappy Arnold escaped to the British lines and became the terror of the 
villages and towns along the coast, for he was given a command in the British army 
as a part of the price of his crime. He led the attack that resulted in the burning of 
the town of New London, in Connecticut, where many of his old friends lived, and 
was the moving spirit in the horrible massacre of Fort Griswold, one of the most 
cruel incidents of the cruel war. 

It is said that Arnold never knew a peaceful or happy moment after he deserted 
the American cause. He left behind him in his flight, his beloved and loving young 
wife, whose heart was broken by his disgrace, and the army to which he f^ed hated 
him, and distrusted him, reasoning that he who has been traitor once, will be true 
only as long as it suits him. The men whom he had led to battle for freedom cursed 
his name, and he never received from the British government the gold and lands that 
had been promised him. He lived to see the Republic founded firmly, and died a 
wretched old man, poor and despised, far from his native land. 

The British realized that their only hope of success against the colonies, was to 
gain a firm foothold in the Southern States, where the cities were smaller, and where 
the forces were far from their base of supplies. There had bfeen some gallant fight- 
ing in the South, from the beginning of the war. In the year 1 776 the British attacked 
Fort Sullivan, in Charleston harbor, which was at the time commanded by General 
Moultrie. Sometime before the British made the attack, the patriotic ladies of 



8oo 



AMERICA. 




Charleston made a beautiful silk flag and pre- 
sented it to the defenders of the fort. This, 
30U know, wus before our dear old flag was 
thought of, and many of the States had flags 
of their own. This Carolina flag bore a cres- 
cent upon it. as a sign that the country was as 
yet but a new moon, but in time it would grow. 
When the British attacked Fort Moultrie, 
a brave, handsome young man, who was 
[known as Sergeant Jasper, had the flag in 
charge. A shot splintered the pole, and the 
flag fell upon the outside of the wall. The 
British bullets were falling like rain, and now 
and then a roar of cannon and the hissing of 
shells mingled with the uproar, but heedless 
of everything but the beloved flag, which 
stood to him as the symbol of the liberty of 
his land, Jasper leaped down over the wall, 
calmly secured the flag, and then returning 
unharmed by the fire directed at him, fixed the 
flag upon one of the long poles which were 
used for the cleaning of the cannon. For this 
THOMAS PAixE. brave act the Governor of the State gave his 

own sword to the gallant Jasper. Three years later the brave fellow was engaged 
with his countrymen in defending the city of Savannah. Again the colors of his 
regiment were shot away, and again Jasper sprang over the parapet to replace the 
flag. This time the British bullet found a mortal spot, but wounded and bleeding, 
he brought back the colors, then sinking beneath the shadow of the flag for which 
he had so valiantly fought, he died one of the many heroes whose names shall 
never be forgotten by his countrymen. 

A Polish lover of liberty by the name of Kosciuszko came over to our country 
and fought and fell in our cause, and the eyes of the world were upon our struggle 
for freedom. 

In the South there were gallant generals who kept up the courage of the patriots 
at the North. When defeat followed defeat, and it seemed as though God had 
forsaken the cause of his people. General Thomas Sumter, the "game cock" of 
South Carolina, harassed the British upon every occasion, and was an unconquerable 
and skillful fighter. In the thick and tangled wilderness of the swamps of the South, 
General Francis Marion, the "swamp-fox," gathered about him a band of heroes. 
They wore no gaudy uniform, but were clothed in tattered rags, in hunting shirts 
made of the skin of the deer, or in homespun-wool, worn and homely. They carried 
sabres that had beed worn in the old days by their fighting ancestors on the fields, 
where England contended with France, or swords made out of saws and sickle- 
blades. Old fowling-pieces and match-lock guns, that had done duty in the French 
and Indian wars, or had been used by the pioneer hunters, were their fire-arms, and 
their bullets were made by melting down the pewter spoons, cups, mugs and platters 
that had served them at table instead of china, glass and silver. Their food was 
corn scalded in hot lye to preserve and soften it, then prepared as hominy or 



AMERICA. 



80 1 



hoecake. They had no shelter by night or day, 
but slept rolled in their blankets, or when they 
had no blankets, which was the case of most of 
them, simply covered themselves with swamp- 
grass or boughs, and were ever on the watch for 
the enemy. To their haunts in the swamp, their 
spies carried them secret news of every move- 
ment of the British, and Marion would sally 
forth, strike a swift and sure blow at some weak 
place in their defenses and hurry back into 
hiding. He traveled so swiftly through the 
swamps and wilderness, that when the British 
thought that they knew where he was, and would 
attack the place, where they thought he was 
concealed, to their great surprise he would be 
heard of in some other part of the .State. 
When he was closely pressed by the .enemy, 
Marion would disband his men, and let them 
hide themselves as best they could, for they all 
knew his hiding-places, and he summoned them 
by swift and trusty messengers, when he had 
work for them. This undaunted fighter, the ter- 
ror of the British in the South, was a man of the 

noblest soul that was ever housed in the breast of E ^ _ - _ 

a patriot. His temper was so sweet and gentle [, ]|S'£)'sS''iI^i£Ib''o2lTi L\ 

that his men loved him with a love passing that i^^^-' - — — — 

for their own brothers. He never allowed his i— — ...„„..■. r„ „_ 

men to commit deeds of violence against those citizens who had espoused the cause 
of the king, and forbade them to deal harshly or cruelly with captured foes. No 
plundering was permitted, and when the war was over, and Congress was framing acts 
for the punishment of the enemies of the republic by taking their lands from 
them, Marion, who had fought so bravely against the British, opposed with all 
his might these measures, for he was liberal-minded enough to believe that the 
Tories, as the British sympathizers were called, were as conscientious in their belief 
that the king was right, as the patriots were that he was wrong, and maintained that 
they should not be punished for holding to their convictions and fighting for them. 
In other places, too, the war was carried on in such a way as to bring hope to the 
people in revolt, though the British gained battles over them in the Eastern States. 
Gallant captains of sailing vessels, (and there were no steam vessels in those daj's,) 
ventured out from the ports of New England to engage the British on the high seas. 
The English ridiculed these attempts at first, but they soon had occasion to think 
more seriously of them. Captain Nathan Biddle captured several rich prizes, and 
John Paul Jones gained lasting fame on the ocean. This bold fellow was a Scotch- 
man, who enlisted in the American navy, and soon proved himself not only a skillful 
seaman, but one of the most unconquerable fighters of his stubborn race. 

Those were the days when the glory of Scotland and her people had departed and 
when the yoke of England was still heavy upon their necks. There were among the 
Scotchmen who hated England for the persecutions of the Presbyterians and for the 




802 



AMERICA. 




AleXiLUdiT Hamilton. 



desolation English Borderers had carried inta 
their country. Paul Jones was one ot these. He 
sailed about the English and Irish coasts, where 
every bay and harbor was as familiar to 
him as the glens of his own wild hills, and 
carried desolation to the towns, and terror 
to the seamen upon the waters. His little 
craft was called the Bonhomme Richard, and 
one day as he was sailing about, waiting for 
an English vessel upon which he might pounce, 
',j he sighted the Serapis, a man-of-war against 
which his light guns would be powerless. 
He knew that he could not hope for victory 
J in a contest of artillery, and in the face of 
the English broadsides, ran his craft alongside 
I the enemy's ship, lashed it fast, and boarding 
", the vessel, with his men, fought a bloody bat- 
tle. He gained the victory, but the staunch 
f Bonhomme Richard was ruined beyond repair. 
There were yawning holes in its sides where 
the English shot had fallen, its mast was splin- 
tered ami its timbers cut to pieces by bullet 
and balls. It settled down as the water hllcd 
the hold, and Jones was compelled to put all 
his men on board the captured Serapis and leave the Bonhomme Richard to sink. 

Many other sea-captains enlisted men to sail in privateers, as the vessels were 
called that preyed upon the English commerce, and as these men were given sharesin all 
the spoils that were taken, they were far more eager to enlist in the navy than in the 
army, especially the young men on the coast, who were accustomed to the water and 
understood the duties of a seaman. They did many bold deeds, and brought many 
rich prizes into the harbors along the coast, which were laden with the much needed 
supplies as well as luxuries from the Indies, destined for the use of the British officers 
at New York and Philadelphia. 

In the west, the English had held, since the days of the French and Indian war, 
the forts along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and those in the country west of the 
Alleghanies. It was important that the United States should gain possession of 
these places in order that they might gain the entire country south of Canada 
that was claimed by P2ngland. The capture of these posts was entrusted to a 
gallant general and Ijrave Indian tighter by the name of Gecwge Rogers Clark. 
The Intlian tribes had joined the British, and were hostile to the Americans. 
At times during the war, they had commitetl dreadful depredation upon scat- 
tered settlements, and the journe}' through their country was a dangerous one. 
With a little band of gallant woods-men, who knew all of the tricks of Indian 
warfare, and how to travel swiftly, silently, and to conceal their trail, General Clark 
made his way through the wilderness to the distant forts and those upon the Mississippi 
River. He captured them, one and all, by force or cunning, and took and held 
Vincennes Indiana. When the peace was made with England, all of the land north 
of the Ohio to the borders of Canada was ceded to the United States, and the terri- 



AMERICA. 



So; 




km 






®i 



toryof Kentucky Tennessee and those other states 
to the south, not in the possession of Spain, were 
then unexplored and unsettled, their woods filled 
with hostile Indians. 

In spite of the bravest resistance of the small 
bands of patriots through the South, by the be- 
ginning of the year 17S1, the British had gained 
most of the important places in the Southern 
States, though they had lost those in the North. The oniy com mined with the iikeuess-.twas/augton. 

Cornwallis was commander of these Southern British forces, and General Greene 
commanded the army of the Southern patriots. Greene tried in vain to drive Corn- 
wallis out, but he could not do so, neither could he prevent it when the British estab- 
lished their headquarters at Yorktown, and entrenched themselves there. Wash- 
ington had intended to attack New York, where the British were in great force, but 
when the French fleet that had been sent to aid the patriots, sailed into Chesapeake 
Bay, and the commander-in-chief learned that the British had received strong 
re-inforcements, he changed his plans, and while the British in New York were 
making every preparation for the attack, which they were almost certain that Wash- 
ington meant to make, the general, with the greatest speed and secrecy, marched into 
Virginia, and soon had Cornwallis shut up in Yorktown. 

The French fleet blockaded the coast, so there was no approach by sea for the 
British, who would otherwise have gone to the relief of the garrison, and the 
American forces besieged the place by land. For ten days the siege was carried on 
with greatest bravery on both sides. The British in New York had hardly recovered 
from their surprise at the change of front in the patriots, before they heard that 
Cornwallis, after an attempt to escape that was a failure, had surrendered all his 
army with its arms, supplies, and munitions of war, to the patriots. This great vic- 
tory thrilled the people of the United States with hope, and it was, as they believed, 
the dawn of peace. Cornwallis surrendered in October, 1781, but it was not until two 
years later that the terms of peace were signed, though from that time the war was 
really at an end. 

The close of the War of the Revolution, as the struggle for our independence is 
known in history, found the country poor and its people suffering for the necessities 
of life. Many of the cities and towns had been burned, wholly or partially, and those 
that had endured siege were nearly in ruins. The business of the country was at a 
stand-still, the factories and workshops closed, and ships lying rotting in the harbors. 
Grass had grown upon the wharves where once the commerce had been so great, and 
there was little money in the country. To make all these damages good and bring 
the country to a point where it could be prosperous, required more skill than to fight 
battles by sea and land. A strong and wise government was necessary, and to form 
this, Washington, the patriot general and the hero of the two American wars, was 
called to the Presidency of the Republic. Alexander Hamilton was made the man- 
ager of the financial part of the government, and he labored to make the country 
prosperous. He did his work well, and in a few years business revived, and the indus- 
tries of the country became more thriving than before the war. 

On the western frontiers the Indians gave much trouble, but in spite of the fact 
that they were still hostile to the Americans, pioneers pressed westward, settled the 
fair Valley of the Ohio, built their cabins on the streams running into the Great 



m.C' 



OlVJ 



AMI UK. \. 



Lakfs, .iiul lar horn the |>ri>toc- 
tioM of tlif lai\i>o citifs. tilKil thr 
soil ami livt-d happy livt-s \\\ the 
wooils. Iht rr \v«ti' massairis 
aiul atrooitifs roinmittnl in llnso 
\\ iKKi'iU'ssfs, aiul it was rumor- 
til that tlu> British in Canaila 
welt' at llu' bottom of many 
ol tlu" hhuuly ilccils porprtratoil 
l«y thf savai^os. 

I't(>|>lr from X'ir^inia luul srt- 
tltil in KrMtiiiky, ami brtwccn 
thi'Sf ■l.on.vj Kin\os. " as tlu- In- 
ilians i-allt"»l tlu-m, ami tlu-trihi-s 
alnnit the Ohio ri\ir, thiro was 
tlu- yrratfst l»ittiriu>?s. 'Vhv In- 
dians kilKil or lapliirtil 
tiftton humlrtil o{ those 
whitr si'ttUrs in k-ss than 
stvrn yt-a rs, a n tl t h <• 
Ko\(inmi'ni, roali/inj;' that it 
nui>I stop those oiitrajit'S ov lose 
the Ohio anil the whole western 
conntr\, sent gallant AntluMiy 
W a\ i>e, wlu> lor his eourai^e in 
the Revolutionary war luul _><ain- 
etl the name of "Mail Anthonv," to tr\ anil nutke peace with the Imlians, The 
sava>>t>s had experieneed some oi the skill of this veteran soKlier, and had jjiven 
him the name "Blaek Snake." heeause he was so ^wift and deadly, ami" The I'hief 
W ho Ne\er Slet>ps." bee.uise they eonld never surprise his eiMnmand. Wayne tried 
ii\ \ain to n\ake peace with them, and limlinii that he eould not do so. he concluded 
to tiijht thent. There was a bloody battle on the banks of the Maumee river, in 
I'^hio. and the Indians were so badly beaten that thev humbly maile peace, and this 
peace la>ted eii<hteen years. 

Washiui^ton was twice made IVesitlent of the Republic, but refused to serve a 
third term. I lad he not been a patriot, there is little iloubt that he miijht easily have 
established a nv>narchy at the close of the Revolution, and ntade himself kini:. lie 
havl seen the evils of royalty, however, and would not fasten upon his countrymen 
the very systeni against which they h.ul so heroically contended. In the year 1700 
Washinjjton bade farewell to public life, and went back to his home where the last 
tew years of his busy lite were spent in peace, surroundeil by his lovinjj friends. I le 
di.-vl in the last nu^nth of the year »7t>). tuourned by the whole nation and revered by 
the waole worKI. He is justly called " Fhe bather of His Coimtry." for it was his 
wisvion\ and steadfastness that piloted us through the dark ilays of w.»r. and into the 
brijjht svniHvrht of peace. He never despaired of the Republic. 

bivo years after the death of Washinjjton our country was involved in a war with 
Tripoli, and ihouijh that war was insijjrnificant enough in itself, it led to great conse- 
tiuences. the forming of our navy, without which we could never have successfully 
fought l\ngland in our second war with her. I'or many centuries the Saracen pirates 




a.mi:kica. 



F<j5 




had bc';n the terror of inarineri 
upon tlie MeiJiterraneaii. l*ar 
from punishirij/ these pirates, the 
Mohammerlan States, in the 
Northern [^art of Africa, shelter- 
ed them, and to the rulers of 
these httle States all f>f the 
J'.uropean governments w. re 
<>\>\\if<-A to pay a certain sum 
yearly if they wouhJ not have 
their vessels stopped upon the 
liij^h seas and robbed or cap- 
lured, their crews sol fi into 
slavery, anr] their carj^oes seized. 
'I'he l.'nited States in the year 
f6oi was compelled to pay the 
ruler of Algiers a lar^^e sum of 
money to prcrcurc the release of 
some American seamen who had viiitMiirm>'ft,»ii'\ni,kniin>i-nnni:<,i,. 

been taken from their ships and sold into slavery. The ruler of Tripoli was not con- 
tent with what the pirates recr:ived frt^m the United States, and wanted more. When 
our government refused to give the old robber what he asked, he thereupon declared 
war upon American commerc: by sending out his pirate ships to rob all American 
vessels in those waters. It is not to be sijp[josed that the L'nited States would stand 
this treatment. There were bold seamen upon hr;r toasts who were fr^nd of danger. 
and who burned to revenge the outrages to our vessels. 

In the year 1803 Commodore IVeble was sent to the .Mediterranean sea with 
some ships to protect our commerce. On'-, of these ships, the I'hiladelphia, under the 
command of Captain liainbridge, sailer! for Tripoli, and when near the harbor of the 
city, gave chase to a pirate ship that hovered near and sf-.emed to threaten the vessel. 
Unfortunately the I'hiladelphia was not very careful ef her course, and running upon 
a sunken reef of rocks near the shore, was capturf:d l^y the pirates. The officers 
were kindly treated, but the sailors were sold into slavery. 

Captain iJecatur sailed to Tripoli in a ship called The Intrepid, and one dark 
night he took some of his bravest men in a ketch, or light craft, rowed stealthily up 
X.O the I'hiladeli^ia, which was held as a prize in the harbor by the pirates, boarded 
the ship with his little band, drove the pirates into the sea or killed them, and set the 
I'hiladelphia on fire, escaping to his own ship without the loss of a single man. A 
little later Commoflore I'reble arriverl at Tripoli, besieged and bombarded the town 
and destroyed several Moorish ships, A revolt in Tunis against the reigning ruler, 
who was not the rightful sovereign of the country was favorable to operations on 
land. The American Consul organized a land force against the usurping hey, as the 
ruler of the country was called, and he was so frightened that he sued humbly for 
peace, which was granted, and a treaty made. 

The Americans were very proud of the conduct of their seamen in this war, and 
began to see that they might be a force upon the ocean as well as upon the land. 
This made them a little impatient of the haughty conduct of England, and alittle later 
eager to fight their ohl enemy, You will remember that about this time Europe 



8o6 



AMERICA. 



-owrvv <,tc^->A* .j£iij^- 




Long House of Iroquois ludlans. 



was struggling against the growing power of Napo- 
leon, and though the United States did not aid 
France during the Revolution, for it was against 
her policy to meddle in foreign affairs, it was well 
known that the sympathies of our people were 
with the French and their struggle for libert)'- 
America did furnish theFrench with material of war, 
but the English had the same right to purchase 
in America as did the French, and availed them- 
selves of it. In fact America did not care in the least how long the war in 
Europe continued, for her merchants were selling to all the wranglers alike and was 
growing rich upon their folly. England hnall}- decided that I-"rance should not be 
allowed to purchase anymore in America and declared that all the French ports were 
in a state of blockade, and warned all merchant-ships to keep out of French waters. 
Some of the merchant-ships did not obey this order, and the English ships siezed 
them and held them as prizes. This intensely angered the Americans and they were 
made more angry still when a little later Napoleon declared that all of the English 
ports were blockaded, and warned .-Xmerican ships to keep away from P2nglish waters. 
Now the whole Atlantic coast of Europe was blockaded and the American merchants 
had no market for their wares. To add to the indignation against England, who had 
been the first to violate the laws of nations by seizing American ships, the British 
aggravated our people still further. 

Ever since the days of the great Cromwell, England had been mistress of the 
seas, and very proud of the title. As she grew in wealth she became utterly 
unmindful of the rights of other nations upon the ocean, and laid down the law to 
them and enforced it whether just or not, because she had a great navy. About this 
time she declared that she had a right to search all American ships for subjects, and 
if she found any British seamen on board she could take them into her own vessels 
and make them serve her, whether they liked it or not. She then proceeded to do 
so, and whenever .American ships refused to be searched, the English men-of-war 
would fire upon them to bring them to terms. The Americans declared that the 
British had not the least shadow of right to do this, and that any man born on 
British soil, by coming to this country and living here a certain time became a citizen, 
with all the rights and privileges of persons born in America. They claimed that 
England not only took men, who had once been British subjects, but that she com- 
pelled hundreds of free-born .Americans to go on board her men-of-war. There they 
became slaves, for they were taken to far-away seas, treated with inhuman cruelty 
and made to fight for the country they hated. This was against every law of any 
civilized land, and the people boldly declared they would not tamely submit to it. 
The man, who was President of the United States at that time, Thomas Jefferson, 
had not the wisdom of Washington, and he issued a foolish proclamation forbidding 
American ships to trade either with France or England, and to be sure that they 
obeyed, he sent out vessels to watch the seas and arrest the captains of merchant- 
men suspected of attempting to enter the forbidden ports. The American merchants 
were almost ruined by these proceedings, and after a time the law was revoked. 
Still England would not give up her claim to the right to search American ships, and 
the poor sailors were carried away by hundreds to serve in her nav}'. The United 
States was at last compelled to declare war, although she was not equipped for it, 



AMERICA. 



807 




SJODIMURXJ- 



Tlionias Jeflersou. 



and England had at command a large army of veterans, 
who had fought under the most celebrated generals of 
the world in the European wars. At the time When 
the United States declared war, England was busy 
with Napoleon, but matters were settled with him for 
awhile and she turned her attention to our country. To 
be sure America had whipped England once, but that 
was upon land and when England was weaker in every 
way than in the beginning of the year 1S12. The 
Americans too were stronger, but their army, all told, 
amounted to but twenty-four thousand men, while 
England had a million men under arms, many of them 
tried veterans. The navy of England numbered a 
thousand ships, while the Americans had only twenty 
vessels. All of Europe was of the opinion that America 
would be crushed and many of the English rejoiced that 
they would have another chance at our subjection. 
England had not complieil with the term's of the treaty 
of peace at the close of the Revolutionary War, and it 
was now declared that she would win back the rebel- 
lious colonies and make them smart for past misdeeds. 

It seems a bold thing for America to have stood undaunted before the strongest 
power upon the earth, but the Americans were confident in their cause, and thought 
it better to fight bravely for their rights, even though they were crushed, than to 
submit like cowards to what they knew to be wrong. Madison was President of the 
United States at the time, and neither he nor any one associated with him in the gov- 
ernment, thought much of the little navy. Indeed they did not want to build any 
more ships, for they said they would become the prey of the British men-of-war the 
first time they ventured out of sight of land. 

They did, however, think highly of their army, for it was accustomed to hard- 
ship, and had been trained to hard duty on the frontier. Most of its generals were 
old men who had seen duty in the Revolution and would not accept the fact that the 
world had moved forward in their time, and that there was any better way of winning 
battles than the way practiced when they were young. There had been many 
improvements in the art of war, and England had kept pace with them, and this fact 
made made many of our people very uncertain of the result. 

Of course, the first point of attack was Canada, and Hull, about the most incom- 
petent general that was in the service of the United States, was selected for the attack 
of Canada. Congress gave him twenty-five hundred men, and ordered him to Detroit. 
Hull was the governor of Michigan, and you may suppose that in those days when 
news traveled slowly, he had not learned of the declaration of war, and Congress 
did not tell him. The British captured one of the dispatches of the President tell- 
ing that war had been declared, and at once marched a force of men to Mackinaw, 
at the head of Lake Michigan, surprised the garrison at that place and captured it. 
They also sent messengers to the Shawnees and other fierce tribes of Indians in the 
Ohio Valley, and made alliances with them. 

Tecumseh, one of the bravest of the Shawnee chieftains, had always maintained 
that the Ohio river ought to be the boundary of the settlements of the white men. 



8o8 



AMERICA. 





Seuiiiim of 1813 



The British told him that if they succeeded in the war against the Amer- 
icans, they would drive out every white settler from these hunting 
grounds, and give them to the Indians and their children forever. They 
also promised that Michigan should be given to the Shawnees as the 
dwelling place for their tribe, and held out every inducement they could 
think of to make them join their cause. 

Tecumseh had gained much influence with tiie Indians of the Ohio 
Valley, because he had a brother who was a great medicine-man who 
pretended, too, to be a prophet. This brother had told them that Te- 
cumseh was destined to free them from the whites, and they believed him 
and eagerly joined the British in their war upon the Americans. The 
British knew that they were loosing upon the defenseless settlers of the 
wilderness their bitter and relentless foes, and that all of the horrors of 
past Indian wars would be nothing compared with this, for the Indians 
would be joined in an alliance, would be well supplied w-ith arms, and 
J f^-:^^ would be without mercy. In Europe the news that the English had actual- 
ly joined with the Indians excited great indignation. Even in Englantl 
the most enlightened and humane of the people complained loudly of this 
action of the government, and prophesied the direst disaster to the cause from this 
violation of the rules of civilized warfare. In America it made the people grimly de- 
termined to sell their lives dearly, and roused deep and lasting hatred. 

Near the southern extremity of Lake .Michigan, on low, swampy ground near the 
mouth of the Chicago river, there was at this time a small log fort around which were 
grouped a few log cabins which sheltered the garrison and a few settlers — sixty-six 
souls in all. The fort was called Fort Dearborn, and was in the midst of the wilder- 
ness. The war-whoop of the Indian had often been heard in this little settlement, 
and when there was danger of an attc:ck the people lied to the protection of the 

fort. 

When Hull learned that the war nad actually begun, he sent word to the com- 
mander of Eort Dearborn, Captain Heald, telling him that the fort must be aban- 
doned and the people taken to some place of safety, for the Indians were banded for 
the destruction of the whites, and this settlement was particularly exposed to their 
fury. A little w^ay from the fort was the hunting ground of the Pottawottamic 
Indians, and their chieftain. Black Partridge, was friendly to the whites. The Potta- 
wottamies had been persuaded by the eloquence of Tecumseh's messengers, and by 
the bribes of the British, to join the alliance, and it was from tliem that General Hull 
feared violence for the people of Fort Dearborn. 

The nearest place of safety was Fort Wayne, Iniliana, ami Captain lleald did 
not know how he should remove the women and children all that long distance and 
be able to protect them with the force at his command, while he knew, too, that it 
would be madness to remain where they were. Black Partridge had warned the set- 
tlers that his people meant to join the British, and as there was peace between the 
Pottawottamies and the people of Fort Dearborn and no cause of enmity existed, 
they trusted in them when they promised to help them get to Fort Wayne, and to 
defend them from other tribes on the wajr. Captain William Wells arrived at Fort 
Dearborn with a party of friendly Miami Indians a few days after the order was 
received by the commandant, and he, too, offered his services to aid in the removal 
and guard of the settlers. 



AMERICA. 



809 




Fort Dearborn. 



It was a beautiful morning 
in August, in the year 1812, 
that the garrison, and the men, 
women and children of Fort 
Dearborn started on their way 
carrying with them what bag- 
gage they could. The Potta- 
wottamies accompanied them 
for about a mile and a half, 
then they formed a circle about 
the whites and began to mur- 
der them. The cowardly Mi- 
amis were either treacherous 
or afraid to provoke the hos- 
tiles, for they made no attempt Qv^ 
to defend the whites. 

The men fought like he- 
roes . to protect the helpless 
women and the children, and 
Wells directed them, for he 
was a skilled as well as an experienced Indian fighter, and encouraged them never 
to yield as long as they could fight, knowing that the captives would be tortured at 
the stake. Wells and fifty-seven of the little band of soldiers and settlers were slain. 
Black Patridge could not stop the massacre, but he saved the lives of several of the 
prisoners and they were afterward returned to their friends. The fort was burned, 
and the Indians fondly imagined that never again would white men rear their 
dwellings upon the spot, yet to-day, less than a century after that fight, the Indian 
has become almost a tradition, and did not a noble monument mark the spot where 
fell those martyrs of the wilderness, few people in Chicago which stretches far along 
the shores of that Lake and River, where the settlers of Fort Dearborn matle their 
home, would ever think of those dark days in the early part of the centurv, when the 
shadow of death brooded over the Valley of the Ohio, and the region about the 
Great Lakes. 

Hull was shut up in Detroit when the British appeared before the gates and 
began firing their cannon. He made no attempt to prevent them from crossing the 
river, though he had a thousand brave woodsmen at command who were eager to go 
out against the foe, and who would have fought the British and their savage allies to 
the last. He would not allow them to fire a shot, and at the first roar of the British 
guns, he raised a white flag over the fort and sent a messenger to the enemy offering 
to surrender. There was rage and sorrow among the American soldiers. Some 
of them shed tears because their General had disgraced them and one of the officers, 
brave, high-souled Colonel Lewis Cass, of Michigan, indignantly broke his sword, 
declaring that he would never yield it to the British. It is a wonder that in their 
wrath the American soldiers did not kill Hull, and it is said they did threaten to do 
so. The American soldier, however, is usually a brave man and the soldiers scorned 
to harm the man who was at their mercy, and contented themselves by heaping their 
just contempt upon him. 




8io AMERICA. 

By the surrender of Detroit, the whole* Northwest was at the 
mercy of the British and Indians, and they used their power most 
cruelly. Settlements were burned, captives were taken and tortured 
to death, and the settlers who could find their way to the forts and 
protected towns, left their homes, and taking their families fled for 
their lives. The country was intensely indignant at the cowardly 
conduct of Hull. Me was tried by court-martial and condemned to 
death as a traitor. The weak President Madison forgave him, 
however, giving as an excuse the services Hull had rendered in the 
jamos Madison. revolution, but his name was covered with dishonor, and even now it 

is hard to find any reason for his traitorous action, if he was not in sympathy with 
the British. 

Another surrender followed soon after, when General Winchester, commander 
at Frenchtown, now Monroe, Michigan, gave up his garrison to the British General 
Proctor, who though he had promised that no injury should be perpetrated upon the 
persons of the American soldiers, nevertheless allowed his Indian allies to kill and 
scalp many of the hapless prisoners. These failures of the Americans caused great 
rejoicing in England and sorrow in the United States, but the tide of war was soon 
to be turned, and proud England was again to bow to the foe whose strength was not 
in numbers but in the justice of their cause, and in bravery. The war was for the 
rigiits of American sailors, and merchant-men, and naturally enough, the American 
sailors were the most eager to engage in it, but it was believed the wildest folly by 
thoughtful, cool-headed people for the United States, with her little fleet, to presume 
to attack the proud navy of England. It was very much like a tiny dwarf giving 
battle to a huge giant, but there are legends that relate how by superior craft and 
skill the weak have often overcome the strong. The naval officers pleaded to be 
allowed to go out in their ships and fight the British upon tiie ocean anil after much 
hesitation, and unwillingly enough, the government gave them permission to m.ike 
the attempt and venture out of the harbors with their ships. The "Nautilus" had 
been captured by the British, and the United States navy then consisted of only nine- 
teen ships. Those who saw the Constitution spread out her sails to the breeze, one fine 
morning in August, in the year 1S12. shook their heads and said that soon we would 
have only eighteen ships, for the Constitution would surely be captured. The com- 
mander of the ship was Isaac Hull, a very different man from the Hull, who surren- 
dered so disgracefully at Detroit. Off the island of Nantucket, on the Massachusetts 
coast, Hull saw far in the distance a fleet of eleven British ships, and among them was 
the very man-of-war that had captured the Nautilus a short time before. There was 
little hope of being able to fight successfully against eleven ships, and Hull decided 
that discretion was the better part of valor, and he would run away, hoping at the 
same time that since he was so far away that the British had not seen him. He was 
soon convinced of his mistake, for when he changed the course of his vessel and 
stood away from the fleet, the British also changed their course and gave chase. 
Not only so, but they fired their great gunsover the calm stretch of blue water, though 
their shots did little harm, and were perhaps meant only to frighten the brave men 
upon the Constitution. They were, however, not easily frightened, but as there was 
a (lead calm and no headway could be made either in their chase or pursuit, the 
battle promised to be a sort of duel at long range and with odds of eleven to one 
against her the Constitution was in great danger. The Yankee wit of the captain 



AMERICA. 



8ii 




came to the rescue, 

and he comman- 
ded the crew to 

lower t h e kedge 

anchor attached to 

the ship and place 

it in the boat. 
The anchor was 

fastened to the 

Constitution vith 

strong cables. And 

when it was lower- 
ed, the strong arms 

of the sailors sent 

the boat spinning 

across the water 

until they were half 

a mile from the 

ship. The anchor 

was dropped, and 

it held firmly. Then 

all the sailors on 

board the vessel 

turned the windlass 

with a will and tlu- 

ship skimmed like 
a bird over the wa- 
ter until it was with- 
in a few feet of the 
boat. The ancho 
was raised, and 
the sailors rowed 
another half mile, 
and again dropped 
it, and again the 
windlass was turn- 
ed with a will, 
and the ship 
was brought for- 
ward. The Con- 
stitution was now a 

mile away from the becalmed English ships, but watching the maneuvres of the 
yankee captain through their glasses, the Britishers learned a lesson. They too low- 
ered their anchors and turned at their windlasses, but the Yankee had the start of 
them. The laborious chase and flight was kept up for seventy-two hours, and by that 
time the Constitution was so far ahead, that the British were compelled to give it up. 
This affair raised the hope of the Americans and an event that happened soon 



Sir AMERICA. 

anerH-sxd made them still more proud of their gallant sea-men. Six days before 

-lion started out upon her cruise, the -\lert, a British ship, was sighted bj- 

— -aa-of-\rar r— ^ :he Elssex. Th-: "" -essels c - : " ' *' '— -tat 

_zh the Ale _r.i %-ai:andj\ tr. - were a^ - ng 

- -lied m her rigging she was captured. 

- - - "" -" fleet, sailed up to the 

coa^: . . . . .:_.^- - _^ : .. : ; > ...g to fall in with some 

British vessels, that he might take as a prize and than come back to the Massachus- 
setzs coast. The Gurierre. one of the fleet that had chased the Constitution, had sepa- 

The onicers of . ley 

snould do so. they would take a prize, for who ever heard of an American ship. 

^ " f-war. Tr ' rre car " ^ -.andCaptain 

^ ; — .-. , ^.-_: a prize ^^/-. — ;.ot be . _;:on to take it. 

The vessels at once opened on one another and for ten minutes there 

was a desperate duel with cannon. At the end of that time. Captain Hull, who had 



with terrible effect, leaving behind it so many dead and d>-ing and such havoc of 
ever\- kind n its r of surrender. The stars 

-_ - --_:„,^- „:^^ ^_^ ^ _ .. r -;-:--: ., thought it 

-- _ js to a: port. The n :>n5 of war 

were therefore transferred to the victor, and the Gurierre was blown up. You may 
■ , ' - >e the 

:_::; ^ - ^ :_ : _;know- 

ledge that the .\mericans were better or braver seamen than the>\ 

The .American seamen were so greatiy : that they went out in their 

V ' .-•---■__: _ : .\ -- . - ^ TT „ -_ ^- _ ; where thej- could. 

- -red years suffered 

a defeat in at sea. and they had sec at the "Yankees" and 

thr:r"i:" -- manned by good 

i^^iicrs, .^ _; . ; .. ; ._ .::... ..:..._. =: ^: :■- R-'"'<h men-of- 
war had beer captured. The -American ship "Wasp," encountere ritish man- 
of-war "Frolic" and after a sharp engagement took it. but the prize was re-captured 
" - - ■ - ■" "■ ' .- -^ u-:.:-jj This was 

_ _ - jch laurels in 
the war with the Moorish pirates, caused it : : >rgotten by a great victorj- over 

the ~ ~ ^ '' ' ber. 

. _- ... . .. _ .-..-_ - .-5." and he gave battle to 

a large British vessel. "The M :an." and g :ctor\-. When the news 

-is fourth victor>" of our navy over the great force ^nd upon the sea 

' -..-__ __ , _ J _ . .•: land. Bells were 

r _ _ .-of the victories. State 
Legislatures voted swords to the gallant naval officers. Congress struck off medals 
for ■ ' - t5 of tr. 

r....„. _■ the ;..=..-;-. -efes*^ "d. and hofjed for 

the : of the foe. ! _ . the news at first ; be believed, but 

defeat after defeat u>3n the seas foJowed, and it was a: -t the Yankees 



AMERICA. 



Sr; 



> 



and their "pine-board boxes" were not to -be despised. In the month ot December 
"The Essex" captured another Britisher, and with it a prize ot tirr>--hve thousand 
dollars in money that was on board, and two days before the close ot the year. C ;~- 
modore Bainbridge. in commar ' ■ - ': 7 ■ '.. ' which from her man^* 

victories over the English was .-....^._. __..-- . .._.-;._es. by the Americans, 

encountered the British ship "'Java" off the coast of Brazil, and after a hard nght 
compelled it to surrender. 

There were gallant de^-:- " "" '^ '. " _:-._--..; 
in those battles that are st:.- - , 

:r\-men. as illustrating their bravery- and patriotism. \\ hen 
the Java surrendered, one poor fellow who lay 

the deck of the Constimtion. covered v^-ith 

grimed with povvder. raised him- ,_?? - '-- "^ 

self upon his elbow as he saw the 
flag of the British lower 
givingthree 
cheers for Amer- 
ica and her sail- 
er r 5, fell back 
dead. Orticers 
and men vied _^ 
with one another 
in deeds of dar- 
ing, and never 
had England en- -.i^ 
countered such ' 
grim determina- ■ ^ •■ 
tion. such an un-^^Tgs 
conquerable 
spirit. Perhaps 
the sailors r e- 



or n out 
:ves in far- 
a w a y seas in 
slavery- to the 
hated British, 
and this nred 
their hearts to -^t^-^,^^ . ,-=-^ -" ^^S " 

revenge, but certainly they preferred death :_ _;. ...ctr. and liked nothing berrer 
than to engage one of the huge mea-of-war. though the odds were almost always 
against them. 

In the early part of the year iSt^. Captain Lawrence, who had already ga"jn.ec tame 
by the caprore of the "Peacock" on the coast of Africa after a hard strugg-c. was 
placed in command of the "Chesapeake, and put out tc sea. He fell in with the 
English ship ""Shannon.'ia the r f June, and the most bl: ?t 

all the sea-bartles of the war w.i; :_ _^.cr- Lawrence, himself, wa^ .v.. .':_.-■ \_rJ. 




3iK"£3= ^-^Tg 




8i4 AMERICA. 

and as he was carried from the deck he called out to his men, "Don't 
give up the ship!" The Americans fought with their usual courage, 
and it was not until every officer of the "Chesapeake" was dead or 
dying, and the crew was unable to struggle against the "Shannon," 
that the colors were struck and the ship surrendered to the British. 
The dying words of the brave young commander became the battle 
cry of the American sailors, and though Lawrence was dead, his 
spirit still lived and animated his countrymen. 

The Essex, after its capture of the prize of which I have already 
wmiain Hiury riarrison. toUl you, Sailed round the southern point of South America, into the 

Pacific ocean, to protect the American whalers. I want you to remember the voyage 
of the Esse-x, for that was the first .American war-vessel that ever ventured into those 
waters. The Essex remained in the Pacific for more than a year, depending entirely 
upon the captures of English ships for supplies. It was then captured by two English 
ships in the harbor of Valparaiso. Besides these men-of-war, whose exploits 1 have 
mentioned, there were many private vessels that were fitted out along the coast, to 
prey upon English commerce. These sailed far and near, carrj'ing disaster to the 
English navy, and in the course of the war there were more than sixteen hundred 
English vessels destroyed by the .Americans, and England lost forever the title so 
proudly worn, and the authority so cruelly used, as "Mistress of the waters." Her 
disgrace was all the more deeply felt, because it had been suffered at the hands of 
the Americans, and the victory was all the more splendid for our seamen, because 
they had conquered the navy that had been victorious over the Dutch, the Spaniards, 
and those mariners considered the best sailors and the most skillful fighters in the 
world. The .American ships owed their speed to the fact that they were built with 
more lightness, and instead of heavy upper timbers, had long, tapering spars. 

All the time these battles were occurring at sea, the affairs of the Americans 
were going badly on land, and the people were becoming ilissatisfied with their 
army. In England the newspapers made fun of the Americans, and published 
what was considered witty attacks in verse upon them. There were newspapers, 
however, in Great Britain which were bold enough to cry shame upon the English 
government for the dreadful deeds which they encouraged the Indians to commit 
upon defenseless American settlers, and hinted that those deeds might yet be 
avenged. In the year 1813, the British determined to drive the Americans from 
the Lake region, and General Proctor was given this work to perform. 

General Harrison, a brave Indian fighter, and a skilled officer, was in command 
of a little army of Americans at Fort Meigs, upon the .Maumee river, in the State of 
Ohio, but a little way from Lake Erie. Proctor determined to make this his first 
point of attack, and marched a large force against the place and demanded its sur- 
render. General Harrison had built Fort Meigs, and knew its strength. 1 le hoped 
to defend it, but knew that his force was a small one to cope with the British. He 
therefore sent to Kentucky for re-enforcements, and replied to the British that they 
might take the fort if they could, but he would certainly not give it up to them. 
Proctor thereupon settled down around the place to besiege it. 

The commander of the American forces in Kentucky hurried to the relief of 
Harrison, and under the cover of the smoke from British guns, they managed to 
approach very near the fort before they were discovered. The commander of the 
Americans, like most of the commanders of their forces about that time, seemed to 



AMERICA. 



815 



lack fore-sight, and though he told his troops to spike the British guns, he did not tell 
them what to do next. They did as they were bidden, and the British taken by sur- 
prise, lost their guns, and the Indian allies under Tecumseh fled to the cover of the 
woods. While the Americans hesitated and wondered what to do next, the savages 
rallied and falling upon them with great fury, captured more than two-thirds of the 
re-enforcements. 

These brave men were told by Proctor that if they would give up their arms they 
should be safe with him and honorably treated, and they therefore gave them up. 
When they were all disarmed and defenseless, Proctor and his soldiers stood quietly 
by, and allowed the Indians to murder them in cold blood. The unarmed men fought 
desperately for their lives, but one by one were struck down, slain and scalped. 
Tecumseh, the noble old Shawnee chief, was in another part of the battle-field while 
this bloody performance was going on, and in the midst of it he rode up to the 
place where Proctor stood, and angrily said: "Why don't you stop this?" Proctor 
quietly answered that he could not control the Indian warriors. "Go put on petti- 
coats," thundered the enraged Tecumseh, "you are nogeneral!" With his eyes flash- 
ing, and his tomahawk upraised, Tecumseh spurred his horse in among the mass of 
Indians who were siruggling with the American prisoners, and striking dead a savage 
who was about kill- 
ing one of the brave 
men, he sternly com- 
manded them to stop 
their bloody and cow- 
ardly work. They 
were afraid to diso- 
bey, and the prison 
ers who were still 
alive we re saved 
from their fury. 

Though Proctor 
had thuscaptured the 
re-enforcements sent 
to Harrison, he could 
not take Fort Meigs, 
and finally left the 
place after trying 
sometime longer to 
capture it. Harrison 
sent word to Colonel 
Croghan, who was 
stationed at Fort 
Sandusky, near what 
is now San dusky, 
Ohio, twelve miles 
from Fort Meigs, 
telling him that the 
British would proba- 
bly attack him, and 




\\ 






>^>-vM!« 



t^-, %•,;; 



i-:--4h- rimnfr^z^ 






SAY TO PROCTOR THAT IF HE ENTERED THE FORT IT WOULD BE OVER OUR BODIES. 



8i6 AMERICA. 

he had better destroy the fort and its stores, and retreat to a place of safety. Croghan 
replied that he was able to defend the place, and that he would do so to the last. 

This fort was a flimsy affair, for it was made by cutting logs into lengths of six- 
teen feet, sharpening both ends, and setting them upright, and thus forming a square 
enclosure or stockade. At each corner of this stockade there was a block-house, 
whose second story overhung the first, and about the whole was a ditch eight feet 
wide and about the same depth. You may readily understand that Proctor, who 
knew how it was built, thought that his guns would make short work with Fort Ste- 
phenson, and as he believed a victory of some kind necessary to keep the Indians, 
who were again thirsty for blood, he decided to reduce the weak fort. 

Within the walls of Fort Stephenson were one hundred and si.xty men, under a 
young commander, and most of them only lads, for the large majority was under 
twenty-one years old. Young as they were, these boys had been trained in the wil- 
derness. They had shot deer and Indians since they were able to hold a gun, and 
their aim was as unerring as that of Robin Hood, or those gallant English who 
showered their arrows upon the Normans in that grand old fight at Hastings. 

Croghan set to work to strengthen the walls of his stockade, and he did so by 
causing a large number of bags to be filled with sand and securely piled up nearly to 
the top of the stockade upon its inner side. He had but one cannon, a six-pounder, 
and Proctor had several, beside his gun-boats. Proctor had also many times the 
force of brave woodsmen, and when he came near to the fort, he sent a messenger 
with a flag of truce, asking Croghan to surrender and prevent blood-shed. Croghan 
had heard of the massacre at Meigs, and was determined never to abandon the fort 
while life remained. He told the messenger he might say to Proctor that if he 
entered the fort, it would be over the bodies of its defenders. 

Proctor thereupon assailed the fort with a galling fire, but it did little damage on 
account of the bags of sand. Croghan kept shifting his little cannon from one of 
the block-houses to the other, in order to make the British believe that he had a 
large gun in each, but all day the battle raged without anything decisive on either 
side. The British became convinced that Croghan had only one large gun, and they 
thought they discovered a weak spot in the stockade. They held a council the night 
following the first attack, and tlecided that they would assail that weak spot in the 
morning. Again and again during the day the brave English soldiers iiad succeeded 
in crossing the ditch and approaching near enough the stockade to receive the shots 
of the riflemen within the fort. 

All the long night after the battle the heroes of Fort Stephenson, who knew that 
they dared not open the gates to care for the wounded British, let down water and 
food for them over the stockade by means of ropes, until they had dug a tunnel under 
the stockade by which they caused them to be brought behind the defenses, where 
they were the most tenderly cared for. This is a strong contrast to the British treat- 
ment of American soldiers, and when it was related in P2ngland, the humane among 
the people praised gallant Croghan for his merciful actions, and condemned the 
cruelty of the hard-hearted Proctor. 

The night within the fort was passea m removing the cannon to the weak spot in 
defenses, and in thoroughly concealing it. The next day the British believed that 
because they did not hear the cannon of the fort, it had been disabled. The 
cannon had been so placed that it might sweep the ditch on the side where the 
defenses were weakest, and the British, unsuspicious of danger, crowded into the 



8i8 



AMERICA. 



ditch, their officer calling out to give no quarter to the defenders. When the ditch 
was lilled, the American cannon swept it with deadly effect, and the British, to the 
number of a hundred and twenty, fell dead. The effect of this repulse was to dis- 
courage Proctor, and to add to this feeling, a storm came up and raged with great 
violence. In the height of this storm Proctor embarked his men in the boats and 
rted, leaving his wounded to the care of the Americans, and his dead unburied. The 
news of this victory, where a hundred and sixty young men held their fort against 
four thousand British and Indians, caused rejoicing among the Americans, for now 
they believed that the tide of war was turning in their favor, and indeed it was, 
though there were many weary campaigns and bloody battles, before it swept the foe 
entirely out of their path. 

The success of the American navy upon the ocean had been so great, that it was 
now thought that the navy might be used to aid the army on land by manning some 
staunch vessels upon tbe Great Lakes with our seamen. In 1813, it was decided that 
the rieet should be launched, and it was hoped that the new lake-navy might win 
as much glory as the ocean war-crafts had gained. There was a British fleet upon 
tha Lakes, commanded by a veteran officer who had been with Lord Xelson at Tra- 
falgar. This commander set himself the task of destroying the American lake fleet. 
His plan was to annihilate the vessels that guarded the American side of the lakes, 
then Proctor was to cross again into Ohio, and drive out Harrison. There were six 
heavily armed vessels in the American fleet, and nine in the British, though the 
British had the advantage in having heavier and betterguns, handled by gunners, 
who had seen long service and were very skillful. The British guns, too, would send 
their shot further than did those of the American ships, but notwithstanding all this, 
Commodore Perry, the American commander, determined to hazard an attack when 
the two fleets encountered in Lake Erie. Perry's flag-ship was the "Lawrence," 
named for the brave commander who lost his life in tight with the "Shannon," and 
upon his flag were the last words of the heroic seaman, "Uont give up the ship!" The 
British admiral's flagship was the Detroit," and when the battle began both ships 
were sadly damaged in a few minutes. Seeing that the Lawrence was helpless. Perry 

seized his banner, and 
though the shuts of the 
British feel like rain 
about him, he calmly 
lowered a boat, embark- 
ed and caused himself 
to be rowed to another 
of his ships. His ban- 
ner was run up to the 
mast, and on this ves- 
sel he sailed right down 
through the enemy's 
sr^4 line of battle discharg- 
■_~si ing broadsides right 
and left as he went, and 
in fifteen minutes the 
British fleet was help- 
ji.hu Bull Traill. Icss and at the mercy 




AMERICA. 



819 




Tlir punishineut for slander 
by the Duckiug Stool. 



of the enemy, whom they had thought to destroy. Perry then returned 
to the hull of the Lawrence and received the surrender of the British 
commander. When this had been done in due form, he wrote on the ii^-^' 
back of an old letter the following message which he sent to General 
Harrison, and as this message is so 
different from the reports that 
would be given now of such an en- 
gagement, I hope you will remem- 
ber not only the words, but the 
modesty of the Commodore in 
telling of his own exploits: "We 
have met the enemy and they are 
ours. Two ships, two brigs, one 
schooner and one sloop." That 
was all, but in those few words 
were conveyed the news of the greatest victory that up to that time had been gained 
during the war. 

Harrison followed up this victory upon the water by marching at once against 
Detroit and taking it from the British. The Americans now became the invaders of 
Canada, and several battles were fought upon British soil. The war with Napoleon 
was over by that time, and hearing that thousands of the bravest veterans in the 
world were to be sent to America, the importance of drilling the soldiers in modern 
methods was seen. The old revolutionary Generals v,'ere dismissed with honor, and 
many new Generals took their places and drilled the soldiers to such good effect that 
when they met the British at Maiden, and other places in the north they were again 
and again victorious. It was at a place upon the Thames River in Canada, 
that a most decisive victory was gained soon after the battle of Lake Erie. When 
the cruel and cowardly PVoctor saw that the battle was likely to go against him, he 
fled leaving his army to its fate. The British soldiers were soon thrown into con- 
fusion, and were routed, but fifteen hundred Indians under Tecumseh, who lay hidden 
in a swamp took up the fight and battled most desperately. As long as the voice of 
their chieftain was heard urging them on, they scorned to fly, but at length that voice 
was silenced in death, the arm that had fought so bravely for the hunting grounds 
of his tribe was forever unnerved, and knowing that with his death everything was 
lost to them, the Indians, too, fled, leaving the body of Tecumseh where it fell. The 
Americans, who had borne the brunt of the fighting in this battle, were Kentuckians, 
and between the "Long Knives" and the Shawnees there had long been deadly 
hatred, kept alive by violent deeds upon both sides. These Kentuckians were brave 
men, and generous usually to a foe, but it is said that some of them took the body of 
Tecumseh, flayed the skin and cut it into strips, which they used for razor-straps and 
exhibited as curiosities. I am sorry to think that this could be true, for it is so unlike 
the Kentuckians, but we must not forget that the Indians had mutilated and scalped 
the dead through the whole course of this war and the British had encouraged them 
to do so. The death of Tecumseh disbanded the Indians, and many of them returned 
to their hunting grounds, leaving the British to fight out their quarrel with the 
Americans without their aid. 

If you will look upon the map of New York State, you will see at the east end of 
Lake Erie, the name of the city of Buffalo, now a large and thriving commercial 




820 AMERICA. 

city, but at the t"me of the second war with England but a small town. 
Across the river from Buffalo, there is now a gray ruin, overgrown with 
wild flowers and trailing vines. Mild eyed cows graze about the grass- 
I grown earth works and the broken walls, and peace broods over the 
[landscape, serene and beautiful. This ruin is what was once Fort Erie, 
;id it was here that the Americans gained one of the most mem- 
orable victories of the war of 1S12. After the capture of the fort from 
the English, two dreadful battles were fought on the Canada side, and 
Andrew Jackson. it was thought unwise to attempt to hold Canada. The fort was there- 

fore blown up by the Americans and they retreated across the river to Bufralo. 
To revenge themselves for the capture and destruction of Fort Erie, and the unjus- 
tifiable burning of one of their towns by the Americans, the British invaded New 
York State, and burned Buffalo, while they allowed their Indians to kill and scalp 
the wounded soldiers in the hospitals wherever they found them, and commit all 
sorts of violent deeds. 

The Americans gamed Lake Ontario, and in a naval battle upon Lake Cham- 
plain, defeated the British, and thus, gaining possession of all the important places on 
the Northern borders of the United States, the war in the North was ended. In other 
parts of the country, however, it still raged. The Indians of Tennessee, encouraged 
by the British, rose against the whites, and surprising one of the forts in Alabama, 
the Creeks murdered four hundred whites. General Jackson went out against them 
with a body of Tennessee frontiersmen, and he was joined by a gallant officer by the 
name of Coffee, in an attempt to subdue the Indians. These two generals burned 
many of the Indian towns, took many prisoners, and killed hundreds of savages. 

Is is said that at one time, Jackson's troops, who were entirelj- out of supplies, 
mutinied and said they were going home, and that they would no longer endure the 
hardships of the campaign. Their general, "Old Hickory," as Jackson was called, 
set them the example of roasting acorns for food, and told them that they could live 
upon what he could, and that he would shoot any man who stirred from the ranks or 
attempted any defiance. They knew Jackson would do as he said, and though he was 
but one, and they were many, they admired the courage of the heroic officer so much 
that they were ashamed of their murmurings, and there was no more talk of 
desertion. 

The British abandoned all attempts to retaliate for the misfortunes they had 
incurred at the North, by invading the country from Canada, and turned their atten- 
tion to the South. With their fleet they sailed down the Atlantic Coast, entered the 
Chesapeake Bay, anil advanced upon Washington. The city was then but a small 
place, and was thoroughlj- unprepared. The soldiers were frightened and behaved 
in a cowardly manner when they were attacked within a few miles from the Capital. 
They were defeated, and the British marched straight to Washington, from which the 
President and the Cabinet had fled, and not a hand was raised to save the Capital. 
All of the public buildings except the Patent Office were burned, and this deed was 
approved by the English government, though the English newspapers cried shame 
upon it, and justly said that it was more like the work of savages than that of enlight- 
ened Britons. 

The British boasted that they would make their winter-quarters in the pleasant 
and beautiful city of Baltimore, and advanced against it, after taking Alexandria. 
The people of Baltimore did not wait for the British to be upon them before they 



AMERICA. 



821 



took any measures for defense. The young and old, slaves and freemen, worked side 
by side to strengthen their defenses, and gathered a large number of troops in and 
about the city. The British landed a large number of men about twelve miles from 
the city, and sent their fleet up the b i\ to bombard 1 ort McI ienrj 1 his was m the 
fall of iSj4, and the. Brit- 
ish had, at the orders of 
their secretary of war 
swept down the coast of 
New England, bombai cl- 
ing the seaport towns and 
laying them in ruins 
They did not dare to at 
tack Boston, for the cic 
izens had built stroiu 
defenses on Dorchestci 
Heights, neither did th( \ 
dare try to enter Nc\ 
York harbor, for there 
too, the citizens hu 
placed a strong battel \ 
and had mustered a largt 
number of men to wil h 
stand them. 

They imagined tha 
they had to do with tho^ 
who would be an ea'^\ 
prey, and did not know 
that the South, the cradl 
of the patriotism of the 
nation, was strong in cour- 
age, and determined to 
resist to the last. Th( 
bombardment of Fort 
JNIcHenry was returned L 
with such a good will b\ f 
the people of Baltimore 
that after a whole da> 
spent in a vain attempt to 
take the place, the British 
with their ships badly crip 
pled by the fire of tht 
Americans, retreated in i 
pouring rain the next 
morning. When tht 
British troops landed, a f- 
physician of Baltimore' 
was made prisoner bj f^ 
them. News of his cap- 




822 



AMERICA. 



ture was carried to the city, and Francis Key, one of the leading citizens of the town, 
and another friend of the captive doctor, went with a flag of truce to the British 
squadron, to try to secure his release. 

All three of the gentlemen were taken on board one of the British ships, and not 
allowed to return to the city that night. As Francis Key walked back and forth on 
the deck of this vessel, he cast his eyes often and anxiously toward Fort INlcllenry 
and all the next day and night while the fort 
was being bombarded he watched with anx- 
ious heart to see if the flag was hauled down 
in token of surrender. The second anxious 
night passed away, and in the morning the 
'"Hag was still there." It was while he was 
pacing back and forth in the long hours of 
that anxious night- 
watch, when the guns 
of the fort were silent, 
that Key composed that 












^ 




lilKNlNG or WASHINGTON. 

glorious song which has become 
Vone of the anthems of the na- 
' tion, "The Star Spangled Ban- 
ner," and if you will read its 
words, you may have some idea 
of the patriotic spirit of the man 
who wrote it. 

''■ The Indians in Tennessee 
were still troublesome, and it 
transpired afterwards that the 
reason that they were so hostile 
to the whites about that time was because the British had offered them five golden 
dollars for every white scalp they should take, whether it was of a man, woman 
or child. Again Andrew Jackson was sent against them, and he not only con- 



^-^ 



AMERICA. 823 

quered them, but made them sign a treaty that gave a large and rich terr'^ory to 
the United States. 

The people of Great Britain were beginning to grow very ' ired of the v.ar in the 
United States, where their army was constantly suffering defeat, and almost always 
at the hands of a much smaller force. They were anxious for peace, and commis- 
sioners for the two governments had met in Belgium, and had decided on the terms 
of a peace, though it was not yet known in America. Before the tidings reached this 
country, the Americans gained the most important and glorious victory of the whole 
war. 

The Creeks, though they had signed the treaty, had not all intended to keep it, 
and some of them, under the advice of the British, joined them at Pensacola, in 
Florida, where they were fitting out an expedition against the Americans. Florida 
belonged to Spain, and when Jackson told the Spanish governor that he should not 
permit him to aid the British, he paid no attention to him. Jackson did not wait to 
consult the President of the United States. He took his Tennesseeans, marched into 
Pensacola, and so frightened the people of the town and the governor, that they no 
longer aided the British, and ordered their fleet away. 

The British then attacked a fort near Mobile, commanded by a brave officer and 
garrisoned by a hundred antl thirty men, but there were twenty good cannon in the 
fort, and these punished the British so severely and were used to such good purpose, 
that they gave up the idea. The forces that had been defeated at Boston, were in 
the West Indies, and when these set sail, Jackson knew they were about to attack 
New Orleans. You will remember that Napoleon sold New Orleans to the United 
States, as well as the vast territory of Louisiana. The English coveted this, and 
thought they would have no difficulty in taking it. They were so confident, that 
the officers took their wives with them, and between the singmg- and dancing on 
the voyage, they planned gayeties for 
the winter in New Orleans. 

In the British forces were now the 
veterans who had been serving in 
Spain under Wellington, and Jackson 
had no army to speak of, but he did 
not mean to yield. He set vigorous- 
ly to work, took slaves from the 
fields, convicts from the prisons, and 
every man who could hold a gun to 
fight the British, or wield a spade to 
raise the earth-works for the protec- 
tion of New Orleans, was pressed 
into service. Jackson made a huge 
and strong breast-work of bales ofj 
cotton, earth, and hogsheads of sug-' 
ar, and trained his men night and 
day. He sent for two officers of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee regiments, to 
come and help him with their men. 
1 hey came in haste, and when the 

•^ STREET SCENE IN MOBILE. 




824 



AMERICA. 



British were a few miles from the cit}- the Americans attacked them. The Amer- 
ican forces, which were ridiculously small for the attack of twelve thousand veteran 
British troops, were defeated, and Jackson withdrew them behind the defenses 
of New Orleans and waited. 

The British came on, and on the 8th day of January, in the year 1815, the last 
battle of the war was fought. At daybreak the British advanced, and the Americans 
from behind their defenses, shot them down by the score. At nine o'clock the battle 
was over. The British were retreating leaving seven hundred killed, fourteen hun- 
dred wounded, and five hundred prisoners, while the Americans had only eight men 
killed and thirteen wounded. The news of the peace was learned soon afterward. 




ST. CIIAKLE.-^ .sTl;i,l.r, M.U l liiLi. A.NS. 

and America had time to punish again the Moorish pirates, who had taken advantage 
of the fact that our government was engaged with England, to commit outrages upon 
our commerce in the Mediterranean sea. Commodore Decatur was sent to chastise 
the insolent Moors, anil he brought them to terms in short order and so humbled 
them that they never again interfered with our vessels. 

There was now no bar to the prosperity of the United Statas. Ever since the 
days of the Revolutionary war the prospect of further trouble with England had 
worried the people of the country, but now that prospect troubled them no more, for 
England at last realized with what a great nation she had to deal, and from policy 
began to treat us with justice. In a few years the wilderness of the Ohio valley was 



AMERICA. 



825 





/Z^'^<n^tf'^f^y/7 



alive with villages and towns, and though only five 
states had been added to the Union between the Rev- 
olution and the war of 181 2, six states were admitted 
in six years afterward. It seems rather strange that 
less than a hundred years ago the Mississippi Valley, 
now the homes of millions of people and filled with 
railways, cities, telegraph lines and all the powers of a 
great civilization, was called "The Far West," and 
those, who sought its forests and prairies were con- 
sidered as venturing into almost untrodden wilds, but 
such was the case. However, the tide of foreign im- 
migration flowed steadily to our shores and Illinois. 
and other states lying along the eastern bank of the 
Mississippi filled up very rapidly. 

The railroad brought with it the power of devel- 
oping the immense coal fields and the mines of iron 
and other minerals and then civilization spanned the 
Mississippi, and went westward with the stride of a 
giant. The invention of machinery for the freeing of 
cotton from its seeds, gave a new impulse to the 
raising of that product, but the cotton-gin was the fore 
runner of a civil war, for it stimulated in the people of the South a desire for more 
slaves and for a slave trade even with the North, and it seemed a hardship to them 
that they could not sell their slaves there. This question of slavery, and whether it 
was right and lawful had been argued many times, in Congress and out, but there 
was no open quarrel concerning it, until the people of the North began to fear that 
the people of the South were determined to make slavery national, and this they 
thought would forever destroy the dignity of labor. The people of the South had 
become so accustomed to seeing the negroes performing heavy and hard work, that 
they hardly considered them human beings, and thought it no harm to buy and sell 
them as they bought and sold their horses and cattle. This to the people of the 
North seemed a crime, and they wanted to prevent slavery, not only in the north, 
but also in the south. There were not so many white people in the South as 
there was in the North, but as the master of every fifteen slaves could cast for them 
nine votes, for a slave counted in the elections as three fifths of a white man, though 
he could not cast his own ballot, that the whites of the North could not control the 
politics of the country. I will not attempt to give you the points of the discussion 
in the quarrel over slavery, but it was the practice for a long time whenever states 
were brought into the Union, to bring a free state and a slave state in at the same 
time to keep the balance right between those, who were engaged in the discussion 
about slavery. You may imagine that when a state near the cotton producing 
region asked for admission, the argument over whether the State should be a 
free or slave-holding State, was all the more bitter. 

When Louisiana was bought from France, it was made, into several states which 
were admitted to the union as slave states, but Missouri was not admitted with the 
rest. When the people settled there did ask to come into the Union, there was the 
most bitter quarrel and it was finally settled that the northern part, which was north 



826 



AMERICA. 




WlMltLC SCOTT IN 1805. 



of the line which had been established as the boundary of 
slaver}', should be considered free, while the country south of 
that line should be admitted as slave-holding. This decision 
was not the taste either of the North or South. The people 
in the South declared that it was their privilege to make laws 
for their own government and that the North or the General 
government had no right to interfere, and the people of the 
North in manj- eloquent sermons and in books and newspapers 
?i declared slavery a sin against God and man. These brave 
i^ protesters against slavery were subjected to many trials. Th(-y 
were in man}' cases mobbed and even killed by those, who 
sympathized with the South, and for many years the slavery 
question was the most important maf'er of discussion. 

When Spain was in the decay of which I have told you, Mexico separated from 
the mother-country, and became an independent republic. Lying between the 
boundary of Lousiana and the Rio Grande River, was a large and fertile tract of 
land belonging to Mexico. It was a convenient place of refuge for horse-thieves and 
other criminals fleeing from justice in the United States, and numbers of them settled 
there, some upon grants of land secured from Me.\ico, and many upon the land that 
they simply took and called their own, without asking any permission whatever. 
There were after a time so many people in Texas, that they felt that Mexico had 
no rights over them. Among these people was a man b}' the name of Sam I louston, 
who had been quite prominent in politics in his adopted state, Tennessee, for he was 
born in Virginia. Houston was a brave fellow but rather lawless. He had been 
twice elected to Congress, and when he was defeated in a third canvass, he went 
among the Cherokee Imlians, who admired him greatlj', and lived as one of their 
tribe. In the year 1832 he went to Texas, and was there when the trouble began with 
Mexico. There was a Fort which the Americans had built in Texas and named 
the Alamo, and against this place the Mexican General, .Santa Anna, marched with 
a large force, took the place and massacred the Americans there in cold blood. At 
another place he executed five hundred Americans. 

Houston, who was a skilled general of the war of 1S12, and had fought with honor 
under General Jackson, took command of the American forces, and with a little band 
of se'ven hundred and fifty men, surprised eighteen hundred Mexicans, and totally 
defeated them. The battle-cry of the Americans was "Remember the Alamo," and 
they fought with such gallantr)- that they put their foes to flight and captured the 
Mexican general. This battle made Texas independent, and the people of the terri- 
tory organized a republic, with Houston as President. For about ten years Texas 
remained a republic, then it was annexed to the Ignited States as a territory by a 
treaty. 

When Texas a|)plied for admission to the United States as a State, the old dis- 
cussion regarding slavery was again brought up, and with great bitterness was arguetl 
in Congress and in the newspapers. Houston was in favor of slavery, as were most 
of the people of Texas, and it was brought into the Union as a slave-holding State. 
At the time of the annexation of Texas, Mexico was in a very unsettled state. One 
revolution was followed by another, and there was damage done to the propertj/' of 
Americans in Texas for which the Mexican government would give no payment. 



AMERICA. 



827 



Tiiere was a dispute, too, 
regarding tlie boundary 
of Texas, and tliis led to 
war with Mexico. 

Mexico claimed at the 
time the whole of the 
western coast of the Uni- 
ted States as far north as 
the northern border of 
California, and extend- 
ing eastward nearly to 
the Rocky mountains. 
This country had been 
explored by Spanish mis- 
sionary priests, who had 
establ i s h e cl m i s s i o n ^ 
throughout the southern 
portions of this vast re- 
gion, for the purpose of 
converting the Indians. 
The United States had 
sent out exploring expe- 
ditions to the Pacificslope, 
and knew the value of this 
great territory. There 
were only about ten thous- 
and inhabitants in Cali- 
fornia at the beginning 
of the war with Mexico, 
and many of these were 
adventurers from the 
United States, who had 
gone there in search of 
excitement and notoriety. 
They formed a republic, 
and General P'remont 
went west and raised the 

American flag upon the /^^ 

Pacific coast. ,yyyio'kjca-^ 

This country the United States wanted to hold, and for that reason the war with 
Mexico was eagerly welcomed, for there was little doubt that the United States, hav- 
ing the power, would be able to rob poor, distracted Mexico. It was a shameful 
thing, and one that makes us blush for our country, but it was urged at the time as a 
necessity, just as the conquest of the Ohio Valley from England was a necessity, and 
the purchase of Louisiana from France, and the cession of Florida from Spain were 
necessities, for with a foreign nation holding territory on the borders of the western 




828 



AMERICA. 




JOHN BROWN. 



ocean, the development of commerce was hin- 
dered, and the nation in danger from a foe too 
near for safety. 

However, necessary or not. and riglit or wrong, 
the United States built a fort on the very border 
of Mexico, and in the land which the Mexicans 
claimed was no part of Texas. The Mexicans 
were brave, but they knew their weakness, and 
were afraid to attack the power that had twice 
humbled mighty England. The United States 
did not mean that Mexico should refuse to fight, 
and to make fighting absolutely necessary, the 
soldiers of the fort refused to allow vessels laden 
with food for the city of Matamoras, to pass up 
the river upon whose banks their fort was built, 
and the Mexicans realized that they must either 
fight or starve. They therefore attacked the 
Americans, and were badly beaten, whereupon 
the President of the United States declared war 
against Mexico. 

An army was sent into Mexico, with directions 
to fight its way to the capital of the country 
and demand peace. The Americans were fitted 
out with the latest improvements in arms, they 
were well equipped in every way. and better drilled than the Mexicans. The foe was 
undisciplined, and their rulers had been changed so often in the various revolutit)ns, 
that the army was badly demoralized. They were brave, however, and very stub- 
born. They were beaten in every battle with the invaders, but the oftener they 
were beaten the more determined they seemed not to give in, and even after their 
capital was taken by General Scott, they held out for five months, unwilling to come 
to the terms whicii were offered them. The United States insisted upon them, 
and at last the humbled republic was obliged to consent. 

By the victory over Mexico, the United States gained California. Texas, New 
Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and the greater part of Wyoming and Colorado, 
though it paid fifteen million dollars to Mexico, as well as the debts which that 
republic owed to American citizens for wrongs done to their property. There were 
many people in the North, who declared that this war with Mexico was an unholy 
one, waged in the interests of tiie slav'e-holders, who had expressed their intention 
to have the new territory brought into the Union as slave-holding States. In Illinois 
tjiere was an eloquent young lawyer, who won the lasting hatred of the people of the 
South by his bold speeches against the war. The name of this man was Abraham 
Lincoln, and he was the son of a pioneer. The aristocratic southerners thought the 
less of him because he had split rails for a living, and had performed all of the heavy 
and hard work that falls to the lot of a farm-laborer in a new country They could 
not deny that he was clever and eloquent, but he had gained his book knowledge 
after the labors of the day were over, and by the light of pine-knots in a rude cabin. 
From this cabin after a time he went to become a clerk in a country store and filled 
every spare moment with study. He chose the law for his profession, was admitted 



AMERICA. 



829 




i'*^j,xiijaiii 



FAKKA<;rT STATl-K WASHINGTON, D. C. 



830 AMERICA. 

to the bar and finally began his practice in a small western town. He had no claims 
to long descent, but he loved his country dearly, and was fearless for what he con- 
sidered the right. The people of the North were not long in seeing his force as a 
leader of men, and he became a power in the slavery struggle. 

About the time California became a possession of the United States, gold was 
found there in the mountains and the beds of streams, and from all over the world 
adventurers tlocked to the new country in search of wealth. They suffered many 
hardships, and often returned to the States poorer than they went away, but there 
were some large fortunes made, and this fact tempted emigration. From all the free 
States, especially, the flow of emigration was very large, for the adventurous spirit 
of the pioneers of the west impelled them to new countries, and they were accustomed 
to hardship. When California applied for admission to the Union, it was decided by 
the people of the State that they did not want slaves, and it was admitted as a free 
State. This was a great disappointment to the people of the South, but it was 
balanced in their opinion by a law which the eloquent Southerner Henry Clay, suc- 
ceeded in causing Congress to pass. This law is known in the history of our country 
as The Fugitive Slave Law, and allowed slave-holders to go into Northern States 
and take back their runaway slaves. It madeany one who gave the slave, who had 
escaped from his master, even a cup of water, a criminal liable to fine, and allowed the 
slave-owners to compel any person to aid them in hunting for slaves. The people of 
the north were justly indignant over this monstrous law, and the more so as it treated 
the negro as though he were a brute-animal, with none of the feeling or intelligence 
of a man. The right of the slave-owner was above that of the courts, and he could 
take his slave even out of a free State, where that slave had committed a crime and 
was held for trial. 

At first the fair-minded people of the South thought that this Fugitive Slave law 
was just, but after awhile they felt a horror of it and raised their voices in indignant 
protest. They heard of cases in which slave-traders went into free States and took 
people who had never been slaves, (thougii they were born ol negro parents) and 
sold them into slavery. Because the word of the poor slaves counted as nothing in 
the courts of law, the slave-traders were triumphant in their wickedness. Children 
of parents who had little negro blood in their veins, and who were educated and 
intelligent citizens of the free States were at the mercy of these Southern slave-traders 
and there was no help for them. Encouraged by this law, the slave-trade with Africa 
which had been abolished since the early part of the century was begun again, and 
cargoes of slaves were landed in Texas and Louisiana. Ministers in the pulpit called 
these slavers "missionaries who were bringing the poor Africans to this country to 
be Christianized," and in many Southern communities where the citizens hated slavery 
but could not free their slaves without beggaring themselves, should any one be bold 
enough to raise his voice against the inhuman traffic, he was made to feel the weight 
of the displeasure of his neighbors, who were enthusiastic for the new method of 
■'Christianizing the African heathen." Even in the Northern States the system found 
many defenders, and encouraged by that fact, a slave-trader actually had the effron- 
tery to enter the port of New York with a cargo of slaves for sale. He was hanged 
for his pains, and none of his fellow-slave-traders ever imitated his example. 

While the excitement over the slave-trade was at its height, the State of Kansas 
was divided off from the Louisiana purchase, and the slave-owners of Missouri boldly 
declared that Kansas must be admitted as a State holding slaves. There were many 



AMERICA. 



831 



slave-holders who migra- 
ted to Kansas from Miss- 
ouri, but there were more 
emigrants from the free 
States, and the slave-own- 
ers in Missouri saw that 
they would lose their cause 
if they did not use force. 
They therefore organized 
companies of men who 
declared that they would 
kill or drive from the State 
every man in favor of free- 
dom, and a thousand such 
ruffians committed all sorts 
of outrages upon the bor- 
der. There was really a 
civil war in Kansas, and the 
settlers who went into the- 
territory who were in favoi" 
of freedom, were soon com 
pelled to fight for their 
faith. 

Cannon were set upon 
the banks of the Missouri 
river to terrify those who 
had an idea of entering the 
territory from free .States, 
but in spite of all this vi- 
olence, which heartily dis- 
gusted the liberal-minded 
people of the South, enough 
emigrants from the free 
States did find liomes in 
Kansas to cause it to be ad- 
mitted to the Union as a 
free State. .'\t one time 
during the struggle, a man henry clay. 

by the name of John Brown, leading twenty-eight emigrants from the free -States, 
fought a battle with fifty-six slave supporters upon the Kansas prairies and won 
I'he victory. He and his son remained in Kansas until they were assured that the 
cause of freedom had triumphed; then they began to make larger plans. It was this 
gallant old man who was to make a protest against slavery that was to startle the 
world, and it was his feeble hand that was to unloose the red current of war 
which for so many sad days swept with such fury over our land. 

Perhaps you have often sung that old ditty "John Brown's body lies a moldering 
in his grave," without pausing to think what it meant, but no doubt you will always 




832 AMERICA. 

remember after this that John Brown was a martyr to freedom. To tell j'ou his 
storj' I must go back to the daj's when Dred Scott, a slave of Virginia, escaped from 
his master who had taken him to the North and fought for liberty. He sued for his 
freedom, and his case was carried to the highest court of the land, for it was felt that 
it was not simply the case of Dred Scott that was being settled, but that of every 
man and woman in bondage. The highest court solemnly declared that a negro had 
no rights which white men were bound to respect, and that slavery under such cir- 
cumstances was permitted in the North. 

The people of the North saw that this was the first step, and a long one, toward 
introducing slavery into the States north of the line that had been settled as the 
boundary for slavery, and that if it was lawful to hold slaves under one set of circum- 
stances, the law would say that it was right under all. John Brown was of the stern 
fighting stock of the old Puritans, who had left England to escape tyranny. He 
thought that a tyranny worse than that of kings was about to be fastened upon the 
people of the North. He, like thousands of others, saw i n the slave, in spite of the color 
of his skin, and his ignorance and poverty, a human soul, groaning under despotism, 
and he longed to do something for him. It was this that caused him to go to Kansas, 
and when the war was over there, he and his sons went to Virginia, as I have already 
told you. Brown was a devout. God-fearing man, who read his Bible, and prayed tor 
light to do wiiat was right before his Creator, notwithstanding what men might 
think of him. He compared the sufferings of the slaves to the bondage of the Chil- 
dren of Jacob in Egypt, and thought that he was the Moses appointed by God to lead 
them out of the wilderness of slavery into the promised land of liberty. He felt a 
divine call to free the slaves, but he must have been a little crazy, or he would never 
have made the attempt in the way that he did. 

At Harper's Ferry he gathered about him twenty men, most of tliem slaves, and 
with his puny force actually defied the United States, and seemed to hope for 
success. He knew that in the North there was an organization which helped 
runaway slaves out of the country into Canada. There they were free, for it had 
long been the boast of England that when the feet of slaves pressed her soil 
they were freemen. This organization could only free a few slaves, but Brown 
thought that he couKl free them ail. He dreamed of establishing in Virginia, the 
cradle of liberty and of slavery, a government that should be the refuge of the 
oppressed, and for tiiis purpose he and his band seized the government arsenal 
at Harper's Ferry. 

l-'ifteen hundred soldiers were sent against him, his followers were killed, and he 
himself was captured, after being severely wounded. He was tried for treason, con- 
demned, and hanged, but his soul went "marching on" throughout the land, and in 
the North his courage was admired intensely, and his object said to be a worthy one. 
The people of the South were very much frightened by this raid of John Brown, 
which was greatly e.\aggerated, and they felt intensely against the people of the 
North. I am afraid there was much class hatred, too, between the South and 
North. The people of the South were still aristocratic in their ideas, and admired the 
nobility of England and the class distinctions in that country, and many rich families 
in the Southern States traced their descent from the great families of England. 
These thought that the vast laboring masses at the North "descended from the 
bigoted Puritans and Saxon serfs," were but little higher in the scale of humanity 
than the slaves in the South, and it was this misunderstanding that brought about the 
greatest Civil War in the history of the world. 



AMERICA. 



83: 




The Presidential election occurred before the 
excitement over John Brown's raid had subsided. 
The canvass had been very bitter, for the people 
of the South declared that Congress had no 
right to interfere with slavery anywhere in the 
United States, and the people of the North de- 
clared that the matter should be decided by the 
people of each State, and that it should not be 
imposed upon them by any court or power with- 
out their consent. 

Abraham Lincoln was the candidate of the 
North, and he was elected in the fall of i860. 
He was known to be bitterly opposed to slavery, 
and to be an able and brave man. Before this 
time there had been talk of the formation of a 
Union in the Southern States independent of the 
North, and it is now said that for thirty years 
before this time the leaders in the South had 
foreseen that this question would come to a 
blood}' issue some day, and had gathered arms 
for the purpose, but that can hardly be true, 
when we remember how the South was equipped 
for war. As soon as Lincoln wa3 elected, the 
JEFFERSON DAVIS. cottou-growiug States, elgh t in number, prepared 

to withdraw from the Union. 

So threatening did matters look in the South that the commander of the United 
States troops at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, removed to Fort Sumter with his 
garrison, that being the stronger place. All through the winter before Lincoln took 
his seat as President, ammunition and arms were being gathered secretly in the South, 
and troops being drilled for the coming conflict When after Lincoln was inaugu- 
rated reenforcements were sent to Fort Sumter, the vessels upon which the soldiers 
made the voyage was kept outside the harbor for some time while a storm was rag- 
ing. The people of the South assured that reenforcements were actually at hand for 
the fort, laid siege to the place and captured it. They had, by this time, organized 
into a regular confederacy, and appointed Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, as their 
president. They were eager to try their strength against the Government, and this 
first victory filled them with hope. 

You may be sure there was wild excitement all over the country, when the news of 
the attack upon F'ort Sumter was flashed across the continent by the telegraph. The 
people of the South hailed the day as the one which was to herald the dawn of their 
freedom, the North was eager to fight and certain that they would win the victory. 
Davis was a skilled officer who had served with honor in Mexico, and the people of 
the .South had perfect confidence in his ability' to guide their affairs, while those of the 
North trusted to the calm wisdom of their back-woods President. The young men 
of the South were brave and had been trained to ride and to shoot, while the young 
men of the North, taken from the farms, the counters of the stores and the factories, 
knew nothing of military life, and had no idea how to fight, though they proved that 



834 



AMERICA. 




. 1 MM ILK 



they had plenty of courage. The 
forces of the South had been 
drilling for months, while those 
of the North were obliged to do 
their drilling during their cam- 
paigns. 

No one had an idea that the 
war would last more than a few 
weeks, and enlistments were 
plenty. There were some at the 
North who knew so little of the 
spirit of the South, that they 
thought the whole matter woukl 
be settled in a single battle. 
There were hundreds of these 
mistaken men in the force that 
marched into Virginia to meet 
the Confederates at Bull Run, 
and many of the people at 
\\'ashingt(Mi had come down to 
see the defeat of the Confederates as though they were going to a picnic. Cireat 
was the surprise and consternation all over the North, when the Confederates 
beat the Federal troops and sent them fleeing into Washington very much crestfallen. 
In .Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky, during the whole of the year 1861 there 
was much marching and ski.-mishing, for both sides went earnestly to work. The 
first event of any importance after Bull J^un, was the capture of Fort Henry, on tlie 
Tennessee river, by U. S. Grant, in February, 1S62. The war in the West and that in 
the East went on at the same time, so I shall briefl}- relate the events that happened 
in the West, and then return to the army that was defeated at Bull Run, and tell you 
something of its marches and battles. 

After Grant took Fort Henry, he marched upon Fort Donelson, a strongly 
defended place upon the Cumberland river, in Tennessee, about a dozen miles from 
Fort Henry. The attack and the defense were equally heroic, hut the Confederates 
were compelled to surrender Fort Donelson, and with it a large number of men 
as prisoners of war. This was a serious tlisaster for the Confederates, as the peo- 
ple of the South were calletl, on account of their government, which was a "Con- 
federation of .States," for they were obliged to fall back to Nashville. It was 
followed up by the capture of Island No. 10. an important post upon the Missis- 
sippi river, held by the Confederates. The Union men, as the forces of the United 
States were called, dug a channel across a bend in the river, in order to get their 
transport boats in below the islands, for they dared not attempt to sail directly 
down stream on account of the batteries of the Confederates commanding the 
channel. It took nineteen days to complete the work, and the island was cap- 
tured. 

Island No. 10 commanded the Mississippi river, and Grant next moved southward 
to attack Corinth, a place in Mississippi, that was the center of several railroads. 
Grant had between thirty and forty thousand men, but Albert Sydney Johnston, 



AMERICA. 



S35 



a gallant Confederate general, and one of the brave men of whose fame our 
country is so justly proud, not only had more men than Grant commanded, but 
his troops were accustomed to marching under the hot sun of the South, (and 



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2; 



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a 

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836 



AMERICA. 




even in April the sun is hot in 
Mississippi,) determined to drive 
him back and crush the invaders 
of the soil of Mississippi. It was 
on a fair Sunday morning in April, 
of the year i'862, that the first real- 
ly great battle of the war was 
fought. Johnston attacked the 
Union army in such a way as to 
surprise it, his intention being to 
drive it back until it should be 
in a little peninsula between the 
river and a creek, where he hoped 
to make it surrender. Both arm- 
ies fought with the utmost gallan- 
try 'all day,-and the Union troops 
;J were slowly driven back, and would 
surely have been defeated had 
not the darkness of night caused 
a stoppage of hostilities. In the 
night, a large number of Union 
soldiers arrived to aid Grant's 
army, and when the fighting was 
resumed the next day, the Confed- 
erates, who had lost their brave 
commander by death, and were 
utterly tired out by fighting and 
watching, were compelled to retire. The Union army marched from Pittsburg Land- 
ing, where the fight occurred, to Corinth, and after a siege, the place surrendered in 
the latter part of May, and the Mississippi river as far south as Vicksburg, was in 
their hands, but below X'icksburg, it was held by the Confederates. 

In the meantime, McClellan, in command of the Union forces in the East, was 
trying to catch Thomas J. Jackson, the wily and able Confederate general, and prov- 
ing himself unequal to the task, he was defeated over anrf over again, and the 
campaign of McClellan, which had for its object the capture of Richmond, was a 
failure. These brilliant successes of Jackson, who had received the name of "Stone- 
wall," for the coolness with which he had stood his ground at Bull Run, elated tiie 
South and made the people think that they should surely succeed. Their generals 
were far more able than those of the North, for they were drawn from the veterans 
of the Mexican war, and were most of them men of great military experience, edu- 
cated at West Point. 

Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson found no equal c mong the generals in 
command of the Army of the Potomac, as the Eastern army was called, until Grant 
came to take charge of the whole army of the North, and then, indeed, they met 
their match. McClellan was so slow and timid that he was removed from command, 
and a general named Burnside given his office, but Burnside was as rash as McClellan 
was timid, and after he had lost two battles, it was considered that he had done worse 



GENERAL ULYSSES S. oKAM. 



AMERICA. 



«37 




ATBERT SrDNCY JOHNSTON. 

nius that was 



than McClellan, who, though he had lost the hard-fought battle 
of Antietam, still showed military skill, while Burnside showed so 
little that the private soldiers of his army justly criticised his ma- 
noeuvres and his judgment. Burnside was removed and an officer 
who had won much fame for his conduct in battle was given his 
place. This man was called "Fighting Joe Hooker," but though 
he had courage and ability, he could not be compared to Lee and 
Jackson. 

In the spring of 1S63 the Confederates who had been vic- 
torious everywhere, seemed to think the war was practically at an 
end, and all that was left for them was to strike a crushing blow. 
There were many in the North who thought the same, and the 
gloom was great. It was plain that the Confederates out-generaled 
the Union officers in every decisive conflict, and that it was their ge 
winning the battles in spite of the bravery of the Union army. Lee determined to 
try the plan of invading the Northern States. There had been so many campaigns 
in the South that the country was almost without supplies and his army was starving. 
From the first the Confederates had been obliged to suffer for the lack of almost 
every needful thing, and they had hard work to support their army, and hardly any 
means of maintaining their prisoners of war, who were almost starved to death in 
the pens that .served as prisons. 

If the Confederates could gain a foothold in the Northern States, they would 
have before them an almost inexhaustible held of supplies, and could maintain the 
war at the expense of the North, instead of that of their own war-wasted country. 
It promised well, and General Lee determined to strike for Harrisburg. General 
Meade was given the command of the Army of the Potomac, and near the village of 
Gettysburg the two armies came to bio 'vs. Gettysburg was a peaceful little village 
lying nestled among the hills of Pennsylvania, and a fit theater for a great battle 
from the nature of the country about it. It was a great battle that was fought there, 
one of the most bitter and bloody ever fought on the earth within the knowledge 
of history. It was the highest point of the war, and from that time the Con- 
federate cause lost ground. Gettysburg was an important place for the Confederates 
to hold, for from that point the roads branched off in every direction, by which they 
were to hold communication with the South. Three dreadful days the battle 
raged, but on the 4th day of July, 1S63, the Confederates slowly began their retreat, 
having lost one-third of their army, Meade lost about one-fourth of his, and nearly 
forty-eight thousand men were sacrificed in that three days' strug- 
gle, and from all over the land went up the cry of widows and 
orphans. In this same year, 1863,- there were several important 
events that must not be forgotten. It was in that year that the 
Proclamation of the President of the United States freed all slaves 
in those States under arms against the Government, with the 
exception of those already conquered by the troops of the United 
.States, and it was in that year that the operations begun by 
Grant for the mastery of the navigation of the Mississippi were 
brought to a successful end by the capture of V^icksburg by the 
Federal troops after a siege in which the CcMifederates were \\\ %x\\^^n\V-^' 
reduced to the extremity of suffering. j. t. (stocewa2:wAc:isoN 




SxS 



AMERICA. 




AMBRO<«E E. BURNSIDE. 



The hapless Confederates, brave and undaunted in their ad- 
versity, though compelled to take shelter from the shot and shell 
rained down upon them in Vicksburg from the Federal batteries 
and to live in caves in the ground on the scantiest fare, did not 
surrender until actual starvation confronted them; then thirt^'-two 
thousand of their troops fell into the hands of Grant. This victor}', 
in a measure, decided the fate of the war, for it gave Grant the 
command of all the Union forces west of the Alleghany moun- 
tains, and a little later of the Grand Army of the United States. 

The people all over the South had now long felt the miseries 
of war, and everywhere endured them with the utmost heroism, 
but in spite of that, these miseries crippled their resources, and at 
last made them unable to cope with the North. Their ports were 
closed by a blockade of the vessels of the Union, and they could not get supplies of 
food and clothing from Europe. \\ ant and hunger reigned supreme in every re- 
volted State, but the spirit of these brave Americans rose above their physical 
discomforts. 

Delicate ladies, who before the war had never attempted any sort of labor, 
worked like heroines to provide their families with clothing and food, for the men, 
their fathers, husbands and broth»rs, were with the army, fighting for the cause which 
they considered just. They fashioned shoes out of anything that could be made to 
answer for the i)urpose, and cut up curtains, carpets and bed-spreads for clothing, 
cheering the fainting spirits of their countrymen with tiie example of their heroism. 
In the North the spirit of patriotism, too, prevailed. Women did the work of men 
in the fields, shops and stores, and every moment of their spare time was devoted to 
making some useful article for the comfort of the sick and wounded soldiers. 

In Lee's army the pang's of hunger were felt, and his ragged heroes were often 
reduced to a crust of bread and a draught of water as a day's rations. Their enemies 
in politics, were nevertheless their warmest admirers when their loyalty to their cause 
was the subject discussed, and though war is cruel and wicked, when we remember 
the heroism of our two great armies of Americans, our hearts thrill with pardonable 
pride, for in a contest of these forces, neither was to be outdone by the other in 
bravery or self-sacrifice. At the beginning of the year 1864, the Soutii was nearly at 
the end of her resources, while the North had nearly a million of well-equipped men 
in the field. The jjaper monej- which the Confederacy of the South had issued, was 
^j^<^^, so nearly worthless, that a wagon-load of it would not, even in 

J^ ■ " ^-^ the most loyal States of the Confederacy, buy a wagon-load of 

w^-»,;^>« v^ potatoes. Grant, who was so reserved and quiet a man that he 

^^•JWPlii ^^"^^ earned the name of "The Silent Man," seems to have deter- 

mined that if it were possible, he would end this disastrous 
war. In May, 1S64, he faced Lee in Virginia, with about a hun- 
dred thousand men. 

Grant was one of the greatest generals of his time, lie 
seemed to understand, as if by instinct, what the enemy would 
do, and to make his plans accordingly. His career, while he 
was in the command of the Army of the West, inspired the 
country with confidence in him. He was not timid like McClel- 
an, nor rash like Hurnside. He believed in striking one hard 




JOS£PJ UOOEEB. 



AMERICA. 



839 




blow after another, and his character is well shown by a de- 
spatch he sent in regard to a campaign that at the time was 
thought by many a hopelesj undertaking: "We will fight it out 
on this line if it takes all summer." He was bold, yet cau- 
tious, firm, cool, reserved, and able to have all his plans 
executed, because he planned nothing impossible. Lee had 
only si.xty thousand men, but comprehending that the enemy ■. 
intended taking Richmond, he attacked Grant's army as soon fi^ 
as it crossed the Rapidan, and for eight daj's there was a ?^ 
continuous battle. Men arose in the morning, and went as 
calmly to the work of death as to any ordinary labor. 

Lee defended himself with wonderful skill, but as Grant 
would march one wing or the other of his army far around qborge g. MEiOK. 

behind those of his men who were engaged in fighting, and when this wing was 
out of sight of the Confederates, it would advance to one side or the other, and the 
Confederate army was obliged to fall back to check them, until it was finally driven 
back toward Richmond. This movement is called "out-flanking," and it was by his 
swift and skillful out-flanking that Grant succeeded at last, though with the loss of 
more than thirty thousand of his men, in driving Lee behind his defenses at Peters- 
burg. This place commanded the road to Richmond, and Lee had caused it to be 
very strongly fortified. It was about the middle of June before Grant's army arrived 
there and shut the Confederates in. Petersburg was twenty-two miles from Rich- 
mond, and the taking of that place meant the capture of the Confederate capital. 

In the North there was the most intense anxiety, and everywhere there was pity 
for the gallant army of the South shut up to be subdued by hunger. The Confed- 
erates could get no supplies, for Sherman had taken his army and was marching 
through the Confederate territory, burning and destroying their stores of provisions, 
and tearing up the railroads upon which the troops had been moved from place to 
Ijlace. This seems a very cruel measure, but war is cruel, and Sherman was really 
doing a kindness to the South by destroying further means of resistance to the 
North, and was thus aiding in bringing the bloody contest to a close. At the same 
time Sheridan was defeating the Confederates in the Valley of the Shenandoah. It 
was about this time Sheridan made the famous ride, with which 
every school-boy has been made familiar in the beautiful poem 
upon the subject. 

It was in September, 1864, that Sheridan attacked the Con- 
federate General Early, at Winchester, in Northern Virginia, and 
defeated him, driving his army down toward the southern end of 
the valley. Sheridan then burned all the barns filled with grain, ^g^ 
carried off all the stock he could find, to prevent the Confed- ^ 
erates from returning, and marched on toward the Potomac. 
Contrary to the expectation of Sheridan, Early followed him./ 

A part of Early's men, leaving behind them everything inl 
their equipment that would make a noise and betray them to the 
Federal troops, crept by a wide circuit around them, got behind 
them while they were asleep, and attacked them. At the same time the main body 
of Early's army attacked them in front, and all this while Sheridan was "twenty 
miles awav." This was the beginning of the battle of Cedar Creek, and the Federal 




KOBEBT E LEE. 



•840 



AMERICA. 




AMERICA. 



84 1 



troops, taken by surprise, were 
driven back for several miles, 
defeated and in a panic. Sher- 
idan heard the boom of the 
guns, and mounting his noble 
black horse, rode with all 
speed for the field. Upon the 
way he met many of the 
stragglers and Heeing troops, 
but rallied them, calling to 
them to come on and go back 
into the fight. They took 
heart, went back and fought 
so well that they won the day. 

All this time Grant's army 
was before Petersburg, the 
two lines so near one another 
that the Confederate and Fed- 
eral troops when engaged in 
procuring wood or other sup- 
plies iov their respective arm- 
ies, or off duty, sometimes met 
as individuals and exchanged 
little delicacies and chatted 
over the war. There was 
much more firing and many 
lives were lost, and all the 
time desertions from the Con- 
federate ranks further added 
to the desperate straits of the 
gallant Lee. In the spring of 
1865, after Lincoln, who had 
again been made President, 
was inaugurated, there was 
a general movement of the 
two armies. 

Sherman and .Sheridan were 
within call with their troops, sheridan's ride to Winchester. 

and Johnston, the Confederate general, was not far from Lee. Stonewall Jackson 
had lost his life some time before, and this Johnston was Joseph E., a brave and 
skillful officer, who was a veteran of the Mexican war March 29, 1S65, the attack 
was made which resulted in the fall of Petersburg. Lee saw that Richmond must be 
given up, and telegraphed to President Davis that such was the case. He thought 
that he might escape with his army, and joining Johnston continue the war, but 
Grant had provided against this very plan, by surrounding Lee on all sides with a 
line of troops. 

Lee began the march, but soon realizea, now hopeless the case of his army was, 
and surrendered to G?ant at Appomattox Court House, April q, 1865, and the war 




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AIMERICA. 




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FUILIP U. SHERIDAN. 

him 



was thus ended, for the other Confederate generals, one 
by one, were obliged to abandon their campaigns, and the 
cause of the Confederacy was lost. Davis abandoned it 
when he learned of the fall of Richmond. He only thought 
of himself and tried to escape by dressing himself in the 
clothes of his wife, and passing himself off as a woman. 
He was captured and imprisoned for sometime, but was 
finally set free, and lived to a peaceful old age. 

There were people in the North who looked upon Jeff- 
erson Davis as the head and front of the Confederacy, 
and who, when they thought of the oceans of blood that 
had been shed in the cruel war, and the millions of dollars 
wasted in the slaughter of human beings, could not forgive 
At first it was thought that only the death of the President of the late Confed- 
eracy could satisfy those bitter haters of the "lost cause," and had the government 
condemned him to death, there would have been nothing unusual in the act. In- 
deed, the fact that his life was spared was the most unusual thing in history, for 
in the Old World, every leader of an unsuccessful revolt against a government had 
lost his life, and those who engaged in it were invariably punished. 

The United States had set many noble examples to the Old World in the past, 
and it now set another. We could not forget that the people who fought against us 
were Americans, born and bred under our flag, and, as it were, reared at the hearth- 
stone of our own fair goddess of liberty We could not forget that they were the 
descendants of those who had battled for freedom from England, who had conquered 
the wilderness and the Indian, and we forgave them their errors for they had atoned 
for them in the blood ot the best and bravest of their land. 

The victor could afford to be generous, and the people of the .South were treated 
as one generous man would deal with another with whom he had a difference of 
opinion and had proven his side of the case with good arguments. There had been 
blood enough shed, we wanted no more, yet though the injuries on both sides were 
forgiven, it was long before they were forgotten. There was one great good that 
resulted from the war The people of the .South learned to know that those of the 
North were as brave and valiant as they, though they were only farmers, clerks and 
artisans, proud rather of the fact that they earned their living by honest toil, than 
that they inherited wealth from blue-blooded ancestors. They learned, too, that the 

sentiment of the nation was for a union one and indivisible. 
Slavery was done away in the struggle. 

It was a sad thing that Lincoln did not live to see the 
glorious result of peace as did Grant, Sheridan and Sherman. 
There were those in the North who were bitterly disappointed 
over the defeat of the South, and among those were a few 
desperate characters who desired revenge. They hated Pres- 
ident Lincoln and his advisers, and plotted against them. Lin- 
coln and his Secretary of State were the chief objects of the 
wrath of the conspirators, and they decided that they should 
die. I would not have you think for a. moment that these few 
desperate people^ were supported by the sympathy of the 
Southern people in their cowardly pla'n, for this was not the 




wtt,1.ia;i t. sitfrxax. 



AMERICA. 



843 



case. An actor by the name of J. Wilkes Booth was at the head of the plot, and it was 
he who shot President Lincoln, in Ford's theater, Washington, on the night of the 
14th of April, 1S65, and caused Secretary Seward to be stabbed almost to death as 



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844 



AMERICA. 



he lay ill in his bed. Mr. Lincoln lingered but a few hours, but Seward recovered. 
The murderer fled, but he was followed and was killed in the attempt to capture 
him. 

There was deep grief all over the land when the news of the murder of the 
President became known, and there were threats made against the Confederate 
ex- President Davis, who was even thought by some people to have been concerned 
in the plot, but as he had nothing whatever to do with it, and the people of the 
South expressed horror and indignation, in time the feeling cooled down, and the 




THE C.\FTUKK OF H0OTH 

people who loved the dead President were able to reason calmly. Lincoln was 
one of the greatest of America's citizens, and his justice, eloquence, and goodness 
have won for him a place in the undying regard of his countrymen. 

Like W ashington he guided us through the dark days of a disastrous war, and he 
never despaired of the triumph of right. Me had a sympathy with the poor and 
lowly, for he himself was born and nourished in poverty. He hated oppression, but 
was able to understand the reasons that had led the South to esteem their cause a 
just one, and never showed that personal hatred to those who were of different views 



AMERICA. 



845 




GEORGE H. THOMAS. 



in politics, that too often caused trouble in thos^e days. He 
is regarded as a martyr to the cause he represented, and as 
such all the world honors his memory, as all the world 
respected his character. 

The slaves were now free, and they were given a right 
to vote by an amendment to the Constitution, and the States 
that had withdrawn from the Union were permitted to 
come back again, when they had allowed the negroes the 
right to vote as provided by the new amendment, but until 
they did so, their representatives were not allowed in Con- 
gress. The man who became President when Lincoln was 
murdered was named Andrew Johnson, and he was the Vice 
President of the United .States, but was permitted by the 
laws to be President for the length of time that Lincoln's term would have lasted 
had he lived. 

Johnson was in sympathy with the South, and he was determ.ned to oppose the 
working of the Congress in the matter of allowing the representation of the Confed- 
erate States in Congress, for he held that they had all the privileges that they had 
before the Rebellion, and Congress could not impose any laws upon them. As the 
power of Congress to make laws binding upon all of the States had been one of the 
issues of the war, the Congress was not disposed to yield a point which the country 
had suffered so much to maintain, and Johnson and the Congress quarreled bitterly 
At one time it seemed likely that Johnson would be compelled to give up his office 
as President, but he was allowed to serve to the end of his term. He is not honored 
as are the other President's of the United States, although he may have been con- 
scientious in what he did. 

The South was in a desperate condition at 
the close of the war. The cities were in ruins 
from the sieg-es and battles, property had been 
destroyed or lost, the commerce of that section 
of the country totally annihilated, and worse 
than all, the gallant sons of the South lay buried 
in soldiers' graves, and the land was full of 
widows and orphans. The freed blacks were 
like young children turned out into the world to 
make a living for themselves. They did not 
know what use to make of their freedom, and the 
government was obliged to care for them, edu- 
cate them, and provide them with homes as if 
they had indeed been children. The blacks 
deserved that the government should treat them 
liberally, for they had behaved well during the 
war. Black soldiers fought side by side with 
the white, and the slave-holders who had gone 
to the war were obliged to leave their wives and 
children to the care of the black slaves. The 
slaves acted nobly by their masters and the 
women and children left to their charge, work- 
ing to provide them with food, protecting them william h. seward 




846 



AMERICA. 




REVIEW OF UNION ARMIES AT WASHINGTON, AT THE CLOSE OF THE CIVIL WAR. 



AMERICA. 



8-1; 




JAS. BUCIIAN'AN. 



with loyalty and devotion, and when they could, concealing prop- 
erty that the soldiers of the Union might not take it. They had 
been faithful, and that balanced all their short-comings. The gov- 
ernment dealt justly with them, and they have become in a remark- 
ably short space of time, considering the centuries of ignorance 
above which they have risen, a class of self-respecting, self-support^ 
ing citizens. 

The recovery of the South from the miseries of the war, was of 
course very slow, but it is now again prosperous and wealthy. 1 here 
are many of the soldiers who fought in the cause of the Confeder- 
acy, who now rejoice that they did not succeed, for had they done so, there is no 
doubt that the South would have been less prosperous and happy than it is to- 
day. There would have been a line of forts along its northern frontier, and it 
would have been obliged to keep up a largr 
standing army, and to do this, the country wastf-d 
as it was with war, would have been heavily taxed 
and its energies crippled. It was demonstratt^tl 
again by the war that but one great nation was 
to rule in the half of America lying between 
the Great Lakes and the Gulf, and there arc 
those who believe that the day will come when 
all the North American Continent will be one 
vast republic, but I am sure that I would not 
venture to say that they are right. 

I must tell you that England played a ver\ 
despicable part in our civil war, and one that 
revived the hatred to her that was beginning to 
die out in this country. I have told you that it 
had long been the boast of England that no slave 
could be held in her territory, but she neverthe- 
less interfered in favor of the South, for the pur- 
pose of weakening our nation, whose power she 
viewed with envy. Perhaps England may have 
thought that by helping the South she could gain 
an advantage in the matter of territory, but I 

believe that had the .South been successful Ens;- ^„,„,t-= ct^vi-p 

land would have been disappointed, Cor both North and South would have united, as 
in the past, to fight her. 

Nevertheless, at one time England had actually a force under arms to invade the 
United States by way of Canada, the excuse being that she had been 
"insulted" by the United States. This "insult" came about in this 
way: A United States ship stopped an English vessel upon the ocean 
and took from it a Confederate commissioner who was going to 
Europe to gain supplies for the Confederacy. England asked no 
explanation from the United States, but began to prepare for war. 
The government apologized for the act, and placed the Confederate 
commissioner again on board and allowed him to proceed upon his 
way, and England had then no excuse for war, and could not make it ani.rfw johnson. 




n'l'i! lii'fT. ii'!i 




848 



AMERICA. 




/^^t^ 



without violating the laws of nations, in which she would 
have had no su])port from the other European powers, 
and would, perhaps, have fallen into difficulties with them 
on account of it, therefore she abandoned the plan of 
in\asion. 

England built ships for the use of the Confederates 

that preyed upon American commerce in the Eastern At- 

lantic. One of these English ships, called the Alabama, 

Ijtook sixty-seven merchant and whaling vessels belonging 

) to the United States, but was finally sunk in the English 

Channel by the United States ship of war Kearsarge. 

The Erench government, which was at the time controlled 

|by Napoleon III., was also in sympathj' with the South, 

and several fast-sailing cruisers were built at Erench 

ports for the use of the Confederacy, but the influence of 

the American Minister at Paris was sufficient to prevent 

the vessels from being launched. 

\\ hen the war was over, the United States concluded 
that since England had taken a hand in the game of war, 
it was no more- than right that she should ])ay her share of the expcnsesof tlie same, 
and matle claims upon th.e English for the vessels that they had taken, and the dam- 
age done to American commerce. The English were not disposed to settle these 
claims, and as the United States was firm, it looked for a time as though we would 
have another war with the British. Secretly, I think, neither the United States nor 
England were very eager to engage in another conflict, and when arbitrators were 
appointed to settle their dispute, it was agreed that England should pay fifteen 

million five hundred thousand dollars to America, 
and this has since made Engjand very cautious 
how she mixes in affairs that do not directly 
concern her. 

Itis wonderful ho v soon the North recovered 
from the effects of the war. There was some dis- 
tress, of course, on account of the high prices 
asked for every sort of manufactured goods, but 
as there were fewer men left to engage in 
manufacture, wages soon rose to a prosperous 
MLTiire, and continued so. The far Northwest 
! iipidly settled, railways were built and commerce 
revived. Now there is no country in the world 
more prosperous than our own. ami this fact has 
caused a tide of immigration that has been truly 
wonderful to How to our shores. So many people 
sought peaceful employment and homes in 
our land, that our law-makers were obliged to 
restrict immigration somewhat, and thus protect 
those already in the country. 

These foreign immigrants settled in the 

Northern States, and began to develop the ag- 

.^D.MiK.M. KARRAGUT. rlcultural resources of the country to a remark- 




AMERICA. 



S49 



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able degree, and cities have grown up and become great upon the commerce thus 
stimulated. Our ships now cover the ocean, and our navy is one of the best afloat. 
Our army is small, and that is an advantage we derive from having no foe at our 



S^o 



AMERICA. 




HORACE GREELEY 




RALl'll WALDO KMl:RbON. 



doors. In fact our army, officers and men, all' 
told, is so small that it is not sufficient to cover 
one of our frontiers, but it is well known that in 
time of war, every American citizen becomes a 
soldier, ready to fight with skill and intelligence 
against the common eneni}-, and in this our coun- 
try has a defense stronger than forts and cannons. 

We have great cause to be proud of our 
country, and patriotism is so deeply rooted in 
the hearts of the people that whatever the faults 
of our law-makers, we are sure that the nation 
will triumph over every difficulty and danger. 
Our Republic is one of intelligence, education 
and religion, as well as of imlitics, and in this 
is different from any government upon the earth. 
Ever)- man is absolutely free, and all the laws are 
made for the purpose of ensuring the freedom 
of the individual and the development of tiie 
nation. That is the reason thr.t in the hundred 
years or more since we have been established 
tirmly as a people, we have grown to such a 
height of power, a height never reached by im- 
perial Rome, for in reading her story you noticed, 
perhaps, that Roman civilization, great as it was, 
supported privileged classes and clung to old 
traditions. Every boy and girl, every man and 
woman, should cherish patriotism as a dear pos- 
session, and defend from all aspersions the dear 
flag that is the emblem of our liberty. That lib- 
erty is rooted deep in justice, and it is this whicli 
ensures oiir progress. 

In our own country to-day, we have facil- 
ities for education unrivaled by the famous 
universities of the Old World, and in the arts 
that make man truly free, those which liberate 
him from hard and slavish drudgery, America 
leads the world. American inventors lead all 
others. It was an American that discovered the 
practical application of electricity, an .American 
who invented the first steamboat, the first thresh- 
ing machine, the first sewing machine, the first 
telegraph, and the first telephone. It was an 
American who connected the Old World with 
the heart-beats of the New by the Atlantic 
cable, and an American by adoption, but born in 
the land of the Northmen, who invented the tur- 
ret ship, a vessel unknown until the days of the 
civil war. I could name a long list of Americans 



AMERICA. 




custer's last fight. 
who have thus lightened the burdens of mankind by useful labor-saving inventions^ 
but their names are household words in the land, and it is needless. 



852 



AMERICA. 




W.M. LLDVU liARKlbON. 



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I'ROI'. SAMCEL MORSE. 



In the. fine arts there have been, and are to- 
day, great names of Americans. In sculpture, 
there is Powers and Story; in the illustration of 
books and newspapers there are many celebrated 
the world over, who have done a great work for 
art and for the people, by taking into the homes 
of the land the spirit of artistic appreciation. 
In music and poetry we have a few of whom we 
can be proud, and upon the stage we have 
many great American actors. In literature our 
country has had a remarkable development, 
and one which has contributed much to the in- 
tellectual improvement of our people. Our 
Washington Irving is honored the world over, 
and Bryant, Longfellow, Emerson, Whittier, 
Holmes, Cooper; Bancroft, Lossing, and scores 
of other poets, historians, philosophers, novelists, 
and essayists, stand the peers of the world's 
great, and an index of the intellectual wealth ot 
this favored land. 

There have been trials, it is true, during the 
last thirty years, but those trials soon passed away 
and were forgotten, and we recall them only as 
a warning for the future. We have never treated 
the Indians fairly, as a nation, and the brave, 
spirited, implacable and untamable people, un- 
speakably degraded as they are in many cases 
by contact with the vices of civilization, and 
through the influences that have reduced the;n 
to a mere handful, have again and again revol- 
ted and massacred the whites nearest them. 
These uprisings have always been put down, and 
in one of them about eleven years after the Re- 
bellion, General Custer, an officer who served 
with honor in the Ci\il War, was surrounded 
and perished with all the men under his com- 
mand, at the hands of the enraged Siou.x under 
Sitting Bull. This brave, cruel old chief himself 
was killed a few years ago in resisting arrest, 
and the formidable power of the tribe that had 
given the most trouble to the government 
ot late years is broken. 

The flocking of people to the cities where 
they have engaged largely in manufacture, has 
caused a strong feeling to grow up among the 
laborers concerning their rights as wealth pro- 
ducers, and as opposed to the rights of the cap- 
italists who employ them. At times there has 



AMERICA. 



S53 



been much dissatisfaction among these inteUigent and skilled laborers, but it has 
ually been removed by the employers when the points of difference have been 



us 



H 
X 
PI 

a 
PI 

> 



O 



H 

S 
O 

a 
d 
r 




thoroughly understood upon both sides. Among the more unskilled and less in- 
tellio-ent laborers, there have been times when the conditions gave serious alarm, 



854 



AMERICA. 




for designing and turbulent men, many of them 
born and brought up in foreign countries, have 
undertaken, for ends of their own, to maVce 
these laborers believe that they are deliberately 
jjressed bj' the rich. 

These demagogues have attempted to ex- 
cite the laboring classes to throw off all authority, 
and secure their rights, never stopping to con- 
sider that in America the ballot of the laborer 
is as mighty as that of the wealthiest man in the 
country, and that they have a remedy for every 
evil in an intelligent exercise of the rights of 
American citizens. These mischievous agita- 
tors succeeded in bringing about a bloody riot 
I in the city of Chicago in the year i8S6, but 
the ring-leaders were so severely punished that 
5 it put a stop for a time to "anarchist demonstra- 
i tions," as those favorable to the abolishing of law 
1 and order are called. 

I have not attempted in this narrative to 
give you the account of the doings of every 
i President of the United States, and the events 
* of the various administrations, neither have I 
WASHINGTON iKviNc;. dcscrlbed the characters of the i)ersons who 

at various times have presided o\cr the destinies of the nation, but there is one 
President in these later days since the war, whom I wish you all to remember, and 
whose virtues it would be wise to imitate. His name was James A. Garfield, and 
he was born in a humble cottage in the State of Ohio. When Garfield was a boy, 
he had not the advantages of a pleasant home, refined surroundings, careful educa- 
tion and indulgent friends, but he had what was vastly better, an earnest desire for 
knowledge, a loyal soul that scorned a small or mean act, and a pure heart, whose 
aim was to do something worthy in the world. 

He began his work to gain a living by driving mules on a tow-path, in Ohio. 
You must know that canal boats were then, and usually now, propelled by means 
of ropes fastened to mules or horses who walked along a path by the edge of 
the canal, and dragged the laden or empty vessel. The driving of mules on a 
tow-path was not a very inspiring occupation, you may be sure, and no doubt 
James A. Garfield was often weary of it, and longed to achieve something pleasant. 
He did not content himself with merely longing. He studied and plodded along, 
and in course of time, bj' one means and another, gained an educa- 
tion. During the war he became renowned as an orator and patriot 
and general. His abilities were thought so highly of by the people 
It they elected him President of the United States. You will see how 
arly his career resembles that of Lincoln, and alas, his death, too, 
>wis like that of the martyr President. He was shot by a disappointed 
office-seeker, and after lingering for eleven weeks in the most dreadful 
agony, borne with the utmost heroism, he died. 
jAiviEs A. oAKiiiiLD. ^ f^' muv all leamthe present condition of our country by reading 




CANADA. 855 

the newspapers, which relate current history, and I hope what 1 have told you of 
the story of our nation may inspire you with a deeper love and reverence for the 
American name and character, and a desire to cherish those institutions that have 
cost so dearly in blood and treasure. You are the future nation-makers, and to you 
are entrusted those great interests of the Republic. Gain wisdom, then against the 
time when you shall play your part in history, and when the time comes, let self-rev- 
erence, self-knowledge, and self-ct>ntrol, blend with patriotism and honor, justice and 
loyalty, to make you ideal citizens of an ideal republic. 



^J. 



cr-^si(s 



^•CANADA.i^- 

•^ UST north of the United States, stretches a vast extent of land to which I 
vl(fefCtn^ have often referred in this .Story of the World. This territory now belongs 
^jWi, to Great Britain, but it was once the property of France, and the discov- 
S;"k-MWr>»* eries and explorations were made there by the French. This foreign 
possession of Great Britain is larger than any other colonial possession in 
^'^ the world, and in its wealth is a,lmost as varied as the United States. We 
call this country British America, and it consists of a stretch of land, four times as 
large as India, and nearl}- as large as the whole of Europe. It is half a million 
square miles larger than the United States, and like our own country, is surrounded 
on every side but one with the waters of the oceans. Unlike the United States, 
however, it has few good harbors, and this fact and others of which you may learn 
in reading this narrative, have kept it behind our own country in settlement and 
progress, for in spite of the fact that it is so much larger than the United States, it 
has only one-fourth as many people within its borders. A large part of this territory 
is in the cold Arctic regions, where the summer is very short, and the winter so long 
and cold that few men or animals can live there the whole year through. There 
are about four million people in the two divisions of British America, Canada, and 
British Columbia, and many of these are Indians, who live now much as they did 
when the country was discovered by Europeans, though they have the weapons and 
implements of civilized men, for the hunting and fishing which are their sole pursuits. 
These Indians kill the fur-bearing animals, such as the beaver, fox and marten, 
and supply the fur to a large number of British traders, who give them in exchange 
for the few necessities of life which they desire. 

The history of Canada and that country is about all of British America which 
has what may really be called a history, is said to begin with the early adventures of 
the early Spanish discoverers, who in the course of their many voyages to the New 
World in the search for gold, are said to have penetrated to the shores of the St. 
Lawrence river. The cold winters of the northern land daunted the hardy Spaniards, 
and as they found no gold in the country, they did not remain, and made no attempt 
at settlement The Cabots first discovered Canada, according to the accounts given 
by the English historians, but we must not forget that they were not the first Euro- 
peans to set foot upon her shores or upon the shore of the more southern land, for 
gallant Norsemen, long before, knew of the forests of Canada, and cut timber there, 
as we have already learned. At all events, the Cabots claimed the honor of the dis. 
covery, and as for centuries the story of the Norsemen was unknown, we, too, will 
allow that through the Cabots the English claimed all of the North American Conti- 
nent as justly, perhaps, as the Spaniards claimed the South American country, and as 



856 CANADA. 

justly as any nation can lay claim to a country by what is known as "the right of 
discovery." 

In the year 1524, when Spain had grown great by her discoveries and acquisitions 
in the New World, Francis I., of France, one day declared that he would like to 
see title deed of the will left by Adam, the common father of the race, granting to 
the monarchs of Spain and Portugal all the rights to the land in the Western Conti- 
nent. As there was no such will to be produced, Francis, who never loved Spain 
very well, determined to aggravate his Spanish enemies, and at the same time, if 
possible, make some conquests of territory for himself. He employed a Florentine 
by the name of Verazzani, to make a voyage for that purpose, and the bold seaman 
coasted along the eastern shores of the American Continent in his four ships, but to 
the great disappointment of the French king, he did not return laden with gold, 
pearls, and precious stones, and for ten years the French made no more voyages to 
the New World. 

It was in the year 1534, that Jacques Cartier, who had been in America upon the 
shores of Newfoundland, engaged in those lisheries which even then kept about fifty 
ships of England, Spain, France and Portugal busy carrying the products of their 
labor across the Atlantic, was selected by the French king to command two vessels 
which were to be sent in search of that Northwest passage whose e.xistence is still a 
secret, in spite of all the efforts that have been made for its discovery. Cartit'r was 
a bold seaman. He made a swift an<.l pleasant voyage across the ocean, and in .May 
arrived at Newfoundland, where he remained for more than a week, gathering what 
information he could of the land and water to the north. If you look upon your 
map of Canada, you will see that the Strait of Belle Isle separates Newfoundland 
from the mainland of Canada, and north of the Strait the outline of the coast is that 
of a witch-like face, over whose forehead projects a fantastic wimple or hood. 

The point of this hood-shaped outline is now called Cape Gaspe, and it was there 
that Cartier first landed upon the coast of Canada, and there within sight of the 
stormy ocean he reared a cross, upon which were carved the lilies of France, in token 
that he took possession of the land for Christendom in general, and the French crown 
in particular. This does not seem a very great voyage, or a remarkable undertaking, 
but Cartier did nothing else upon his first voyage except to make friends with the 
Indians, and when he had done so, he stole two of them away and carried them over 
to France. Francis received the navigator with a hearty welcome, and gave him 
three vessels with which he was to return, explore the Gulf of St. Lawrence, estab- 
lish settlements if he could, and make friends with the natives. 

Above all, Francis told him to be sure and gather plenty of gold, to bring back 
to France, and with these various instructions, Cartier again came across the ocean. 
It happened that Cartier, in the course of his explorations of the Gulf to the north 
of Newfoundland, discovered upon the feast day of St. Lawrence a broad and majestic 
stream flowing into the ocean, and which he at first mistook for the Northwest pas- 
sage. When he discovered that it was a river, he named it the St. Lawrence, in 
honor of the day of its discovery, and as such the river and its Gulf are still 
known. 

It was in the full splendor of the short and beautiful northern summer that the 
F"rench sailed up the majestic reaches of the noble river, and gazed for the first time 
upon the charming scenery to view, which is worth even such a dangerous and tedi- 
ous voyageas that which they had undertaken when they set sail for the New World. 



CANADA. 



857 



On the way, the ships passed an island which was covered so thickly with grape vines, 
that they named it the Isle of Bacchus, in honor of the Greek God of Wine, but it 
is now known as the Isle of Orleans. Still sailing onward, the French came to a large 
Indian village upon the shores of the river, and at the sight of the winged canoes of 
the white strangers, the Indians tied to the woods. 

They may perhaps have heard that on the island of Newfoundland there were 
men with white faces who sailed about upon the waters in these winged vessels, but 
they had never seen them, and thought that they were visitants from the unseen 
world, and that it might be prudent to keep out of the way until they learned whether 
they were good or evil spirits. They had, no doubt, heard of the raising of the cross 
at Gaspe, too, but could not imagine what business the white-faced people could have 
with them. The two Indians that Cartier had stolen from Gaspe, were able to speak 
French passably by this time, and they acted as interpreters. Going in search of the 
Indians, they persuaded them to approach the vessels of the French in twelve canoes. 
The chief of the tribe came alone to the vessel in his canoe, causing the others to 




INDIAN VILLAGE. 

remain some distance, and standing up in his little craft made a long speech, to which 
Cartier replied through the interpreters, telling the Indians that he came with peaceful 
intentions, and would not harm them. The Indians were rejoiced at this, and showed 
every sign of friendship to the Frenchmen. They brought corn, venison, and other 
things to the Frenchmen, and told them all they knew of the country beyond and the 
tribes who dwelt there. 

This Indian village was built near a place which was called Quebec in the Indian 
tongue, and that is to-day the name of one of the most interesting cities of Canada, 
and was the site of the first French fort in the New World. Learning that there was 
a very large Indian village farther on, Cartier and his ships proceeded on their way, 
firing by way of parting salute to their Indian friends, twelve of their cannon, at 



858 CANADA. 

which token of friendship the Indians were so frightened that they all ran away and 
hid themselves from the terrible strangers who carried thunder and lightning about 
with them upon winged canoes. It was an enchanting voyage up that beautiful river, 
and Carticr, as he looked upon the verdant banks on either side, the ever-varying 
landscape, the mysterious forests from whose depths in the still moonlit nights the 
cry of the whippoor-will and the hoot of the owl were heard, and where in the long 
summer days the .songs of strange birds greeted his ears, he no doubt thought that 
he had discovered a land as rich as that from which Spain had drawn such stores of 
treasure, and no doubt he and his crew had many bright visions of the wealth they 
should carry home to France, and the honors with which they should be greeted. 

It was in the month of October that Cartier came in sight of the Indian town. 
It was indeed a large village, and stoutly fortified by a tall stockade. It was in the 
evening when they Hrst caugh'. sight of the town, and they anchored in mid-stream 
until morning, when the chief men of the town came out of the village and received 
the strangers with every mark of respect, and took them to their great council lodge 
in the center of the place, where they brought to them the "lame, the halt, and the 
blind," thinking that the Frenchmen were miraculous creatures, who had only to say 
the word, and the universe would obey. Cartier was willing enough that the Indians 
should show this reverence to him and his men. and he went through a variety of 
ceremonies calculated to still further impress them with the idea. This village was 
built at the foot of a mountain, ami when the French adventurers had climbed to its 
summit and from thence viewed the landscape, they were charmed with the beauty 
of the scene that lay before them, and impressed with the natural' advantages of the 
place as a jjoint for a fort. This mountain the French called Mount Royal, and in 
after days it was known as Montreal. 

Cartier remained long enough at this Indian town to learn something of the 
nature of the country beyond. The Indians tokl him that the river ran through 
several great bodies of fresh w^ter, and the largest of these was far away and as vast 
as the ocean to the east. They said, too, that beyond this great water was another 
large river, the Mississippi, which flowed through a land to the south, where the sun 
shone bright, the trees were green, and there was little cold winter weather. Cartier 
tried to learn whether there was any gold in the country, but found that the Indians 
knew little of the use of metals. Like the Indians to the south, their implements 
were made of stone and copper, and they told the French where they found tiie 
copper, but they knew nothing of gold. 

The trees had begun to drop their foliage, and the shortening of the days and 
tlie increasing cold warned the Frenchmen that they ought to return to the coast, or 
at least to some point nearer the coast than this far-away town. They therefore took 
their leave, and went back to the first Indian town that they had visited, where 
they found that the kindly chief had provided such a large store of food for their 
use that they concluded to take their ships into a little stream flowing into the St. 
Lawrence near Quebec, and spend the winter near their Indian friends. They had 
no idea of the intense cold in that latitude, and their clothing was not warm enough 
nor their food abundant enough to enable them to withstand it. They suffered much 
and disease made sad havoc in their numbers. When the spring came, Cartier and 
those of his men who were still alive, sailed into the St. Lawrence, voyaged down to 
the Gulf and returned to France, but they carried no gold with them. I am sorry to 
tell you that Cartier stole away from his people the friendly Algonquin chieftain, who 



CANADA. 



859 



had done so much for him and his men, and ten other Indian chiefs and warriors, 
who died on the voyage or after the landing in France. 

The French did nothing more for four years towards colonizing the Valley of 
the St. Lawrence, but they did not forget what Cartier had told them about the 
beauty and fertility of the country, and finally a wealthy French gentleman by the 
name of Roberval, received permission to settle in the New World, and was made 
Governor of a colony that he was to establish there. He did not at first go to Canada, 
but sent Cartier. When the I?!^>^^^^'"r 
French anchored in the St. 
Lawrence again, very near 
where they had passed the 
winter four years before, 
they were received with 
very different feelings by 
the Indians. 

When the savages learned 
that their comrades, who 
had been carried oft by the 
French, had died far auay 
from their homes and kin- 
dred, they would have 
nothing more to do with the 
cruel white strangers, and 
even showed signs that they 
were only waiting for their 
chance to attack them. Car ax indian war dance. 

tier saw that it was not safe to remain near such a large body of hostile natives with- 
out any protection but that ot his ships, and going a little way up the river, he laid up 
his vessels, sent the others back to France for supplies, and set to work to build a 
fort where Quebec now stands. All winter he and his comrades made their head- 
quarters at the new fort, and spent their time in exploring the surrounding country, 
in the hope of finding gold. They did find a few small diamonds at a place near 
Montreal, which, in honor of the find, was called Cape Diamond, and bears the name 
to this day, and they found also a few pebbles veined with an ore \yhich they thought 
was gold. 

The winter was very cold, and the French suffered many hardships. They heard 
nothing of the ships they had sent back to France, and when spring came they were 
almost out of supplies of every kind, and so disgusted with Canada that they were 
eager to go back to their own country, choosing poverty and misfortune among their 
own kind, rather than to suffer in the wilderness far from civilization. On the way 
they stopped at Newfoundland, and there they met Roberval with a large company 
of settlers. He wanted them to return, and to avoid a quarrel with him, Cartier 
quietly lifted anchor and sailed away as fast as he could in the night, and was far out 
to sea before his absence was discovered. Cartier died soon after this unlucky voy- 
age, and he died in poverty, for like many another gallant navigator before and 
afterward, he lost everything in his search for the gold of the New World. 

Roberval fared little better. He sailed up the St. Lawrence until he came to the 
fort that had been built and abandoned by Cartier, and there he remained during the 




86o 



CANADA. 



winter. The next spring (1636) he sailed back to France leaving thirty men behind 
to hold the place. He intended returning at once, but it was six years before he. was 
able to go back to Canada, for Francis was at war with Charles V., and kept Roberval 



/ -J. 



I : 



/., 






AN INDIAN CONJURER. 

at home to aid him. Then he and his brother with a gallant company set sail from 
France, but they were never heard of more, and it is thought that their ships were 
swallowed up by the angry waters, and all on board perished. 



CANADA. S6i 

Tlie French had discovered in these voyages to Canada, that although there was 
little probability of rinding gold, there was a rich commerce with the Indians in furs 
that was awaiting their pleasure, and as furs at the time were rare and costly, there 
were fortunes to be made in such a commerce. The I^'rench king was so thoroughly 
disgusted with the misfortunes that had followed all of his ventures to colonize 
Canada, that he was not inclined to spend any more money for that purpose. 

A company of convicts had been sent out after the Robervals were lost, and left 
on Sable Island, while their commander went back to France for supplies. He fell 
sick and died soon after his return, and the poor fellows that he had left in the New 
World, forty in number, were forgotten by their countrymen, and suffered the most 
tlreadful hardships. Many of them died of starvation, and when the French govern- 
ment finally remembered them and sent a ship out to find what had become of them, 
twelve years afterward, twenty-eight of them had died of their sufferings and the 
others were taken back to France, where, I am happy to tell you, the king provided 
for them so handsomely that they never again felt the pinch of poverty. Another 
attempt had ended disastrously, then the trial of the scheme of colonizing Canada 
was given over by the government, and was taken up by private individuals, who 
organized a company to explore and settle the country and establish a fur trade with 
the Indians. 

There was in France at this time an adventurous man by the name of Samuel 
Champlain, who had just returned from the West Indies, and it was he who was the 
founder of the first successful settlement of the French in the New World, the year 
after the settlement was made by the English at Jamestown. Quebec was the place 
chosen, for it w-as naturally very strong and capable of being fortified so that it should 
be still stronger. Champlain caused comfortable wooden houses to be built for his 
colonists, and they did not suffer during the winter as the other French had done, 
and even enjoyed the winter sports with which they passed the time. It was Cham- 
plain, too, who planted the first wheat crop in Canada, and perhaps the first that was 
grown on the Continent, for we are not told that the settlers at Jamestown at tliat 
time planted wheat. The Indians around Quebec were of the Algonquin nation, and 
they were at the time engaged in war with the Five Nations of the Iroquois League 
about the Great Lakes, and they made friends with the French to secure their aid 
against their enemies. 

It was in the spring of the year, 1609, that Champlain went out with the Algon- 
quins to fight for them against the Five Nations. He traveled with the Indians 
through the woods, then embarked upon the St. Lawrence, until he came to the 
Rrcheiieu, now called the Sorel, which he and his soldiers and the Indians sailed 
southward on until they had passed through Lake St. Peter, and to the rapids beyond. 
The way all the time grew more difficult and dangerous, and his companions mur- 
mured so much that he gave them permission to return if they would. Only two of 
the white men remained with Champlain and the Algonquins, and they proceeded 
upon their journey toward the Iroquois country, floating down the river until they 
came to a beautiful lake, which to this day bears the name Lake Champlain, in honor 
of the brave discoverer. The Iroquois had no firearms, and when the Algonquins 
came upon them in their stockaded forts, they were defeated, and the Algonquins 
and Champlain returned in triuiriph. Thus the French first taught the Indians the 
use of firearms, and they, like all the other Europeans who settled in the New World, 
were long made to suffer for this sad mistake of Champlain's. and the French often 



862 



CANADA. 



had reason to regret that they had ever aided in the war against the brave and fierce 
Iroquois, for in so doing they made enemies who devastated their country, killed 
their friends by the score, and long made all their efforts at civilization in Canada 
dangerous. 




=r<^.- 



TRIBAL COUNCIL. 

I nave several times in the course of the story of America had occasion to speak 
of the various Indian tribes that lived in our country in the early days, and though I 
have told you something of the Indians in general, I have told you nothing in par- 



CANADA. 86 



o 



ticular of those tribes against which the early colonists both from France and England 
had to struggle when they first came to this country. You must know that the Indians 
of the Atlantic Coast were very different in every way from those of the Southern 
and Southwestern part of the Continent. It is said that the tribes upon the Northern 
Pacific Coast of America were the lowest savages in America. They lived in the 
rudest and filthiest manner, and had the least knowledge of the arts of civilization. 
They made no pottery, knew nothing of tilling the soil and raising Indian corn, but 
lived upon roots, herbs and those animals that they could kill with their rude stone 
implements. 

Between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Coast, when white men first came 
to America, were six or seven large nations or communities of tribes. Three of these 
were east of the Mississippi river, and the others were west of it. The Dakota 
Nation was the most powerful of the Western Indians, and among them were the 
fierce Sioux, Omahas, lowas and others, while the Winnebagos, who also belonged 
to the Dakotas, were east of the Mississippi, around the borders of Lake Michigan. 

On the upper waters of the Missouri were the Mandans, who are thought by 
some people to be the descendants of those races that built the great mounds that 
have been found in different parts of North America, and whose nature has never 
been really discovered The Mandans built strange, round houses, plastered over 
with clay, and their arts were said to be more perfect than those of any Indians north 
of New Mexico. With these people, as well as with tlie .Sioux and the other Dakota 
Nations, the very early settlers were not brought into contact, for they lived far to 
the westward, and were separated from them by the mountains, but with the Eastern 
tribes they had much to do. 

The Muskogee Nation was east of the Mississippi river, and among them were 
the fierce Creeks of Alabama and Tennessee, that caused so much trouble to the 
United States during the second war with England, the brave Seminoles of Florida, 
the Choctaws and the Chickasaws, too, were Muskogees, but these were not at 
first troublesome. The people with whom the French and English in the Northern 
Colonies were neighbors, were the Five Nations of the Iroquois upon the borders of 
the Great Lakes, and the Algonquin tribes, who were very numerous and powerful 
but not so fierce and brave as the Iroquois. The Adirondacks were Algonquin, and 
it was the Adirondacks that Cartier found on the site of the place which he after- 
ward named Montreal. 

The Iroquois and the Algonquins had long been bitter enemies, and were strug- 
gling for the possession of the St. Lawrence Valley, when the F"rench came to dispute 
with them both for it. They were at first only three small tribes, these conquering 
Iroquois, but they settled in the State of New York, and there grew in numbers until 
two more tribes were formed from the parent stock, and the Three Nations became 
the Five Nations. It is said that at first there was no union between these tribes, and 
though they were friendly to one another, as brothers of the same nation should be, 
they fought their own wars, each tribe for itself, and did not share their defeats or 
victories with the others. 

Then, it is said, sometime early in the fifteenth century, Hiawatha, the wise man 
of the Iroquois, or perhaps a spirit of their legends, whispered into the ears of one 
of the great chieftains of the people that it would be vviee for them to join, conquer 
their enemies, and become the rulers of the hunting grounds of the East. They 
heeded the counsel of Hiawatha, united, and began their career of conquest. They 



864 



CANADA. 



did not, like the Roman conquerors of carl.v Europe, make the conquered people a 
part of their own nation, but they made them paj- tribute and keep within the bounds 
they set for them. They first turned their arms against the Algonquins, killed off 
some tribes, and drove the others out. The other Indians called them Mohawks, 
and when one of the dreaded Iroquois appeared, they did not usually stand to fight 
against him, but ran for their lives to warn their comrades to hide themselves. The 
Iroquois did not call themselves Mohawks, but "Caniengas," and the name Mohawk 
in the Algonquin tongue meant "Man-eater." The Iroquois were truly cannibals, 
though of course they did not depend upon the prisoners they took in war for their 
supply of mt ' 




%%fi:^i^ 







"■"^iUk 



The)' lived in queer houses, some 
times seventy or eighty feet long, 
formed of strong poles set in the 
ground at intervals, and others tied 
lo them with willow withes at the 
sii](\s and top, both inside and out, 
making a strong frame-work. These 
(Iwillings were covereil tightly with 
rlm-bark, and shingles of the same 
were laid on the roof. There was a 
door-way at each end of this long 
ilwelling, and in front of these door- 
wavs. upon the inside, skins of wild 
animals were hung to keep out the 
wind and the cold. 

There were no windows, but 
there were partitions down each side 
of the house, something like stalls in 
a barn, for each partition opened 
iq)on a long passageway the whole 
length of the dwelling, and these ad- 
mitted what little light was needed. 
Around the walls of each of the little 
rooms formed by these partitions, 
were rows of bunks for beds, and 
from the roof of each were hung the 
articles of clothing or the weapons of 
the inhabitants. Each of the little 
rooms was the home of a familj', 
and every four families had a fire for 
themselves. This fire was built in 
the passage-way, in a little depression 
hollowed out in the ground and some- 
times paved with stones, and the 
smoke escaped by a hole in the roof, 
or if it did not escape, which was 
often the case, it penetrated every 
jl part of the dwelling, making it ex- 
ceedinglv uncomfortable. 



CANADA. S65 

Therf were spaces here and there in the house for the storing away of provi- 
sions, and strangely enough each family did not possess its own food, but every 
household owned the food in common. It was in the charge of one old, woman, who 
gave it out to the different families in equal share, and after each meal, what was left 
was gathered together and put into the hands of another woman, who kept It until it 
was needed again. The Iroquois cooked only one fresh meal a day, about noon, and 
those who were hungry before or after the regular meal, were helped from the com- 
mon stock of the household. Whenever strangers came into one of the long-houses, 
food was at once set before them, and it was not considered polite by the Indians to 
refuse to eat, no matter how often the visitor had eaten before during the day, nor 
how well his appetite had already been satisfied. Neither was It thought polite to 
ask a guest his business, or show any curiosity about his visit until he had eaten. 

The Indians of all tribes were peculiar In some things. When an Indian maiden 
was married, Instead of going home to the house of her husband, among the Iroquois 
and many other Indian Nations, she took her husband home with her. All of the 
women In these long-houses were related to each other, but their husbands were 
selected from other clans, and were often none of them related. If an Indian hus- 
band behaved badly, would not hunt, was idle and shiftless, his wife could make him 
pick up his personal possessions and go back to his own clan. 

No matter what goods he might have in the common stock of the house, or how 
many children were his, the wife kept all but her husband's personal property, his 
clothes, and his weapons, and he was compelled to march out Into the cold world, and 
either live a bachelor, or marry again if he could. So, you see. In spite of the 
ill-treatment to which many of the Indian women were compelled to submit, they 
were the rulers of the house. They were obliged to do all the heavy work, and to 
hoe with their stone hoes the corn, beans, squashes and pumpkins, upon which, with 
the flesh of wild animals and the fish taken from the rivers and lakes, the Indians 
lived. 

The Iroquois had many ot the long-houses in every village, and as each house 
accommodated as many as fifteen or twenty families, a small number of houses would 
shelter a great many persons. The villages were surrounded with high fences, made 
by sharpening the trunks of small trees and setting them firmly into the ground close 
together. These tree-trunks were also sharpened at the top, and proved a sufiicient 
defense before the days of firearms In Indian warfare. None of the Eastern Indians 
of our country built such good houses as did the Iroquois, and none were able to 
defend their villages as well. Neither were any as fierce and terrible to other 
tribes. 

Although the Iroquois would not punish murder within their own tribe very often 
with the death of the murderer, but allowed him Instead to pay to the family of his 
victim a certain amount of goods or wampum, they were cruelty Itself to their cap- 
tives taken in vvar. They always killed all of the prisoners that they could not carry 
back to their own villages with them, and took their scalps. Every man that was 
slain In the fight who belonged to their tribe, called for a victim at the stake, and 
those prisoners whom they did not wish to adopt into the tribe to increase its fighting 
strength, were always killed by some sort of horrible torture. 

The Spaniards, cruel as they were, could not match the Iroquois in the novel 
and ferocious ways of putting helpless people to death. They tied the captive to 
the stake, burned his flesh with their stone hatchets heated as hot as they could make 



866 CANADA. 

them, cut off his fingers, joint by joint, and tortured him in a thousand fiendish ways. 
The women and children thought this great sport, and joined in inflicting pain upon 
the victim. If he showed great braverj' in enduring these tortures, and most of the 
Indian captives scorned to complain, when he died at last, his body was ripped open 
and his heart was broiled and eaten by the young men, who thought by so doing they 
would increase their own bravery and power to endure pain. 

The blood of the dead victim, who had endured all taunts and given back to the 
last his defiance, was drunk by the braves, for they thought that thus the spirit of the 
dead man would enter into them, and then his limbs were divided up and thrown into 
a pot. While the horrid mess stewed, the savages danced about, singing and yelling, 
and when it was cooked, the whole village, men, women and children, young and old, 
partook of the dreadful feast. Not all of the Indians of the eastern part of America 
were cannibals, but most of them were, and all of them thought it a virtue to revenge 
insult, and to torture their captives. The Iroquois carried such terror before them 
that they soon held sway over a large number of tribes on the borders of the Great 
Lakes, and long wielded a powerful influence among them and their allies. It was 
this people that Champlain angered, and the French felt their revenge for many long 
years. 

As soon as the Iroquois had been supplied by the Dutch at Xew Albany with 
firearms, they increased rapidly in power. They at first sought to persuade some of 
the tribes nearest to them to join their alliance, and in every case where they were 
refused, they set out with the intent to exterminate those who would not join them, 
and by the year i6qo they had subdued one Algonquin tribe after another, and their 
power was acknowledged as far west as the Mississippi river. They grew rich in food 
and military stores, from the tributes they exacted, and it was to the interest of both 
■French and English to cultivate their friendship. 

Sometimes, in this story of our country, I have spoken of the Iroquois as Six 
Nations, and perhaps you have wondered at that, when at other times I have men- 
tioned them as the Five Nations. One of the tribes that were kindred to them in 
speech and blood, once sought new homes and hunting grounds in the southern part 
of the country. When the white men came, and began cutting down the timber, and 
driving away the game of the forests, this tribe fell into trouble with them.. They 
were not strong enough to maintain themselves in their new homes and revenge 
themselves upon their enemies, so after a time they went back to the State of New 
York, joined the Iroquois league again, and from that time the Iroquois are spoken 
of as "The Six Nations." 

If Champlain had made friends with them, instead of with their enemies, the 
Algonquins, the story of France in the New World would, no doubt, have been very 
different. But he knew nothing of the character of either. 

Champlain crossed the ocean several times in the interest of the new colony, and 
had faith in its future. When he had received his commission from the King of 
France for taking the settlers to the New World, it was with the idea of founding a 
new empire for rhe Church as well as for the King. Champlain was lofty of soul 
and pure of heart, and through all of his wanderings and adventures, he never lost 
sight of the grand objects of Christianizing the Indians. In the raid, against the 
Iroquois in which he had shared, with the Algonquins and Hurons, he had seen with 
horror and disgust how the Indians tortured their captives to death and had even 
feasted hideously on their bodies afterward. He realized how degraded they were 



CANADA. 867 

in heathenism, but he still saw in them human souls, precious in the sight of God. 
Henry of Navarre now sat upon tlie throne of F"rance, and Champlain told him all 
that he had learned of the Indians and their country, and what a noble work there 
was in the forests of the New World, awaiting the missionaries who would brave the 
dangers and hardships of life in the wilderness, to carry the cross to these heathens. 
Champlain was eloquent, and felt that God had led him to the New World, in order 
that he might be the instrument of the salvation of the Indians. 

Again and again he dared the storm.s and dangers of the deep to plead the cause 
of the savages with the k'ng, and to implore the bishops of France to send priests 
and teachers to them. In the years after his settlement at Quebec and Montreal, for 
he founded a colony there too, he made many long and romantic journeys with the 
Hurons and other tribes, and was always upon the alert to find the Northwest pas- 
sage. Once he thought he had surely found the way to China through the broad 
river St. Lawrence, ancJ was so deeply convinced of the fact that he named the river 
above the falls "Lachine," meaning that it was the way to China. He discovered 
Lake Nipissing, and explored the region above Lake Huron. In 1623 he caused a 
stone fort to be built at Quebec. 

When Richelieu became the Prime Minister of France he made some fine plans 
for New France, as Canada was called, and among other new laws that he framed 
for the government of the colony, was one forbidding any Protestants to settle in 
that territory. H is plans were all brought to naught for the time being by a war with 
England. The English and French in the New World were already jealous of one 
another, and the English king gave an order that Canada should be taken from 
France. 

There were only a very few Frenchmen in Canada, and Quebec, when the Eng- 
lish attacked it, was compelled to surrender. It was eight years after the landing of 
the Puritans upon the shores of New England, that the English flag floated for the 
first time over Quebec, and the English might then easily have kept Canada, and if 
they had done so, you can easily see how diflerent the course of history in America 
would have been. As it was, Champlain could not bear to see his life-work, the 
colonization and Christianizing of Canada by the French, brought to naught, and he 
sailed in an English ship to London to try and persuade the F"rench ambassador 
there, to make an effort to save Canada for the French. 

The ambassador, it seems, did not think Canada was of sufficient value to bother 
over, and consequently did not worry himself in the least about it, to the great disap- 
pointment of Champlain. When peace was made between the French and English, 
Canada was thought of so little importance by the British government, that it gave 
the territory back to the French very willingly. The English flag wa-s hauled down 
from the citadel of Quebec, and Champlain went back to New France as the 
governor. 

Soon after the relinquishment of Canada by the English, six heroic Catholic 
priests left France to carry the cross into the wilderness of Canada. Under the 
shadow of the rocks of the Mount of Quebec, they built a hut for themselves and 
began to prepare for their new labors by learning the language of the Hurons, among 
whom they intended to labor. The winter of their coming was one of the most 
bitter that had ever been experienced since the settlement of the country. For 
months the rivers were frozen solidly, and blinding storms of snow and sleet raged, 
but nothing could daunt the hearts of those brave priests, nor cause them to falter in 



868 



CANADA. 



their undertaking. While the snows were deepest, and the cold the most severe, one 
of th« priests went with the Hurons upon a hunt, thinking that by living with them 
and sharing their dangers, he might have more influence with the savages, and cause 

r 




Jl:Si;iT I'KlliST PREACHING TO AN INDIAN. 

them the more readily to listen to his message of salvation. The priests could not 
speak tiic Huron language very well, and he therefore took with him as interpreter, 
a young Huron who had accompanied Champlain in some of his expeditions and who 



CANADA. 869 

understood French. This graceless rascal made a pretense of having been converted, 
and on this account the good priest had much faith in him. 

The young Indian took advantage of the priest in every possible way. When in 
the course of his sermons the holy father would hesitate for the right word, as was 
often the case, this Huron interpreter would tell him to say something, which the 
priest, not comprehending at all, would think the right expression, but which always 
proved to be something which was so ridiculous that his hearers shouted and rolled 
over on the ground with laughter to hear. This would-be Indian wit drank all of the 
wine that the priest took with him for medicinal purposes, and made himself very 
drunk, anti otherwise worried the poor priest until he hardly knew what to do. 

The brave priest wandered about with the Indians tor five months, living with 
them in their lodges and studying their character and their language. \\ hen he 
returned to Quebec, and told his brethren of the country he had visited, and the 
disposition of the Indians to receive the gospel, three other priests determined to 
take advantage of a visit of five or six hundred warriors to Quebec to dispose of 
their furs, and penetrate with them into the unknown region of the lakes. Once in 
the Huron country, these priests lived with the Indians as brothers. 

They taught the children, cared foi" the sick and the aged, and so astonished the 
Indians by their acts of penance and humiliation, that they came to believe them 
great medicine-men. This belief had its dangers for the missionaries, for when 
disease invaded the lodges of the Indians, when long-continued rains caused their 
corn to rot in the ground, or when they were not successful in the chase, every such 
calamity was laid at the door of the missionaries, who were supposed to have worked 
some "medicine" to their injury. The Hurons regarded the cross and beads as some 
sort of powerful charm, and were constantly bothering the holy fathers for some 
similar charm that would keep away all evil spirits and would make them proof against 
the arrows and hatchets of their enemies, the Iroquois. 

The priests had not much opportunity to preach to the savages, for they found 
them impatient of their sermons, and very unwilling to listen to a doctrine which was 
so different from what they regarded as manly. The idea that revenge was not to 
be taken, that good was to be returned for evil, and that men were to be gentle and 
kindly, seemed to them to be cowardly. The priests nevertheless made a deep 
impression upon the Hurons, for they lived the faith they taught, and won their 
love. 

There is little doubt that these early Jesuit priests were what we would regard 
as ignorant and superstitious men, who believed in all sorts of impossible miracles, 
and had nearly as profound a faith in the powers of the spirits of evil as did the 
Indians themselves. Yet in spite of this, the Jesuits had a real and lively enthusiasm 
that never faltered in the face of the most dreadful suffering and dangers for the 
cause they loved. 1 hey considered that the death of a Christian martyr was the 
highest honor for which they could hope, and that living or dying, they belonged body 
and soul to Christ. For five painful years the three Jesuit priests from Quebec 
labored among the Hurons, teaching them many useful things in the building of their 
forts as well as in their peaceful occupations, and then a dreadful thing happened. 

You will remember that Champlain aided the Hurons in their war against the 
Iroquois, at a time when he knew little of the character of that fierce people. The 
Iroquois had not forgotten that the French had been their enemies, and as for the 
Hurons they had determined to wipe them from the face of the earth that they might 



870 CANADA. 

possess their hunting grounds. The Iroquois had learned by this time how to use 
firearms, for they had traded with the Dutch of New Albany for guns and powder, 
and they determined to make war upon the Hurons. 

They had visited Quebec sometime before, together with the envoys of all the 
northern tribes, of Huron and Algonquins, their deadly enemies, and bound them- 
selves to live in peace with them. This peace did, in fact, continue for nine years 
after the treaty, and the French governor himself was responsible for the outbreak 
of their wrath. Nearly two thousand of the Hurons had been converted by the 
missionaries, and many of the Algonquins had also been baptized. There were a 
few Iroquois who listened to the words of the Jesuits and were convinced of the 
truth of the gospel, and these were persuaded by the French to cross over and make 
their dwelling within French territory. 

The F'ive Nations of the Iroquois did not look with much favor upon these deser- 
tions, and the governor of Canada thought that it would be prudent to make a per- 
petual alliance with the New England colonies, so that there should be no more 
bloody wars with the Iroquois. This was in the year 1648, and the New England 
colonies were growing rapiiUy, and had several times come into conflict with the Five 
Nations, but were then at peace with them. 

The English settlers in the southern colonies did not care to make an alliance 
with the French, whom they hated because of their religion, and on account of 
national differences which were not yet forgotten. They did not care either to anger 
the Iroquois, and therefore refused. The Iroquois considered the action of the 
French in attempting to make an alliance with the New England colonies as a 
treachery against them, and, as was their custom, determined upon immediate 
revenge. Before the people of Canada had any idea that they were upon the war- 
path, they fell upon the villages of the Christian Hurons and massacred every human 
being they found whom they did not reserve for torture. 

In one of the Huron towns, the Iroquois found the three French priests, and to 
show their contempt for their nation and their religion, determined to torture them 
too. They stripped the robes from their bodies and tied them naked to stakes set in 
the ground for the purpose. They poured boiling water upon their heads, piled 
burning faggots about their feet, cut strips from their living bodies which they roasted 
upon sticks and ate, and hung collars of red-hot iron about their necks. The heroic 
priests prayed for their enemies as long as life was left in their bodies, and exhorted 
their Huron friends who were also in captivity and compelled to witness their agony, 
to be of good courage for that though the road to death was terrible when it led 
through such tortures, heaven would be all the sweeter. 

These three priests might have escaped the Iroquois had they abandoned their 
friends, the Hurons, when the attack was made upon the town, but they would not. 
They staid to comfort the poor creatures who were dying of their wounds, and to give 
the absolution of the church to all who wished to receive it, so they were truly 
martyrs to their faith I have told you of their fate, in order that you may have some 
idea of the devotion of the Jesuits in Canada, for many other missionaries died there 
in the same manner, and yet undismayed by their fate, others continued to come, and 
the story of their self-sacrifice is a noble chapter in the early history of British 
America. In spite, however, of all their sufferings, they made but little lasting 
impression upon the red men of the north, for their influence perished with them. 

The Hurons were reduced to a mere handful by the Iroquois, and many of them 



CANADA. 871 

took refuge among the Eries, the Ottawa and other tribes to the far west, while a 
few established themselves upon an island in Lake Ontario, where they thought that 
they would be safe from their foes. After a time food became scarce upon the island, 
and the Hurons were obliged to have places upon the mainland where their hunters 
who went away secretly into the woods, could leave their game. The Iroquois always 
found these places and murdered those who had charge of the food, and seeing that 
they would be starved to death in their hiding-place, the Hurons pleaded with the 
Jesuit fathers to take them to Quebec where the French could protect them. There 
were only three hundred of the tribe left, and these sadly made their way through 
the land where they had so long hunted, and where their villages had been dotted 
thickly upon the shores of the rivers. They found everywhere dreadful ruin, and 
Avhen they finally reached Quebec there was but a cold welcome for them. 

At last, however, shelter was provided for them, but they were soon nearly all 
destroyed. Small-pox swept them off by the thousands, and the brandy which the 
French, in spite of the pleadings of the priests, would sell to them, took off many 
more. The Huron hunters would barter all their furs for the strong liquors, and 
would drink and fight among themselves. The necessary articles for their use and 
food were not to be procured without fiirs, and their women and children starved in 
their lodges, while those who did not fall in brawls died of diseases brought about 
by their practices of the vices that the whites had taught them. Some of the Hurons 
who had placed themselves under the protection of the French, secretly sent to the 
Iroquois, who had also destroyed the Erie Nation, and proposed to become members 
of the tribe. 

They afterwards repented of their folly, but the Iroquois would not spare the 
Hurons, for they had agreed to the proposal, and when they did not come, the 
Iroquois went after them and would take them from the fields about Quebec, where 
they were almost under the fire of the guns of the fort. Those who were not killed 
were carried away into captivity, and this accomplished, the Iroquois turned their 
attention to the French, purposing to wipe them out as they had the Hurons. Every- 
where they fell upon unprotected settlements and murdered the helpless farmers 
until the French held only three important places in all of Canada, Montreal, Quebec 
and one other. Against these places the Iroquois made many attacks, and had they 
known how to lay siege to cities, they might have made their threats to kill every 
Frenchman in the land, good. As it was, the distress of the French settlers was very 
great, and several governors in succession were unable to pilot the colony safely 
through their difficulties. 

All this time the French in Canada had been under the rule of the Association 
of Merchants, that was formed for the purpose of trading with the Indians, but in 
1663 Louis XIV. took the charter away from the company and sent out governors 
himself to preside over the Canadians. This was an improvement, for they now had 
the arms of French soldiers upon which they might depend for their protection. 
Soon afterward an energetic governor struck terror to the hearts of the Mohawks 
by invading their country, and burning many of their villages. He built forts at 
various strong places on the river, and sent a fearless woodsman named Nicholas 
Perrot to the tribes about the lakes, who were persuaded to place themselves under 
the rule of the French. 

The Iroquois were at peace with the French for many years under this governor, 
and his successor. Count Frontenac, one of the greatest of the governors of New 



872 CANADA. 

France. It was just about the time that Frontenac came over to Canada, that Father 
Marquette, a priest, and Joliet, a man interested in geographj', went in search of the 
great river of which they heard so much from the Indians. It is said that Marquette 
assembled the Indians and succeeded in securing their approval of his explorations, 
and that the Frenchmen gained great influence over those tribes about the Great 
Lakes through their affection for Marquette. 

I have told you elsewhere how the French floated down the Mississippi, and how 
La Salle attempted to land near the mouth of the river afterwards with a colony sent 
from France, whither he had gone and carried the description of the mighty stream 
he had e.xplored. It seems that he had not made correct observations of latitude, 
and that his colony was planted somewhere on the Gulf Coast, far to the west of the 
river. He himself was murdered by one of his jealous companions, and the fate of 
the colony was a sad one. Out of the two hundred and ninety men who landed with 
him, but seven succeeded after much hardship in returning to Canada, where they 
told how some of their companions had been killed by the Indians, others had died 
of starvation, and others had been taken by the .Spaniards and carried off into slavery 
in the mines of Mexico. Though the settlement was a failure, the discoveries and 
explorations of the French gave them a claim on the Mississippi Valley, and the vast 
stretch of territory lying between the colonies of England on the east, and the pos- 
sessions of Spain on the west. This territory stretched from the Alleghany to the 
Rocky Mountains, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. 

Frontenac had gained the hatred of many of the high French officials in Canada, 
and after a time Louis appointed another Governor in his steatl. Frontenac had a 
wonderful power over the savages, and they both loved and feared him, but the new 
governor had not the tact to deal with them, and war was soon kindled again with 
the Iroquois. The governor was recalled and another appointed, but he did no 
better. Indeed he did much to exasperate the Indians, and upon one occasion when 
he had invitetl some of the great chiefs to a feast, he made them all prisoners and 
sent them in chains to France. 

The Indians made some of their dreadful raids upon the French settlements, and 
killed so many of the people and destroyed so much property that the offending 
governor was made to accept their terms for peace, and these were so humiliating 
that the king at once recalled him. and sent Frontenac out again to Canada as its 
governor. Frontenac was now an old man, but he was so tactful and had so much 
sympathy with Indian character, that he knew just how to deal with the angry Iroquois, 
He brought back with iiim the chiefs who had been made captive by the former gov- 
ernor, and upon the voyage across the ocean so endeared himself to some of them 
that they were his faithful friends for life. 

One of these Indian chiefs especially loved Frontenac tenderly, and was a useful 
friend to him. Although Frontenac was an able governor, he was as cruel as the 
Indians themselves, and it is said that he even witnessed calmly the dreadful tortures 
to which his Indian allies subjected their captives, and never interfered in the interests 
of mercy. He was soon convinced that he must fight the Iroquois in their own 
country. This was about the time when James II. was a fugitive in France, and the 
F'rench were making war upon the English on his account, Frontenac determined 
to make a raid into New York, capture Albany if possible, and then strike terror to 
the Iroquois, who were disposed to favor the English cause. 

He commenced this raid in the midst of winter, and knowing that his force was 



CANADA. 87^ 

too small for the attack of Albany, he concluded to surprise the village of Schenec- 
tady instead. It was in the dead of a bitter cold winter night when the dreaded 
Indian war-whoop was heard in the little town, which consisted then of eighty well- 
built houses, and the sleeping inhabitants were awakened to die by the hands of the 
French and their Indian allies, or to be carried away into painful captivity. Nearly 
seventy persons were killed in cold blood, and the French then began their retreat 
to Canada, followed almost to the very defenses of Montreal by the Iroquois and the 
English. 

You may be sure that the English were bound to have revenge for this dreadful 
deed, and to this end they sailed into the St. Lawrence and advanced toward Quebec. 
They were attacked from the fort by the guns, their fleet was compelled to retire, 
and afterward a part of it was destroyed by a storm. I have not the space to tell you 
more of the trials of the early French settlers of Canada with the English and the 
Indians, and will pass on to the time when they were engaged in the struggle which 
lost them their territory in the north, and which resulted for us in the Revolutionary 
War. 

It waiL fifty years after the discoveries and explorations of Joliet, Marquette and 
La Salle that the French first made any movement to secure the territory to which 
those discoveries gave them a claim, and then alarmed by the increasing power of 
the English upon the coast, they began to establish a chain of trading-posts 
and forts throughout the Mississippi Valley, and to make an effort to secure the 
friendship of the Indians dwelling in the interior. 

The French colonies had not increased in numbers and power so rapidly as had 
the English colonies upon the coast, and though a century had passed away since 
they had first been founded in Canada, Quebec, Montreal and the other important 
places were very weak when compared with New York, Boston and the other 
towns, of the Atlantic Coast. The fur-trade had long been the principal dependence 
of French commerce, and agriculture was not generally practiced. There were, of 
course, farmers in Canada, but as their condition as regards ta.xation, both by the 
Church and State, was little better than that of the peasants of France, there 
was little inducement held out to the farmers of France to emigrate to the New 
World. 

In the English colonies, and especially in those that had increased the most in 
population and wealth, the distinctions of rank that prevailed in the Old World were 
unknown, and this in itself was an inducement for liberty-loving and energetic people 
to escape the hampering influences of the Old World and find for themselves homes 
in America where every man was as good as his neighbor, and none were ground 
down under the heel of social as well as political despotism. The peasants of New 
France were obliged to submit to the hard rule of the feudal lords in the New World 
as in the Old, for feudalism had been transplanted along with some other institutions 
of France, and though it did not flourish in Canada with anything like the vigor that 
it did in France, it was one of the many causes that hindered the growth and devel- 
opment of the country. 

The French claimed all of the country west of the Alleghany Mountains, but in 
spite of these claims, the governors of the British colonies gave their traders permis- 
sion to traffic with the Indians in the Ohio Valley for their furs. This trade the 
French tried to stop, and when they found that they could not do so, some of the 
British merchants were arrested and sent to Montreal for trial. There had been 



874 CANADA. 

commissioners appointed to settle the dispute between England and France concern- 
ing the boundaries of their respective possessions in America at this time, and the 
English were angry because the French took matters upon themselves in this high- 
handed manner. 

The French governor of Canada was convinced that the commissioners could not 
come to any peaceful agreement that would be to the advantage of France, and he 
told the king and council that the best thing they could do would be to send troops 
and munitions of war across the ocean with all speed before the English had any idea 
that they were making preparations for war. He at once began to put the forts along 
the southern boundary of Canada in good repair, and to try and win the Iroquois 
over to the side of the French. Nearly all of the Indians of the Ohio Valley pre- 
ferred the French to the English, though some of the tribes did unite with the 
British. 

Before the person who was governor of Canada at the time could make much 
headway in his preparations for war, he died, and the Marquis Du Ouesne was sent 
out by Louis XY. to govern Canada. This man had some decided notions about the 
l)Oundaries, that could not be altered by the tindings of the commission, if indeed he 
knew what was being discussed. As soon as he arrived in Canada, he began to drill 
the militia, anil to make every preparation to maintain the claims of F" ranee. The 
Ohio Company, with the sanction of the Assembly of \'irginia, was engaged in form- 
ing settlements beyond the mountains, and troops and Indians sent out bj' the com- 
mander at Detroit to drive them out of the country, came to blows with them and 
the Indian tribe who sheltered them. This was the direct cause of the decision of 
Governor Dinwiddle of X'irginia, to send a polite remonstrance to the French. I 
have told you how George Washington carried this message, and some of the dangers 
and difficulties through which he passed. Du Ouesne heard that the Ohio Company 
was building a fort at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers, and 
started a force of French and Indians to prevent it. 

There was an Englishman at this time in the State of New York who had a great 
influence over the Iroquois, for he had not only lived long among them and gained 
their confidence by his fair dealing in his trades with them, but he had married an 
Indian woman. The Iroquois of this portion of the country naturalh' sided with the 
British, and met the French and Indians at Erie with a belt of wampum, as was their 
custom, when they had a message to deliver, and asked the French to turn back. 
The commander of the e.xpeilition did not stand upon any ceremon}' with the 
messenger. 

It was the rule when a belt of wampum was given on such occasions to hold a 
long parley, make presents to the messengers who presented it, and to reply in stately 
and dignified manner some hours after the receipt of the token. The Indians were 
particular about what they considered politeness upon such occasions, and they were, 
therefore, astonished and angered when the commander threw back their belt with 
an expression of contempt, and tokl them that he would not turn back, that the land 
was his, and that he meant to take it, and if they did not like it they could fight, or 
Avords to that effect. This was just before Washington went to Detroit with the 
message from Dinwiddle. 

The French, after Washington returned to Virginia, drove the workmen from 
the fort which they were building, finished it themselves, and called it Fort DuOuesne. 
In the meantime \'irginia had armed men and sent them into the wilderness to main- 



CANADA. 875 

tain her rights in the Ohio Valley. They were under the command of Washington, 
and in June, 1754, the P'rench attacked them in a hastily constructed defense. Wash- 
ington is said to have tired the first shot on the side of the British, and thus began 
the struggle which resulted in the loss of Canada to France, and the gain of half a 
Continent to freedom, for as I have often told you, the struggle with France and 
England on account of the boundary of their remote colonial possessions, brought 
about indirectly the independence of the colonies. I do not think you would be 
interested in reading about the various battles of this war. I have already told you 
of Braddock's defeat, and how the war went with the British until Pitt was placed in 
power as premier of England. The French gained so many successes that the British 
began to fear that they were to be disgraced. France was then ruled by the wicked 
and selfish Louis X\^, and to be beaten by such a monarch was disgrace indeed. 

In the early days of the French colonization in the New World, they had settled 
in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, which they called Acadia, they thought it such 
a pleasant land. There, in the course of time, grew up a peaceful population of 
peasants, poor but thrifty, and intensely religious. When Louisburg was taken by 
the English in 1710, these French peasants came under English rule, but they were 
allowed to remain much as they had been before, and their education and religion 
was in the charge of the French priests. Notwithstanding the fact that the English 
Government had treated them well, these Acadian peasants hated their new masters, 
and clung with all the love of narrow-minded, loyal, ignorant persons, to the old 
forms under which they had been ruled so long. They would not, or could not, 
believe any good of the English, and looked upon their attempts to take Canada 
with the utmost anger. 

The Acadians had been for forty-five years under English rule and the gen- 
eration that had grown up in that time felt no more kindly toward them than 
did their fathers. The English nation was Protestant, while the French, and 
especially the French of the New World, were intensely Catholic. There was no 
sympathy of race, religion or government to be hoped for by the English among 
the Acadian peasantry, but they did expect that they would be loyal to England 
and give no aid or comfort to the enemy. In this they were mistaken. 

In every difificulty that England had with France during the time between 
Queen Anne's war and the war of the French and Indians, the Acadians were 
always found in sympathy with the French. They had been warned again and 
again, but they persisted in favoring their countrymen, and that was natural 
enough. It was now found that the whole Acadian population was secretly eager 
for the success of the French, and would do all that was possible to insure their 
victory over England. There was the Port of Halifax, in Acadia, that was nec- 
essary for the English, in their operations by water against Canada, and they feared 
that by some treachery of the Acadians, this place would fall into the hands of the 
French. They had no proof that such a treachery was intended, but they did not 
wait for proof. They determined to scatter the Acadians among the New England 
colonies, to tear them from their homes, and force them to become wanderers amons 
strangers. 

This was a bitter blow to the simple Acadian peasantry, who loved their homes 
dearly, and who dreaded the English with their strange language and the religion so 
different from their own. They pleaded with the English, however, in vain. They 
were compelled to leave their homes, and in many cases the English were obliged to 



876 CANADA. 

tear them away by main force. Old men, feeble with age and disease, old women, 
who had borne all the burdens and dangers of a lona; life in the wilderness, youths, 
maidens and little children, were put on board vessels with the few household goods 
that they could carry with them, and started away from the land they loved so well. 
They did not know where thej- were to be taken, or what they should do in the 
strange land, but the English did not care what became of them. They landed them 
in Xew England and the Atlantic colonies, and left them to shift for themselves as 
best they could. They burned their houses and barns, drove away their stock, and 
took possession of the land for English settlers. 

It is this e.xile of the Acadians that is made the subject of a beautiful poem by 
our poet Longfellow, and their sorrows are there described most touchingly. Some 
of the exiled Acadians succeeded in making their wa^' to Louisiana, where their 
descendants live to this day; and others, after many hardships and long wanderings, 
found their way back to Acadia. Others were scattered in various places, but Nova 
Scotia and New Brunswick lost their French character from that time forth, and 
became English in population and sentiment. This e.xile of the Acadians happened 
the same year that saw Braddock's defeat, and though considered necessary at the 
time, was accomplished with such needless cruelty, that there was a loud outcry made 
against it both in luirope and this country. 

In the year 1757, two gallant Frenchmen were in command of the forces of 
Canada. One of these was a field marshal by the name of Montcalm, and the other 
was the Chevalier de Levi. Montcalm attacked a strong fort of the British on Lake 
George, which was called Fort William Henry, and after some severe fighting the 
place was obliged to surrender to the French. Montcalm promised the British that 
their lives should be safe, and they should depart with all the honors of war, escorted 
by the French to a place of safety. Montcalm was a brave man himself, and the 
gallantry with which the British Colonel Munro had defended the fort, commanded 
his admiration. Attacked by an overwhelming force, Munro held out until half of 
his guns were useless, his ammunition exhausted, and his men dispirited, hoping for 
aid. It is said that the Indians under the command of Montcalm, were thirsty for 
blood and scalps, but that they might have been restrained had they not come upon 
a large store of brandy in the captured fort. They at once set to drinking, and then 
were utterly uncontrollable. They fell upon the defenseless English as they marched 
out of their entrenchments, and massacred them without mercy. Many of the French 
officers were wounded in trying to protect the English from the furious Indians, and 
Montcalm pleaded with them to kill him and spare the lives of the poor men to 
whom he had promised protection. Perhaps you have read Fennimore Cooper's 
"Last of the Mohicans," and remember how that gifted writer describes that 
dreadful scene. The march to Fort Edward, where the British were to be escorted 
by the French became a flight, and the terror of the poor soldiers who had given up 
their arms and were half-inclined to believe that the F"rench had secretly instigated 
the Indians to the dreadful massacre, may well be imagined. 

In the year 1758 the strong fort of Louisburg, in Canada, was taken by the 
Englisli, though it was so well fortified that the undertaking had been thought a 
doubtful one. The tide turned in favor of England almost with the beginning of 
the ministry of Pitt, and so well did he plan the campaigns and such able oHic(!rs did 
he appoint for their execution, that in two years Canada was lost to the I^'rench. 
The Canadians had no help from France, and they were unable to muster a sufficient 



CANADA. 



877 



number of men to defend their country. Every man who could bear arms was in the 
held, and there were so few left at home to take care of the crops that there was 
almost a famine in the whole country. 

One of the most interesting and decisive battles of the war was that which 
resulted in the capture of Quebec by the British. Wolfe, who was a young man, 
only thirty-one years old, was one of the best generals of England, and had at 
twenty-one been highly honored for his bravery and skill. He was a man of refined 
and beautiful nature, beloved by all who knew him, and eager to win glory for his 
country. He arrived before Quebec in the month of June, and found that Montcalm, 
who was his equal in bravery and nobility of spirit, and who was a most experienced 
general had fortified the place with every device that could be thought of. 

The British landed on the 
Isle of Orleans, and for 
some time they could not 
discover how they could at- 
tack the city with any hope 
of success. Above old Que- 
bec, on that height that had 
given to Cartier and his 
men the first view over the 
beautiful surrounding coun- 
try had grown up, what was 
known as the Upper Town. 
On the side of the Upper 
Town, which was toward 
the river, the cliff was al- 
most straight up and down, 
and the plateau upon which 
the main part of the city 
was built could not be easily 
approached from that side. 
For nine miles or more 
every landing-place was in- 
trenched and guarded, and 
the water-front was so ob- 
structed as to make it use- 
less for the British to hope 
to get through with any of 
their boats, and even if they 
ditl, there were so many bat- 
teries and entrenchments 
up and down the river that 
it would only have been to 
have them destroyed. There 
was no hope either of get- 
ting artillery up the cliff, 
and it was months before 
the British were able to gain 




S-S CANADA. 

any advantage in the siege, for they so :iurrounded Quebec on everj- side that they 
thoroughly shut the garrison in. 

It was in the month of September that Wolfe caused his men to begin a heavy 
rire upon the Lower Town as though he intended to attack the place in that direction, 
and while the soldiers kept up this firing. Wolfe, and a few of his brave men. floated 
silently down stream with the tide, to make the attack which was to decide the fate 
of France in the Xew World. There were sixteen hundred men in the party, and it 
is said that as they voyaged down the noble river, under the clear light of the stars. 
the soul of Wolfe was sad. and he repeated to himself the touching eleg>- written by 
the poet Gray, which you have, no doubt, read. One of the verses he said over 
and over again, as he watched the shores until the frowning rock of Quebec was just 
above him. It was this: 

"The boast of heiaidry. the pomp of power. 
A •: wealth e"er gave. 

The p^ioa \..i ^i^^'O ie«u but to the grave." 

The British reached th ' where they were to make the attempt to climb the 
steep cliff, but a French se: jove. when the first company was nearly halt way 

up. paused, thinking he heard a suspicious sound. "Who goes there?" he said in 
French. "France."' replied the leader of the British, also in French, and the sentinel 
turned and went on his way. thinking that it was some one of the garrison In a few 
minutes, however, there was so much rustling among the bushes that the guard was 
turned out to see what it meant. They were sadly frightened when they saw a large 
Kidv of British troops alreadv the height, and firing their muskets at them, 

fled! 

Or, and on the British climbed, and the sixteen hundred who had first come, 
covered the approach of others until at daybreak a large English force was on the 
height. They h ' "v been able to bring one gun up the cliff, but they were ready 
for battle when rning light dawned. Montcalm would not believe that the 

British army had climbed the height, for to deceive him. there had been kept up a 
const^n: • ward the Lower Town all t: " :. When one of his 

onicers ^ .. .'e he was trying to observe ti. . ments of the British 

in the Lower Town, and told him that the whole British army was upon the Plains of 
Abraham, as the height was called, he could hardly believe it. but he soon learned 
that -" ■ ■ - ~ ■ -:-d true, and soon the battle was on. 

\ ery- early in the fight, but fearing that his death might discourage his 

men. he told one of his aids to hold him up so that his brave fellows might not see 
him fall. He was carried to the rear, and was laid tenderly down. They thought he 
was unconscious, as he lay ver>- still, and the death-damp was gathering thick upon 
his face. Finally one of the officers near him who was watching the battle cried, as 
he saw the French repulsed and in full flight. "They run! they run!"' "\\ ho runs?" 
; ' " ' 'as the ■ had just awakened from a sound sleep. It 

. - . then w sh of his old spirit. Wolfe gave his orders 

for the placing of troops to cut off the retreat of the enemy, and with a sigh he 
turned upon his side and said: "Now God be praised I die happy." and breathed his 
last. 

Montcalm lived to see his army routed, but he was fatally woimded. and with his 
last breath thanked God that " not live to see the surrender of Quebec. He 



CANADA. 879 

had done what he could for his . and seemed to know that the effor' . - ■ 

Quebec was fruitless from the s:„. : ... .ugh he did everything that a brave ; .^.. .-.. . 
a skillful general could do for that purpose. So well was his braver>- understood that 
to-day a tall memorial shaft commemorates both him and Wolfe, and what each did 
for his country' that day on the Plains of Abraham, will never be forgotten. To the 
victor does not always belong all the glory, for th^re is often as much valor in defeat 
as in conquest, ar.d the story of patriotism wo /e complete without the tale of 

those sometimes called rebels. The brave upon a stricken field, whether victor or 
vanquished, deserve laurels, and patriotism, whether successful or defeated, should 
have its due of praise. 

There was still a French army, though Quebec had fallen. It was reduced by 
famine, death and desertion to about twelve thousand men. There was hope of aid 
from France, and De Levi determined to attempt to retake Quebec. There was 
hope, too, for the British, of aid from England, from whence a fleet had sailed with 
supplies and re-enforcements for the British army, and this fleet came up the river just 
at the time when the French army were ab^ ' - - —- '- --^ p----r- ;^ Quebec with 

ever>' prospect of success. At first the Fre; -at the fleet was 

the one he had so long expected, and great was his disap nt when the Union 

Jack was run up. and he saw it was the fleet of the enemy, i r.ere were onlj- about 
three thousand men in the British army in Quebec, and you maj- be sure they were 
glad to see the flag. They had come to blows with De Levi some dajs before, and 
been badly beaten : behind their entrenchments, while the French- 

begun to r --"-'- for ... jvements of the siege. They --- -- -■_.=-- ■: ... ,-r 

uptheide^ :ther. u arrival of the British fleet.:. ..aste. 

A little later all of Canada was given up to the British, and the war was at an end. 

Amer' — ;-, in th:- " -cween Fr^ ' r- - 

American : r ^ . ; _::y of th:: ..._:^s of carr%::._ .: .;.. _;._._._ 

gained rich territory-, and yet was unwilling to pay for what she had gained. The 
Americans would, perhaps, not have objected to paying a rea- tax. for the 

purpose of '--'-•'- --- ^-^^- _ -- .-.. -,_ :.- -v.^ English kir . — — •:_ - 

that they - :. but that war- 

the\- refused .v the king to decide that thej- should give him what he 

th-^ /'-- - - you know how the attempt to - ' -t 

ta:::- r:__. : the Revc.^. : y war. There was cr. . -__i. . .., _. .f 

which I have i 30U. and that was what is known in histor\- as "The Quebec 

Act." 

You will rememr -"'-'- E-g^lish went to war with Franc ' — ■ " rrect 
: ' ^ries of the F.- in .America, and the peace w. i. war 

iries of Cs^ are to-day. but King George thought it 

»i«iciy " suomi" 

those c; :.. , ; . . ; __..;... : Coast. _;._.._... .: ^ ^ :. ^ 

to the spread of the Eastern s with their idea- ie therefore 

caused an act to be passed b\" his parliament, which declared the Easter 

of '"""•'"' ■- -'-nj- Mcj- ' - - the Western the Mississippi, ar.:: 

in " ient C- eside. In this ~h?!= rast terr: 

people were to be subject to the French laws in regar ^'- which were 

exceedingl)- unjust, i' ' ' ^ " ' Corpus law. v. _- 

considered their birthr:^..:. . _:: ....._ ^ : ... this territorv. 



88o CANADA. 

The king would not allow the people in the territory indicated as included in 
Canada to have even the slightest shadow of free government, but appointed their 
counsellors himself, taxed them to suit himself, and not one of their laws could 
operate without his signature, and astheyhadlongbeen ground down by tyranny, and at 
the time they knew nothing of liberty, the French in the New World were glad enough 
to accept the decision of the king, and even thought that he was remarkably liberal 
with them. There were, however, in the Ohio Vallej' region, many settlers of British 
blood, who had emigrated from the Colonies, and especially from Virginia. They 
were bitter against the king for this unrighteous decree, and all the Colonies upon 
the Atlantic Coast were determined to oppose it with all their might. 

They had fought against the French with the utmost braver}-, and yet should the 
act be allowed to stand, they had gained nothing V>y the war, and were even threat- 
ened by the growth of a hostile community in their neighborhood. Pitt told the 
king and parliament that the American people would never consent to the boundaries 
they had adopted, and he was right. The British settlers in Canada were very much 
alarmed when they heard what the king had done, for their rights under the English 
laws were dear to them, and besides the Quebec Act gave large privileges to Catholics 
in the matter of taxation, and most of the English in Canada were Protestants. 
Canada was ruled for seventeen year*; under the provisions of the Quebec Act, but 
we have already learned how the .Americans compelled the English king to bound 
Canada on the south by the Great Lakes, and give back Maine to New England. 

In telling you of the expedition which Benedict Arnold led through the wilder- 
ness of Maine, I remarked that when he arrived before Quebec, the governor had 
learned of the approach of the enemy, and he was obliged to wait there for the 
coming of Montgomery, for he could not assault Quebec, and the Canadians would not 
come out from behind their defenses and fight in the open field. It was in the month 
of December that Montgomery laid siege to the place, having first sent a flag to 
General Sir Guy Carleton, asking him to give up Quebec. The governor caused the 
flag to be fired upon, and the Americans determined to fight. Montgomery made a 
speech to his men on the 30th day of the month, in which he said he was going to 
storm Quebec. A deserter carried the news to the C'anadian governor shut up in the 
city, and he made his plans accordingly. Phe .Americans, in two separate bodies, 
made the attack on Quebec on the last night of the year, 1776, but the Canadian 
soldiers of the city were lying in wait for them. There was a heavy snow storm 
raging, and in the night and the storm Montgomery fell mortally wounded, and his 
disheartened comrades retreated and were soon driven from Canada. 

The people of Canada could not be induced to join the colonists farther south in 
the struggle for liberty, and remained quiet during the Revoluiionary War. The fact 
is, that the PVench governors of Canada had from the very first ijlundered the people 
to that extent that the rule of the English was just ami merciful by comparison. The 
people of Canada had also been engaged in war against those very colonists who 
were fighting England, and could not be expected to have much sympathy with 
them. 

After the Revolutionary War was over, there was a great increase of emigration 
of English people to Canada. There was also a large emigration to the Canadian 
provinces from the United States, for there were many persons who had taken the 
part of the king, and had borne arms against the colonies, and were regarded in the 
United States as traitors. The English government paid these people for what they 



CANADA. 



88 1 



lost in the United States, because they had borne arms for the king, by giving them 
lands in Canada. Those who emigrated from England were attracted by the idea of 
getting land for the taking The English government was somewhat afraid that 
these English settlers would imbibe ideas of liberty from the people of the United 
States, if allowed to live too near them, and had faith that the P'rench would remain 
submissive. 

It therefore took every means to prevent the mixing of the English with the 
French, and to do this the English were given homes on the Upper St. Lawrence, and 
on the shores of Lake Ontario, and there were different laws and institutions granted 
them The French Canadians were ruled much as they had been while they were 
under the rule of the King of F" ranee, and the rivalry between the English and French 
Canadians was not always a pleasant one. It was a source of great evil to the 
country, and until the war of the French Revolution was over, Canada was ruled in 
this manner, then the Canadians were given a Constitution 









J 




RETREAT OF THE BRITISH FROM CONCORD AND LEXINGTON. 



This Constitution was by no means perfect, and there was much -dissatisfaction 
regarding it. The English thought it too favorable to the French Canadians, and 
and the French Canadians thought the English were given too many rights, and so 
they quarreled and wrangled for many years. 

Canada held several of the forts which by the treaty that closed the war of the 
Revolution were to be given up to the United .States, and this was one of the causes 
that led to the second war with England, though the prime cause was the conduct of 
the British in regard to American sailors, as I have already told you. These forts 
were well filled with trained soldiers when war was declared with England for the 
second time, and they were under able generals. They were victorious at first 
wherever they met the Americans, but the fact that they allied the fiercest of the 
Indian tribes against their foes, and that they allowed great cruelties to be perpetrated 
by them, weaned from the British many of the people in the Ohio Valley, who at the 



882 CANADA. 

beginning were anxious that they should succeed. I have related to you the principal 
events of this second war, and will not repeat them. When it was over Canada was 
compelled to give up all the forts she held on the southern shores of the lakes, and 
the boundary was established as it is to-day 

In the year 1820 a Scotchman by the name of MacKenzie. came over to Canada, 
and as he was a man of great natural power and eloquence, he soon became a leader 
in Canadian affairs. The Constitution was not the best that the people could have, 
and the management of the affairs of Canada were usually in favor of England, and 
not for the interests of the Canadians. iMacKenzie headed a rebellion against the 
system of government which compelled the parliament to redress some of the wrongs 
of the Canadian people, though it still insisted in denying many of their rights. 

For instance, years ago, no foreign ships were allowed in Canadian waters to 
trade with the people, and if the Canadians wished to sell their furs, lumber, grain or 
other products, they were obliged to send them to England and take what they could 
get there for them, and were not allowed to buy anything in any of the markets of 
the world except those of England. This was a hardship, for they sent out their 
wool, whicli they might easily have spun and woven at home, and received in return 
l>oor and cheap woolen goods, and so with everything else they exported, for they 
were forbidden by law to manufacture anything that could be manufactured in 
England, and were thus in exactly the same position as the American colonists before 
the Revolution. 

In the year 1854 Canada awoke to the idea that the policy of the government of 
keeping the people divided and hostile to one another in Canada, while it was a good 
thing for England was a very bad thing, indeed, for Canada, and that it might be a 
good thing to form a confederation. In spite of all the care of England to keep her 
British subjects in Canada away from their independent neighbors south of the border, 
there had been some mixing, and the Canadians had learned several things to their 
advantage. By this time they had been allowed to trade with other countries, 
for the parliament was brought to realize that they might rebel if kept too strictly 
under the thumb of the home government, and by trading with the United States 
the Canadians learned the secrets of the strength of that country was in the union 
of the interests of the people. 

In 1864, while some of the States of our own country were making a brave 
effort to free themselves from the union that is the source of our strength, the 
people of Canada were making an equally brave, though bloodless effort, to join 
in some such union. There were many difficulties to be overcome, many prejudices 
of long-standing to be wiped out, but at last it was done, and in the year 1866 all 
of the provinces of Canada, except Newfoundland, became a part of this confed- 
eration, or Dominion, as it is called. 

The Hudson Bay Company, which had settled the Great Northwest territory 
of Canada, had been in the possession of that portion of the country for nearly 
sixty years, at the time the Dominion of Canada was formed. This Northwest 
territory has a climate so cold and forests so thick, such trackless marshes, and 
dreary wastes within its borders, that farmers did not care to live in such an 
unfriendly region, and there were few white settlers in the whole vast Northwest. 
There were trading-posts scattered about here and there, for the Company had 
established trading relations with the Indians, and had treated them so fairly that 
they won their confidence. 



CANADA. 883 

The Northwest was in about the same condition of civilization in 1S66 that 
it was in the early days of the French occupation of Canada. There were a few 
French traders who had married Indian wives and settled among the various 
tribes, teaching them the tenets of the Catholic faith. These Frenchmen were, 
as a rule, in the employment of the Company, and did much to keep up the 
friendly relations with the Indians. Three years after the formation of the 
Dominion, this Northwest territory was purchased by Canada from the Company. 
The French people who had settled upon the land declared that the Company 
had no right to sell the territory, that it was not theirs, but had been granted to 
them for trading purposes. 

They claimed that from the earliest settlement of the country the French 
had been the owners of the Northwest territory, and to the French settlers it still 
belonged. These settlers no doubt believed tha't they were right, and there are 
many people who agree with them, but that made no difference in the result. When 
a few of them under the leadership of a brave Frenchman by the name of Louis 
Reil, took up arms to defend their possessions, they were defeated, and Reil was 
captured and executed. 

Since the formation of the Dominion, Canada has increased wonderfully in popu- 
lation and wealth. Many railroads have been built, and these have given a new 
impulse to the development of the country. The Northwest territory has been found 
to have land capable of producing large crops of fine wheat, and a tide of emigration 
is flowing steadily into the fertile valleys of the Red river of the North, and to the 
prairies of Manitoba. 

To all intents and purposes, the people of Canada are independent of the Crown 
of Great Britain, and those who have watched the progress of the colonies of Great 
Britain do not doubt that in time they will be actually independent, a republic, per- 
haps, like our own. It seems that since the first foreign colony of Great Britain 
was founded, the whole policy of the government has been such as is calculated to 
make those colonies strive for independence when they grow strong enough to 
do so. 

I am afraid that Great Britain has steadily lagged behind the progress of the 
world in dealing with her colonies, but that may be one of the designs of providence. 
Certainly it does not seem that in America, a nation that has had the courage to 
conquer the wilderness and its foes, to wrestle with savage men and unfriendly ele- 
ments, will forever be subject to any power but the will of the people. There are 
those who declare that all the English-speaking people in North America are destined 
to become one great nation, a union in interest leading naturally to a union in govern- 
ment. The resources of Canada are those of a Continent, and whenever the people 
determine to free themselves from England, there is no doubt that they will accom- 
plish it, and repeat in their own history the remarkable progress of the United 
States. 

It is flattering to the people of Canada, that though in the past there have been 
battles fought between England and America upon Canadian soil, and there have 
been invasions of the United States from Canada, the people of our country, even in 
the heat of their greatest anger and bitterness toward England, have had only the 
most kindly feeling for the people of Canada. The colonies along the borders of the 
Atlantic Ocean, when they had been for a hundred years under the rule of the kings 
of England, would have indignantly scorned the idea that they would ever try to 



884 SPANISH AMERICA. 

separate themselves from the mother-country, and even after the war of the Revo- 
lution had actually begun, some of the most patriotic and wise men of our country 
still favored the union with England. 

Canada has been only a little more than a century under British rule, and yet the 
separation from the mother-country has gone gradually forward, and when the time 
is ripe let us hope that the time-worn tie will break peaceably, and that Canada, the 
Republic of the North, may be enthroned in the \'alley of the St. Lawrence with no 
tears in her eyes for the slaughter of brave sons, and no deeds of violence and war 
to regret. 




^•SPANISH AM ERICA, ie- 

HAVE told you of some of the adventures of the Spaniards upon the Isth- 
mus of Darien, and how Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean in the year 
1513. There had been attempts jnade by the Spanish priests to found set- 
tlements upon the south-western coast of South America, but they had not 
succeeded, for no sooner did they begin to have a good influence over the 
natives, than some ship filled with rascally Spaniards would land in the 
neighborhood, and capturing every Indian they could find, would then set 
sail for some of the West Indies Islands, where the unhappy captives 
would be sold into a dreadful slavery. 

The Indians who were the friends and relatives of the captives, usually 
put the Spanish priests to death, and their monasteries would be burned. I must tell 
you that the slavery which even Columbus encouraged, grew into a dreadful evil. 
The Spaniards of those days were cruel and bloodthirsty men, and Columbus him- 
self carried bloodhounds to Hispaniola to be used in running down Indians who 
were sought for slaves, and caused them to be chased by these dreadful animals. 
Some of these bloodhounds were trained for war, and were allowed a share of the 
gold and booty as though they had been fighting-men, and their masters were thought 
especially fortunate in possessing them. I would not, if I could, tell you all of the 
horrible sufferings of the poor Indians of the West Indies under the hard rule of the 
Spaniards. They were burned at the stake or thrown to the bloodhounds if they 
refused to work in the mines for their inhuman masters, and if they consented to 
work, were so over-burdened and under-fed. that they soon died, many of them com- 
mitting suicide to escape their miseries. 

The Pope had early declared that not only were the lands in the Western World 
the property of the King of Spain, but the people, too, were his, (to do as he would 
with, and to grant to whom he would.) Eerdinand, therefore, gave the Indians to the 
men whom he thought would wring the most work from them, for the king had a 
share of all the gold which was dug from the mines, and cared little how many human 
lives were sacrificed it his strong bo.\es were kept well-filled. He pretended to be 
greatly horrified when some of the good priests who had witnessed the cruelties of 
the Spaniards to their Indian slaves went back to Spain and related to him the 
dreadful things they had seen, but though he made some laws for the protection 
of the slaves, they were not put in force, and none of the cruel Spaniards were 
punished for their abuse of the Indians. 

There was a pretense on the part of the Spanish slave-traders, just as there 
was on the part of some other slave-traders of whom I have told you, that they 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



885 




HERNANDO CORTES. 



were capturing the savages and selling them into bondage, 
where they might receive Christian teaching. Isabella saw 
how cruel and false this was, and when slaves were brought 
to Spain in the days of Columbus, she indignantly ordered 
them to be returned to their own country, saying that they 
were free men, and no other means should be used for their 
conversion than gentle and tender teaching of 
the doctrines of religion. Almost with her last 
breath the good queen besought her husband to 
deal gently with the Indians, but he did not heed 
her advice; he was as fond of gold as the neediest 
.Spanish adventurer that ever sailed the sea, and as 
cruel at heart as the most cruel of them all. 

In less than twenty-five years after the discov- 
ery of the Island of Cuba by Columbus, there were 
less than five hundred Indians there, though at the 
time the first Europeans set foot on the island 
there were twelve hundred thousand natives, living 
peaceful, happy lives in the groves and fields. 
Many of them had been killed, others had died 
under the hardships of their lives of slavery, and 
others had fled to other islands, but not to freedom, for they were found by the 
Spaniards and treated as their brothers were treated in Cuba. 

What wonder that the Indians grew to hate the white men, and to look upon 
them as monsters in human shape. It is said that the Spaniards often killed the 
Indians whom they had taken prisoner in wanton wickedness, thrusting their swords 
through their bodies and watching their death agonies with the same cruel pleasure 
that some depraved people watch the tortures of dumb animals which they are killing 
by slow degrees for "sport." I have told you in the course of this story of many 
horrid crimes, but in all the history of the world there is no crime so deep and 
shameless as the treatment by the Spaniards of the Indians in the New World. 

When the man who was governor of the Island of Cuba in the year 15 19, heard 
that Vasco Nunez de Balboa had actually found the golden land on the borders of 
the W^estern ocean, he determined to send an expedition out for the conquest of the 
country and the bringing in of as much of its treasure as possible. He chose for the 
purpose, a daring young man by the name of Hernando Cortes. He knew that he 
was the right person to command an expedition for the purposes of plunder, for he 
was as brave as a lion, with a will that nothing could daunt, and with a soul utterly 
closed to the promptings of justice and mercy. 

Those were the qualities most esteemed in the Spanish adventurers of that day, 
and the governor of Cuba thought that he had made a fortunate choice of a captain. 
He therefore gave him eleven small ships, seven hundred soldiers with their arms, 
ammunition and supplies for the campaign, and several cannon. He also sent along- 
sixteen horses, for the Indians had always been found to have the greatest terror for 
those strange beasts, and the horses were trained to trample their naked bodies under 
foot. Of course, there were a number of priests, too, who went along to chant hymns 
and "preach the gospel to the Indians," for the Spaniards in those days looked upon 
their religion as a sort of charm that would give them good luck if they took it with 



886 



SPANISH AMERICA. 




them, and might work them evil if it was left at home. 
I have no doubt that many of the priests were truly gen- 
tle, God-fearing men, but they had little influence upon 
the rude and cruel adventurers in the New World. 

The Indians of the mainland by this time were well 
acquainted with the disposition of the Spaniards. There 
were colonies at Darien and other places which had sent 
out expeditions from time to time in search of gold. 
These expeditions had come in contact with the Indians, 
and had taught them how little they were to trust the 
Spaniards; rumors of these white men may have been 
carried to the Indians farther south, and made them 
'I'termined to resist the invaders. I will tell you some- 
:ng of the Indians of Central and South America, in 
order that you may have an idea of the kind of people 
that Cortes found there, and may judge whether he did 
right or wrong in "conquering" them. 

You know that the Indians upon the entire Western 
Continent, from the northern part of North America to 
the most southern point of South America were all of 
PUEBLO VASE. Que Tcd Tace, and all had some characteristics in common, 

but the various tribes differed from one another in the advance they had made in 
civilization. The Indians on those islands first discovered by the Spaniards lived in 
well-built houses, usually in small villages, and passed their time in idleness or in the 
sports suitable to the climate and their surroundings. Nature had placed ready to 
their hands nearly all the means of their living, and they did not have to exert them- 
selves even to gain their food, and they needed little clothing. 

Having thus no difficulties to overcome, the natives of the West Indies were 
undeveloped both in mind and body, could endure no hardship nor work, and made 
little progress in civilization. They were not obliged to fight for their homes, for 
they were, as a rule, at a distance from other tribes, and thus lived quiet, peaceful, 
idle lives, until the coming of the Spaniards. It was very different with the Indians 
of the mainland. The whole Continent was open to them, and they might roam 
where they would, in their hunting and fishing, and if they found any one in their 
way were disposed to fight. They fixed their home where it suited them best to live, 
and when they were tired of one spot sought another. 

The Indians of the Atlantic Coast of North America were obliged to become 
hunters and fishermen, for this was the only means they had of living, except culti- 
vating the soil, and as thej' had neither tools nor crops, with the exception of the 
Indian corn, which I have told you needs but little cultivation, they became wanderers, 
and remained wanderers to the last, though they had some ideas of government, as 
shown by the union of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, which made 
that people the leading nation of Central North America. 

The Indians of Central America and Mexico were different both from the wild 
tribes of the North and the idle, gentle islanders. It may have been that long ago 
they were brought in contact with some nation that had ideas of civilization, and I 
am inclined to believe that they had. Perhaps the Tyrians, or some other of the 
Phoenicians, sailed to their shores many centuries before, and bartered with them for 
gold and silver, and taught them in return how to build with stone, for their carvings 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



887 




on stone imitate woven fabrics 
which they were unable to make, 
and strange figures much like 
those carved and painted on 
some of the old tombs of ancient 
Egypt. 

This may not have been the 
case, and it may be, as some be- 
lieve, that the Indians learned to 
build houses of sun-dried clay 
and stone by some natural pro- 
cess. We know that until the 
coming of the Europeans the 
Indians had no vessels of iron 
or copper for the boiling of their 
meats and corn. They could, 
however, make baskets that ' a pueblo community. 

were almost water-tight, but these could not be set directly over the fire for the 
purpose of cooking food, or they would be burned and rendered unfit for use. 

Some ancient Indian genius, most likely a woman, who was at her wits end 
for some method of cooking meat other than roasting it with heated stones, sur- 
rounded the basket with a coating of clay, and then dropped heated stones into 
the water until the food was cooked. She found after some experiment that the 
basket surrounded with the clay might be set over the fire, and the meat would 
thus be cooked with less labor. This was a great discovery, and it led to some- 
thing, as all such discoveries do. The fire hardened the clay after awhile, until 
the basket was unnecessary, for the burned clay would hold the food, and could 
be used again and again. This was the birth of the art of pottery, one of the 
arts that has done so much for the civilization of the world, that those who have 
studied its development are able to tell from the perfection of the pottery of 
dead and gone nations, about what was the degree of their civilization. 

Some of the western Indians build their houses out of river-mud, plastered 
upon a framework, and when this mud is exposed to the rays of the sun for a 
long time, it becomes almost as hard as stone. In the southwestern part of North 
America there is found in certain places quantities of a stiff clay which becomes very 
hard under the rays of the sun, and when pressed into brick is a fine material for 
building. It is called "adobe," and many of the Spaniards who settled in those parts 
of the country built their houses of it. 

The natives had no other building material that was so easy to procure and use, 
and they built their houses of it. They did not live in lonely lodges, as did the Indians 
of the northern part of the Continent, but they built strong, durable and wonderful 
cities, and lived there from generation to generation. Of course dwellers in cities 
could not be wandering hunters; they must have some regular and certain means of 
procuring their food, and this the Indians of Mexico and Central America found in 
the cultivation of the soil. 

The cities which these people built were different from any other cities in the 
world of which we know, and we do not know just why they were built in the places 
where their ruins are yet to be found, or how the material was carried there. They 



888 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



are not likely to have been cities such as we understand by the word, but more 
\'\ke a huge apartment house, with room for hundreds, or even thousands of families. 





rr r^ iTV f — p.- -/ "''""'' 

F ,■ fir T^ _Ji -,r? - . ■ '/^/| 











CLIFF dweller's VILLAGE. 

I do not want you to understand that the ruins are in anything like the beautiful 
ruins found^ where once stood the proud cities of the old empires, but they are fully 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



889 




as interesting, and if we knew all about them, we might be 
able to solve some of the puzzling riddles concerning the his- 
tory of man upon this Western Continent. They were perched 
high up on a cliff or bluff, though it may be that the cliffs 
were not so high then as in our own times, for the river near 
which they are mainly found may, in the course of ages, 
have cut deeply into the earth and worn a channel down so 
that the dwellings are now much farther from the bottom of 
the channel than they were centuries ago. This is thought 
to be true by some people, but I believe that these strange 
homes of the cliff-dwellers were not built by the same tribes 
that built the Pueblo cities, though the manner of building 
is a great deal alike. 

The Pueblo cities, too, were built on a high cliff or table- 
land, or "mesa," as they are called. The cliff-dwellings are 

high and narrow, and approached, I believe, by secret paths pueblo water jar. 

from the tops of the gulches, where they were perched on overhanging cliffs. The 
Pueblo cities, and there are some Pueblos still in the southwestern part of our coun- 
try, where the Indians live much as they did before the coming of the Spaniards, 
look from the outside like a huge wall built very high, with only a loophole here 
and there. Perched high up above the surrounding plains upon a cliff that seems to 
have no road leading up the sides, these Pueblo cities seem to be so strong that they 
could not be attacked with any hope of success, and it was, perhaps, on that account 
that they were built in that way. 

From the inside of the Pueblo, the houses are seen to be four stories high, with 
no space whatever between them. The first has four rooms, set one in front of the 
other, the room fronting the center of the square is only one story high, and its roof 
forms a sort of a porch for the story above it. Thus, viewed from the inside, these 
Pueblo dwellings are like steps in a pair of stairs, and the rooms on the outer side 
have no entrance from the rooms above them. The last of these stories have but a 
single room, and this room contains the outer door of the dwelling, and the only one 
from which it may be entered in that direction. 

This door is not in the side of the wall, but is a sort of sky-light, and any one 
desiring to enter the Pueblo must first ascend the cliff by a path so steep that a goat 
could scarcely climb it, but which the dwellers of the Pueblo from long habit 
tread as swiftly as though it were a level road, and then must climb a series of 
ladders to the very top room, enter through the sky-light, and descend on the other 
side from porch to porch, also by ladders. Thus, if a dweller in a Pueblo of the 
olden times desired to lock his door securely, all that he needed to do was to 
draw up his ladders and he was sate from the savage prowlers of the plains and 
woods, and when they were attacked they could rain down missiles upon their 
besiegers from the loop-holes in the walls or from the roofs There was always 
a well somewhere within the enclosure, and I suppose, too, that stores of food were 
also kept for such emergencies. The fields or gardens were either on the cliffs, 
themselves, where, with the most painful labor, soil had been carried for the pur- 
pose, and planted and tended, or they were in the valleys below, protected with 
strong walls. 

The Spaniards were so much astonished when they saw this singular sort of city. 



890 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



that they could hardly believe their own eyes. When Cortes landed in Mexico and 
saw for the first time these Pueblo dwellings, he compared one of the cities of these 
Mexicans with Cordova, the beautiful Moorish Capital of Spain, and there were some 
very astonishing tales of their splendor and riches written and sent back to Spain. 




SCENE IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 

These tales were not true, for instead of the elegance that was described by the 
Spanish story-tellers, there was a rude sort of civilization. Rude as it was, it made 
a powerful impression upon the Spaniards who had been accustomed to seeing in the 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



891 



New World where they penetrated for the first time, only half-naked savages, without 
any ideas of civilized life. 

These Mexicans knew how to make implements out of an alloy of copper and 
tin, which in ancient times in Europe and Asia served in the place of iron. They 
built their Pueblos out of limestone, set in mortar such as was in use in those days, 
and now among civilized people, and seemed to know the principles of mathematics, 
for their dwellings were planned with great accuracy. They had a system of hiero- 
glyphics, and made paper from the tibre of the aloe. There was cotton of a fine 
quality raised in some parts of Mexico, as well as farther south, and from this the 
Indians of Mexico wove fine cloth. 

They made beautiful curtains and garments of bright-colored feathers, showing 
mr.ch artistic taste in the arrangement of the colors and in the manner 'of placing 
them so that they represented birds, beasts or flowers. The Spaniards admired the 
cleverness of the Indians, and wrote of the beauty of their cities, how the Indians 
had a fine form of government, and not only raised excellent and valuable crops, but 







VIEW OF S.\N PABLO, ON PANAMA RAIL RciAD. 

made roads and bridges, and better than all, they had quantities of gold and silver. 
So little did they know of the use of these metals by civilized people that they made 
household vessels of them. 

The religion of the Mexicans was very strange and different from the simple 
faith of the Indians of North America. They believed in a fair god, who loved to 
have as his offerings, the perfume of the flowers and the fruits of the earth, and they 
believed also in a dark and cruel god, who delighted in the blood of human victims. 
To him they sacrificed captives taken in war, or youths and maidens. The people of 
Mexico, though of many different tribes, spoke nearly the same language. The chief 
people were the Aztecs and the Toltecs, though they may have been of the same 
race, and that name, the name Toltec, means "builder," and it is likely that this 
Mexican race were so called because they built Pueblos. It is certain that a tribe of 
Mexicans built a city at a place named Tollan, and long lived there. 

Their city was much like the Pueblo cities of Arizona and New Mexico, but per- 
haps larger and more magnificent than the ruins of any Pueblo that now remains. 
After a time the wild tribes that roamed through the woods began to vex the dwellers 



8q2 . SPANISH AMERICA. 

in Tollan, to destroy their fields and slay any of the unwary who happened to stray 
outside of the walls unarmed. It was decidetl to abandon the place and seek another 
where the}' could dwell in peace. Their town was built of ruble stone and adobe 
brick, with flat roofs, and the inner walls were painted and carved. It must have taken 
a long time to build the city, and it must have been with sad hearts that the Toltecs 
left it. 

The Aztecs were about this time encamped in the Valley of Mexico, and it may 
be that the Toltecs joined with them, or it maj' be, as many have supposed, that the 
Toltecs and the Aztecs were really only one people, at any rate we are told in the 
histories of old Mexico, that about this same tinie the Aztecs, hard pressed by their 
enemies, took refuge in the marshes. Here they found a stone, where some years 
before one of their priests had sacrificed a captive. The fair god, so the Mexican 
historians say, had left the country about this time, and gone far to the east, and the 
dark god, with his sacrifices of blood, had become supreme among the Aztecs, and 
that is why the priest had sacrificed a human victim upon the stone in the marsh. 
Upon this sacrificial stone, some earth had by some means become lodged, and out of 
this handful of soil had grown a cactus. 

Upon the cactus there sat an eagle with a serpent in its mouth. The priests 
declared this was an omen that there should be the site of their new Pueblo, 
for notice now that the story of the Toltecs from this time forth, and that of the 
Aztecs seems to be one. He said the eagle indicated that the new city should 
be strong and victorious, and should strangle all its enemies as the bird was strangling- 
the serpent. The people thought the place a strange one for a city, and would not 
believe that the omen was from the god, until the priest plunged into the lake in the 
middle of the marsh, and held an interview with the water-god. 

This god told him that he read the sign aright, and that here was the place where 
the new Pueblo should be founded. The Aztecs then set to work to build their town, 
and when it was done called it Tenochtitlan, which means "the place of the cactus 
rock." The rock, the serpent, the eagle and the cactus became from that time forth 
their totem, or coat-of-arms, and it is preserved to-day in the coat-of-arms of the 
Republic of Mexico. 

The Aztecs surrounded their new Pueblo in the marsh with dikes and causeways 
to carry the waters of the marsh into a lake, and in the course of time so surrounded 
their Pueblo by water that it was safe from the attacks of their foes, while they sailed 
about upon its canals as comfortably as possible. They were thus as much at their 
ease in their Venice-like Pueblo, as they would have been had their dwellings been 
built upon a cliff, as was common with their race, and ujjon their island they grew 
strong and fearless. 

Th(;y changed the name of their Pueblo in time to Meixtl, which was the name 
of their god of war, and it was Meixtl that gave «the name Mexico to the city and 
the country of the Aztecs. 

The city of Mexico, as we will from this time call the Pueblo upon the island, 
was founded about the year 1325, and in a short time began to domineer over the 
other Pueblos in the neighborhood, for there were several others on the 
western shores of their lake. The Aztecs of the city of Mexico, formed a sort of 
partnership with the fierce warriors of three other Pueblos, and they agreed to go 
forth together, pounce upon their unwary neighbors in other Pueblos, compel them 
to be subject to them and to pay as tribute a certain quantity of food. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



8q3 



If this was at any time refused, the revengeful Aztecs would fall stealthily upon 
the unsuspecting victims, murder them, or carry them away captive to the city where 
they would be offered as victims to the war god, and their bodies eaten. The women 
from these captured tribes were made slaves, and the Pueblos destroyed when all 
that was of value had been carried away. 

These were the people that Cortes found when he came into Mexico with his 
Spanish soldiers, and as they were exceedingly fierce and brave, and had, beside, 
strong walls for their defense, he realized that the conquest of Mexico would be no 
easy task. His men were so much alarmed by the appearance of strength and the 
fierceness of the natives, that they would, no doubt, have turned back and returned 




IN THE HARBOR OF HAVANNA, MORO CASTLE IN THE DISTANCE. 

to Cuba had not Cortes, fearing that they would do some such thing, secretly bored 
holes in the bottoms of the ships and sunk them all but one. 

There is a sort of worm in tropic waters that fastens upon the wooden bottoms 
of vessels, upon piers or other wooden structures exposed to the waters of the ocean, 
and for a time the Spaniards thought that these had bored the holes. There was 
one man who knew too much of the habits of these worms to believe that they could 
have destroyed the bottom of the ships in such a short time, and he boldly charged 
Cortes with the deed. Cortes did not deny it, and said that there was still one ship 
left, he had saved it for the cowards who wanted to turn back, and asked all such to 



894 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



step forth from the ranks and get them gone. No cowards stepped forth, and Cortes 
then cooly sunk the other ship, and told his comrades that now there was no help for 
them in flight. They must either conquer or find graves in the strange land. 

The first Pueblo resisted the Spaniards, 
but the painted warriors could make little 
impression upon the strange metal-clad 
soldiers with their sharp weapons, and they 
were slain by the hundreds. It is said that 
they were so frightened by seeing one of 
the Spaniards fall from his horse that it 
brought about their defeat. They had sup- 
posed that the horse and man were om- 
strange and terrible monster, but when the,\ 
saw the man fall, and the two creatures pro- 
ceed independently of one another, they 
thought that creatures who had thus the 
power of dividing themselves were super- 
human, and it was useless to fight against 

them. 

The tax-gatherers, sent out by the great 
chief of the City of Mexico, Montezuma, 
were making their rounds about the time 
that Cortes was advancing into the country. 
The Pu'-M'i'^ wliiih h.id been conquered and 



made to render trib- 
ute were advised by 
tlie Spaniards to ar- 
rest these tax-gath- 
erers and refuse to 
pay the tribute; when 
t his was done, Cortes 
would secretly cause 
ihem to be released 
and sent before him 
lo Montezuma to 
s (1 u n (1 his praises. 
There was an Indian 
woman who had fall- 
t-n in love with Cortes 
sometime before, 
who understood the 
language of the Mex- 
ican tribes, and acted 
as interpreter and 
she also went about 





>N MIs>A).N. 



among 
meant 



the natives, learned how they felt toward the Spaniards, and whether they 
to submit to them or fight against them. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



895 



The governor of Cuba had begun to believe, even before Cortes sailed away, 
that he would try to set up a government for himself in Mexico, and this was just 
what Cortes did. He resigned the power given him by the Cuban governor, was 
elected governor of the new colony by his men, and proceeded to found a city near 
where Vera Cruz now stands, and which they called by that name. This done, he 
advanced with about four hundred and fifty men, his cannon and horses, to conquor 
the Aztec city on the lake. On the way he came to a large Pueblo where there were 
many victims held for sacrifice, for the ancient Mexicans sacrificed thousands of vic- 
tims every year, stewed their bodies with pepper and ate them, for all the Aztecs^ 
like those in the city on the lake, worshipped the dark god. The people thought that 
Cortes was the fair god of their legend, who had long ago been driven from their 
country, and was now coming back to claim his own. They made pictures of the 
Spaniards and the strange monsters, the horses, and sent them to Montezuma, and 
seemed to think that it was folly to struggle against the fair god. At one of the 
Pueblos there were a number of warriors who said so in the council, but there were 
others who wanted to fight the strangers. 

It seems that the Indians thought the Spaniards could not be killed, so pow- 
erless were their arrows against their armor, but some of the warriors would not 
believe it. They assembled about five thousand of their followers and went out 
against them. There was a dreadful battle, in which hundreds of the Indians were 
killed, and two or three of the Spaniards lost their lives, though Cortes was careful 
to bury them so secretly that the Indians did not know that they had killed any of 
the invaders. Another council was held by the Indians of this Pueblo, and some of 
their medicine-men told them that the strangers received their wondertul power from 
the sun, and by night they were only like other men. 

It was decided to send 
a small number of spies 
into the camp of the 
Spaniards to deceive 
them with promises of 
submission, and then 
to fall upon them while 
they slept. The clever 
Cortes was not to be 
deceived, and arrested 
the Indians and told 
them that they intend- 
ed to turn traitors. He 
then cut off their 
thumbs and sent theni 
back to their Pueblo, 
which was called Tlas- 
cala, and as they con- 
fessed to him what they 
intended, he sent a 
message to the chiefs 
that they were fully as 
strong by night as by 
day. The chiefs were the massacre of cholula. 




896 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



overcome with surprise at the power of Cortes to read their minds, and while they 
were talking over it, the Spaniards on horseback charged in among them and cut 
them down by the hundreds. The Tlascalan chiefs killed the medicine-men who 
had advised the night attack, made them into a friccasee, and ate them, and then 
joined the Spaniards as allies against the city of Mexico, with which they had 
long been at war. 

The next Pueblo on the way to the city of Mexico was called Cholula, and it was 
a very strong place and allied to the Aztec capital. This place was one where 
some very horrid sacrifices to the dark god and to the rattlesnakes and beasts were 
offered which the Mexicans also worshipped. The people allowed the Spaniards to 
enter the town, but it was intended to surround them and murder them all. The 
Indian woman, who was the companion of Cortes, learned all about the plot and told 
her master, but Cortes did not betray that he knew what was brewing, and then he 
asked thirty of the chiefs to come and see him. 

They came, and with them 
a large number of their fol- 
owers, who surrounded the 
.Spanish camp. Cortes had 
arranged his cannon ready to 
e touched off, and after tak- 
ing the chiefs aside and telling 
them that he knew all their 
plans, he caused them to be 
ilaced in irons, and held as 
)risoners, knowing that while 
they were alive the Indians 
could make no plans against 
tliem and could elect no new 
rhiefs. Then he gave the 
word, and the cannons were 
ired into the crowd of natives, 
and they fell dead by the score 
The terrified Indians thought 
that the white men comman- 
Icd the deadly lightning and 
the thunder, and made no fur- 
ther attempts to stay their 
march toward Mexico. 

Montezuma, the chief of the 
Aztec Pueblos and of Mexico 
City, heard of these strange 
doings of the Spaniards, and 
iid not know what to make of 
i them, though he was inclined 
to think that Cortes was really 
the fair god returning to his 
land. The Pueblo on the 
island had grown, by this time, 

AZTEC TOTEM POLE. '^ 




SPANISH AMERICA. 



897 



into a great city, with perhaps sixty or seventy 
thousand inhabitants, and had soHd paved 
streets of cement, canals leading here and 
there through the town, and tall houses built 
of red sand-stone and ornamented in the in- 
terior with red cedar and other woods, carved 
in forms of animals and flowers. 

There were no windows but little loop- 
holes in the walls, and the doorways were nar- 
row, and had no doors except mats of woven 
rushes. Nearly every house had a number of 
small towers upon the edge of the roof, from 
which, in time of war, could be rained down 
arrows and other missiles upon the streets be- 
low, and all the canals and wooden draw- 
bridges which could be raised in time of 
danger or alarm. In front of each house was 
the totem pole sculptured with the form 6f the 
bird or beast that represented the clan to which 
the inhabitant belonged, and there were four 
clans living in four separate quarters of the 
city. 

The description of the old city of Mexico 
reads like some of the hideous stories of mon- 
sters and dragons, and we know that the sight 
upon which the Spaniards gazed when they 
entered the place was one of the strangest 
upon which the eyes of Europeans ever rested. 
Even the old Bible city of Nineveh in the ear- 
liest days of which we know anything concern- montezuma. 
ing it, was modern compared to this town in its customs, for there were some of the 
horrid customs common to all races of men long before they had any history, and 
yet which is believed to have existed, for man is the same the world over, and his 
development from savagery has been so slow that we have not figures to express 
how long ago it was when he first began to raise himself toward civilization, and was, 
in Europe, in the stage in which these Mexicans were found. 

They ate strange food made out of corn-meal, pepper, stewed ants-eggs, frogs, 
and I can not tell you what else, but the strangest thing of all to the Spaniards was 
the Aztec love for human flesh. In the center of the city was a great temple, shaped 
something like a pyramid. It was a hundred feet high, and upon the top was a large 
black stone with a curved surface. Near this stone were hideous idols with open 
mouths, and down within the temple were a large number of rattlesnakes and wild 
beasts. Every day the priests ascended the winding stairs on the outside of the 
pyramid, and with them were carried captives to be killed on the rounded stone. 
Their hearts were cut from their living bodies and placed in the mouths of the idols, 
and the victims were then taken down and stewed in great cauldrons in the kitchens 
below, and the flesh divided up among the people. Forty or fifty victims were thus 
killed every day, and their blood was smeared all over this frightful temple, and the 




SgS 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



rattlesnakes and beasts were given portions of the raw flesh. This tall pyramid was 
surrounded by a high wall, and within the enclosure were about twent)- smaller 
temples where similar dreadful rites were celebrated. 

We can imagine with what horror the Spaniards gazed upon this temple, and 
witnessed the awful ceremonies with which the dark god, or Satan, was worshipped. 
They saw that the city was a very strong one. which it would be impossible to take by 
storm, ami that in their camp they might be starved into surrender, and taken in their 
turn to the top of the pyramid and offered to the dark god. Montezuma had received 
them very politely, for he thought them immortal, but the Spaniards knew that he 
would soon find out that they were not, and what would be done then they could only 
imagine. Cortes, therefore, took the precaution of making Montezuma a prisoner, 
and the Aztecs could do nothing without their chief, whom they thought almost a 
god. 




ENTRY OF PKEN'CH TROOPS INTO THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

While Cortes was resting in the city of Mexico he learned that the jealous gov- 
ernor of Cuba had sent eighteen ships and a large force of men to Me.\ico with orders 
to arrest him. He had been in the city of Mexico now about six months, and as he 
had Montezuma still in his power, was the real ruler of the Aztecs. He had taken 
possession of one of the smaller temples, cleansed it, sprinkled it with holy water, 
and set up there a cross and an image of the \'irgin. The cross, strangely enough, 
was a symbol of the worship of the fair god of the Aztecs, and they now believed 
that the strangers were sent by him to recover his power over them. They did not 
understand the doctrines of Christianity which the priests tried to teach them, and, 
to tell the truth, were exceedingly sullen and discontented at the prospect of being 
obliged to give up their feasts, their rattlesnakes, and their animals which they wor- 
shipped. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



Sqq 



The Spaniards sowed crops for their support and prepared for a long stay, and 
this did not please the people either. They had already learned that the Spaniards 
could be killed, and Cortes, who had one of the disused council houses, a building 
large enough to give shelter to his four hundred men with their horses and the thou- 
sand Tlascalans.who were still his allies, fortified this place strongly, and was watchful 
against treachery and surprise. He had left some of his men in his new city on the 
coast, and when he heard of the arrival of the Spaniards in the ships sent out to 
arrest him, he left a small force of Spaniards in this fortress, and went out with the 
rest to conquer those of his own countrymen whom he could not persuade to come 
over to him. 

He came upon the camp of the newcomers by night, surprised, defeated and 
captured the commander, and so entranced the troops that were with him with the 
tale of the riches of the city of Mexico, for it was rich in gold and precious stones, 




4 .-'f4,K'\:l'/ .^^'^i 



i r 






I/. 



' '4/,"? "l^-OL 



"^,. 










THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



that they were more than willing to join him as friends and allies in its conquest. 
Thus, he marched back to the city of Mexico with a force four times as large as that 
with which he had quitted it, but he found everything in disorder. The people, as I 
have told you, were sullen, and the man Cortes had left in charge thought that they 
were cowards, and determined that he would do something brilliant in the absence of 
Cortes. He may have thought Cortes at fault because he had made no attempt to 
conquer the city, but at any rate he set upon the people while they were in the midst 
of one of their horrid religious festivals, and killed about six hundred of them, among 
whom were many of the chiefs of the clans. 

The whole city rose against the hundred and fifty Spaniards still within its walls. 



goo 



SPANISH AMERICA. 




and besieged them in their fortress. The 
commander saw that he had made a mis- 
take, and compelled Montezuma to go out 
upon the roof of the fortress and command 
the people to disperse. They did so, but 
they burned tlie ships which the Spaniards 
had been all winter building, and which lay 
nearly finished upon the shores of the lake, 
they closed the markets so that the white 
men should not be able to buy any food, 
and they raised the draw-bridges to pre- 
vent the return of the rest of the Spaniards. 
Cortes did enter, however, but wherever 
he led his troops along the streets, he saw- 
scowling looks, and knew that something 
serious had happened in his absence. He 
soon found out what had been done, and 
OLD AQi'iniTT NEAR oRizAHA, MEXICO. you may be sure that he scolded the 

commander whom he had left in charge, and swore at him roundly, but that did not 
mend matters in the least. In a little while there would be no food for the large 
number of Spaniards, and something must be done at once. Cortes had also, as a 
captive, the brother of Montezuma, and he decided to send him out into the city to 
prevail upon the people to open the markets. 

He could not have done a more fatal thing, for by the Aztec law, when the reign- 
ing chief was deposed by the tribal council, his nearest male relative became the 
chief. The brother of Montezuma, instead of calling upon the people to open the 
markets, assembled the tribal council, caused them to depose his brother and make 
him chieftain. The Aztecs then gathered in a multitude, and with their javelins, 
arrows and slings, attacked the Spanish fortress. Again Montezuma was sent upon 
the roof to quell the tumult, but his power was gone. He was no longer considered 
sacred, but a common man, who was a traitor to the people, and they attacked him 
with their weapons and wounded him so severely that he died a few days afterward. 
The Spanish cannon thundered and carried death to the besiegers, but they 
pressed forward over the dead bodies of their comrades to storm the walls. They 
shot burning arrows into the walls, and the interior woodwork more than once caught 
(ire. The streets ran red with their blood, but they were only made the fiercer. 
Their great temple overlooked and commanded the fortress of the Spaniards, and 
from its summit the Aztecs cast arrows, javelins and huge stones upon the Spanish 
fortress. 

This place must be taken, so Cortes and his men sallied from their fortress, and 
after a most terrible hand-to-hand tight, took the temple, tlung the idols down among 
the people and burned the altars. The Spanish had no notion of being starved out. 
so the last day of June they started out of the city. The streets were quiet and 
deserted, but when they came to the place where the draw-bridge should have been, 
they found that they were all destroyed. They had expected this, and carried with 
them a sort of boat-bridge, which they launched upon the canal. Then the Indians 
swarmcil about them in their light canoes and harassed them so dreadfully throughout 
the night that they always spoke of it as the "night of calamity." 



SPANISH AMERICA. goi 

Of the twelve hundred Spaniards, six thousand Tlascalans, and eighty horses, 
with which Cortes had started from the fortress, when he reached the land on the 
opposite shore of the lake he had only five hundred Spaniards, two thousand Indian 
allies and twenty horses, the Aztecs having killed or captured all the rest. He had 



THE LAKE DWELLERS. 



i 1 1 1:- ij rt. rv r^ i-i IV r, 1 - Ij r- n, :i . 

lost all hi? cannon, and his case seemed hopeless. It is said that Cortes, when he 
looked upon the wreck of his army, sat down, buried his face in his hands and wept. 
I hough he might have done this, he was not yet in despair of taking Mexico. 

1 he Indians of the Pueblos throughout Mexico attacked him the very next day 



902 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



in the valley, but he beat them off with such a dreadful loss to them that they did 
not trouble him any more. While he waited for reinforcements from Hispaniola, 
whither he sent messengers for cannon, soldiers, horses and supplies, he busied him- 
self in attaching to him all the Pueblos that were dissatisfied with the cruel Aztec 
rule, and upon the Christmas after his dreadful defeat, which 3'ou will remember was 
in the year 1520, he started again for the city of Mexico. On the way he succeeded 
in breaking the power of the Aztec Confederacy, as the alliance of the Pueblos with 
the city of Mexico was called, for those Pueblos on the shores of the lake that had 
before opposed the Spaniards, now helped them, and a large fleet of canoes was 
launched by them on the lake for the use of his army, which was now twice as large 
as his former one, and he also launched several small ships on the lake. All this 
took time, and it was in April, 1521, that he began the siege of the city of Me.xico. 



W 



tw-. 



\tJ. 








THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA. 

The Aztecs had not been idle in the meantime, for they had resolved to fight to 
the last. They were the fiercest warriors of the red race, and they were dreadfully 
angry with the Spaniards because they had thrown down their gods, desecrated their 
temples and won their allies from them. The Spaniards had found the source of the 
supply of fresh water for the city, for the lake was salt, and this they cut off, resolv- 
ing to thus compel the Aztecs to surrender. In spite of this the Aztecs continued 
their resistance. 

Sometimes they lost a point and sometimes they gained one, and when that was 
the case the -Spaniards heard the sound of the dreadful drum in the temp'e calling 
upon the people to come and eat, and saw their comrades carried up to the top of the 
])yraniid and killed, and knew that afterward they were cooked and eaten. This was 
no unusual sight in their own army, for when their Indian allies took anj^ of the 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



903 



Aztecs, they also killed and ate their captives. So through all the long days of the 
early summer the siege was kept up. 

Small-pox broke out in the city and carried off hundreds of the Aztec warriors, 
their provision was e.xhausted and their ammunition all spent, but they would not 
yield. Cortes, as soon as he gained possession of a portion of the city, would tear it 
down and throw the stones into the lake, and then press on and attack another 
portion. It was not till the city was almost totally destroyed, every causeway choked 
with corpses, and no warriors left to defend it, that Me.xico was taken. 

Although Mexico was taken, there was a large hostile population of Indians to 
be won over to accept the Spanish rule. Cortes was just the man to accomplish this, 
and in a short time he securely established the Spanish rule in the conquered country 
with all the horrors that attended it in Cuba. The conquest of the Mexicans was 
one of the natural events in the history of the discovery and exploration of the New 
World. They were a people who could have received the civilization of the times 
and become a powerful nation, but this was not the policy of Spain. 

All that the Spaniards cared for was the gold of the mines, and to gain this they 
sacrificed the natives by the thousands.' They made them beasts of burden, ill-treated 
them and starved them, and the adventurers who came into the country with their 




THE CITV OF VERA-CRTZ. 

fierce soldiers, amused themselves by torturing the Indians in every possible way. 
They had heard the tales of their cannibalism and their idolatry, and seemed to think 
them not men but some sort of two-legged beast, whose suffering was a natural con- 
sequence of the sins of their savage ancestors. 

The Indians were still brave, but their bravery counted for nothing, against the 
arms of the Spaniards, and it was not long before they were so disheartened that 
they ceased to struggle, and in a short time sunk into the degradation of their slaverj/ 
so hopelessly that to this day their descendants have not been able as a people to lift 
themselves entirely out of it, though now and again there is a man of Aztec blood 
whose powers of mind recall to us the old glory of his race. 

From Mexico the tide of Spanish conquest flowed north and south until nearly 
the whole Pacific Coast had been explored, and all of South America brought under 
the rule of Spain. At the same time that Cortes was making the conquest of Mexico, 
Magellan was proving that America was a vast Continent by sailing round it, and he 
was killed at Matan, in the Phillipine Islands, the very day after Cortes began the 
siege of Mexico. Cortes made four expeditions for the purpose of exploring the 
Pacific Coast, and he discovered the Peninsula of California. He returned to .Spain 



c,o4 SPAxNISH AMERICA. 

the year that Ferdinand De Soto set out to find the Mississippi river, and fought i 
Africa for the king asrainst the Moors. In spite of his conquest of Mexico, and ti.a 
vast wealth he had added to the crown of Spain, for the mines of Mexico were con- 
stantly pouring their golden streams into the Spanish treasury, Cortes shared the fate 
of most of the great discoverers. He w^as neglected by the king and died in 
obscurity. 

There was a legend that haci often been told in Spain that was believed to be 
true by many of the Spanish adventurers, who were rather inclined to believe in the 
marvelous. This story, in various forms, has been told again and again, and there 
are even persons in these prosaic days of fact, who believe in something very much 
like it. The tale was that at the time the Moors entered Spain in the eighth century 
and conquered the southern portions of the country, a certain bishop sailed away 
from the conquered country with a large company of followers, and voyaging to the 
westward founded seven cities in a country called Antilia. 

When the Spaniards discovered the West Indies they were inclinetl to believe 
that among them was the fabled Antilia, and the islands w-ere often spoken of as 
"The Antilia," which in our day has become Antilles, and the West Indies on many 
of the maps are called "The Antilles." When they did not find the seven cities there, 
and did discover Mexico a little later on, and found out that North America was a 
Continent, they imagined that the seven cities of the bishop were situated somewhere 
in the unknown interior of the Continent, and speculated much upon their growth in 
wealth and power since they w-ere lost sight of by the world seven centuries before. 

There were in New Mexico and Arizona, several Pueblos, and among them were 
the seven Pueblos of the Zuni Indians, those strange people whose interesting cus- 
toms have in our own times been the subject of much study. Six of these Pueblos 
are still inhabited, and are poor enough in all things that the Spaniards prized, as 
they were probably in those days. The Spaniards, however, got it into their heads 
when they heard in Mexico of the "seven cities of Cibola," as they were called, that 
those were the cities of the bishop, and that they were filled with all manner of 
riches. One adventurous man with a company of followers did set out and even 
came in sight of the Zuni Pueblos, but the Indians of Zuni killed one of his followers 
and seemed so hostile that he hastened back to Mexico, where he told some very 
astonishing falsehoods about the splendors of the cities he had discovered. 

The Spaniards in Mexico would hardly have disputed with him, if lie had declared 
that he had found a town whose streets were paved with gold and whose fountains 
spouted wine, for in this country of marvels what might not exist. There was one 
brave man by the name of Francisco de Coronado, who determined to visit these 
rich cities and learn for a certainty what they contained. 

About the time that De Soto was landing upon the coast of Florida, to make that 
wonderful march to the Mississippi and to his grave in its bed, Coronado, with three 
hundred Spaniards and eight hundred Mexicans, started for the interior of the 
country, determined to lind the golden cities of the bishop, and to win fame equal to 
that of Cortes and Pizarro. He visited the Pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona, 
and was disgusted enough when he found they wereonly poor communities like those 
of Mexico, except that they had no gold within their store-houses, or anything else that 
he cared to plunder them of, and then resolutely turned his face to the northeast. 
On and on the Spaniards went, and for once in the history of Spanish discovery and 
exploration, there was little suffering among the adventurers. 



SPANISH AMERICA 



905 



c 
z 




Qo6 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



Coronado and his men were the first Europeans to gaze upon the wonders of the 
Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and the interior of the Continent. They killed 
buffaloes, dried their meat, and were thus well supplied with provisions. They no 
doubt helped themselves to the corn of the Indians, who fled before them in terror 
of their horses and armor, as was usually the case, and on they went until they 

came to a place somewhere near the north 



fork of the Platte river, or near the pre- 
sent boundary between Kansas and Ne- 
braska, 

All through the southwest they had met 
with evidences of Pueblo life, but as they 
journeyed to the north and eastward, they 
found only savage tribes wandering over 
the plains and living by hunting and fish- 
ing. These could tell them nothing of 
any cities, and the Spaniards, weary and 
disgusted, set out upon their return. They 
had given Spain a claim upon nearly all 
that part of the Continent west of the 
Rocky mountains and south of the Mis- 
souri river, and this was something accom- 
plished, but they had found no gold, and 
2 therefore considered that the e.xpedition 
; was a failure. 

t Before I leave the storj' of the conquests 
'_ of the Spaniards in North America, I 
^ want you to notice a fact that I mentioned 
:; in telling the story of the Greeks. Where 
'L the soil and climate were fitted for the 
_ development of the Aryan race to the 
^ highest degree, there they lived and flour- 
~ ished, and reached a degree of civilization 
truly remarkable, but the Greeks were able 
to draw from other nations, and make 
their own all that was best. In portions 
of North and South America best adapt- 
ed to the growth of civilization, the native 
races, with all the characteristics of the 
savages who were their brethren, were 
able to advance toward civilization and 
really accomplished wonders, when we 
remember that they were isolated from 
the rest of the world as was the advance 
of the Me.xicans when compared with the 
naked savages of the Atlantic Coast, it 
can not be compared to the development 
of the Peruvians. 

I have told you that Francisco Pizarro 




SPANISH AMERICA. 907 

accompanied Balboa when he made that remarkable journey which resulted in the 
discovery of the Pacific ocean, and that it was he who arrested the brave discoverer 
and took him to that dungeon from which he was led to the block where he was 
executed. Pizarro did not forget the ships that Balboa built with so much care for 
the purpose of finding the golden land there to the south where the people used gold 
as the Spaniards used iron. 

He had no money to undertake an expedition, so he settled down to stock-raising 
upon the isthmus. He was continually haunted with visions of the golden lands 
awaitmg the fortunate discoverer, and in the year 1524, persuaded his two companions 
in the stock-raising business to engage in an enterprise for the discovery and explora- 
tion of lands to the southward. One of them was to find money to equip men, and 
the other was to find the men to be equipped, while Pizarro with a few companions 
was to sail away at once, discover what he could and await their coming at some point 
upon the coast. 

He carried out the programme, landing at a certain point after searching along 
the coast for a place where it would be high and dry enough to live, for it was then 
the rainy season, and sent his ship back for the re-enforcements. He and his com- 
panions suffered miserably for a long time. They could find nothing to eat but roots, 
herbs and berries, and they did not discover any villages or towns for some time. 
One night, one of the Spaniards reported that he saw a light a little way off, and 
Pizarro and his men were guided to the place. They found an Indian village, where 
the people were so frightened at seeing men with white faces, long beards and metal 
armor, that they fled, leaving everything in their huts. 

There were provisions and water, of which the famished Spaniards partook 
before they began to search for gold. They found ornaments of the precious metal 
and were much encouraged, hi spite of this find, the companions of Pizarro suf- 
fered so much from the heat of the climate and the difificulties in the way, that 
all but fourteen of them returned to Panama, in the vessel that brought out the re-en- 
forcements. The vessel was six weeks making the passage, for the winds blew hard 
in the wrong direction, and as soon as it came, Pizarro embarked and sailed south- 
ward. 

Everywhere in the villages of the Indians, the Spaniards found evidences 
that they were indeed in the land of gold, for the ornam.ents upon the arms of the 
women and men w^ere of gold, their head-dresses were of gold, and they wore also 
emeralds and other jewels. They were not naked savages, but wore clothing made of 
the wool of an animal native to the country, or woven of fine cotton, and beautifully 
embroidered. 

Pizarro was satisfied that he had discovered a great empire, but he had not the 
money and men to conquer it, and was obliged to return for them. He succeeded by 
displaying the gold he had found and the captives he had taken, (for like the other 
.Spanish explorers, he took prisoners some of the people who had treated him with 
the greatest kindness,) in getting together a hundred and sixty men, and with these 
sailed again to the coast of the new land, and began to drive out the Indians from 
their villages and capture the towns with the gold they contained. The farther 
southward they went, the more of the evidences of civilization they saw, and the 
Spaniards began to understand that there would be many difficulties in the way. 
One of the partners in the undertaking was sent back to Panama for more ships and 
men, and Pizarro with the others started into the interior of the country. 



Qo8 



SPANISH AMERICA. 




.1. 










MEXICAN GARDEN. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



909 




Pizarro would not allow the 
Spaniards to rob and pillage 
the Indians as they went, for 
he knew that in the heart of 
such a powerful country as 
this seemed to be, his best plan 
was to gain the good will of the 
natives. The people were kind 
to the Spaniards, and supplied 
all their needs. They gave 
them tiie flesh of llamas to eat, 
and presented them with 
Indian corn, potatoes, pine- 
apples and cocoa-nuts. When 
Pizarro was asked by them 
whence he came and what was 
his purpose, he told them that 

he came from the greatest , caraccas Venezuela. , 

prince on the earth, and to teach them the true religion. Finally he came to a 
large town with fine houses, good roads and fields of corn, cotton, and potatoes, 
showing skillful culture. 

He learned that it was rich in gold and silver, and though he desired above 
all things to have it, he knew better than to attempt it with his small force. He 
therefore set out for the place where his partner ought by this time to be with 
the supplies from Panama, and found that he had indeed returned, but without 
the supplies, for the Governor of Panama had refused to help him There was 
nothing to be done but to return to Panama, and thence sail to Spain and tell 
the king of the world he had found. When he arrived at court he found Cortes 
there, and the king was inclined to aid any undertaking that was likely to bring 
Spain more wealth. Pizarro was, therefore, given ships, men and an army for the 
conquest of Peru, the country he had discovered. 

What people were they who lived in Peru, and what was their story, you ask- 
I will try, briefly, to give you some idea of them, for they were in some respects 
like the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians, though they were Indians, like all of 
the inhabitants of America. They had no form of writing except a manner of 
recording events by the means of knotted cords of different colors, and this was so 
difficult to learn and so hard to remember, that few of the people could read the 
strange record even then. There were ruins so wonderfully solid and massive in 
appearance, joined together without mortar, that they showed the huge buildings of 
which they had once been a part, were built by people who knew all about calculating 
with figures, but though these buildings were probably built by the ancestors of the 
Peruvians, they themselves did not know when, so you see, though they had no 
written history, they had a history going far, far back into the past. 

The Peruvians did not sacrifice human victims as did the Me.xicans, nor were 
they cannibals, but their god was the sun, and was worshipped by many ceremonies- 
exactly like those of the ancient Egyptians. They kept sacred fire burning in 
braziers, and had large convents filled with vestal virgins, whose duty it was to watch 
this fire and keep it from dying. These virgins spun and wove the garments of the 



Oio SPANISH AMERICA. 

Inca, or ruler, and were considered sacred. The Peruvians did not bury or burn 
their dead, but they embalmed them, somewhat in the way that the Egyptians did, 
and placed them in certain enclosures kept for the purpose. 

The houses of the Peruvians were either cone-shaped or like a small pyramid, 
and were put together with mortar. Their roads were the most remarkable in the 
world, but they did not know about the principle of the arch, and thus could not 
build bridges over the deep and wide mountain gorges, except by stretching rope 
across, upon which planks were placed. 

Although what they accomplished in the way of building, weaving and farming 
was wonderful, (and the Peruvians raised magnificent crops and were fine farmers) 
what they did in the way of government was more wonderful still, and there is no 
record in the world of any society like that which the Spaniards found in Peru. The 
laws in regard to property were such that although no individual could claim any of 
the land for himself, all were compelled to work, except the old and sick. These 
were provided for by the well and strong, and there was neither poverty nor wealth 
in any of the homes of the people. 

They tilled the soil, and raised llamas for their wool, but all the food and the 
material for clothing in the country was the property of the Inca, who divided it into 
three portions. One of these was for himself and his large household, another for 
the priests, and the third tor the people. Every subject of the Inca had a right to 
draw from the common stock enough for his needs, and the sick and old with the 
rest. If one village lacked anything, it exchanged with another village, or if the 
community that was needy had nothing to exchange, they were supplied from the 
common store, or some other village. They understood irrigation, and their land, 
much of which is now a desert-wilderness, was so carefully tilled that the best potato 
crops the world has ever seen were raised upon it. 

Had the Peruvians possessed the grains that were common to Europe and Asia, 
and the horse and cow for domestic animals, there is little doubt that they would 
have been the greatest agricultural people in the world. But they had no such grains, 
and no beast of burden except the llama, a strong little animal whose flesh is good 
for food, and whose "hair was woven by the Peruvians into beautiful cloth. They had 
no sheep, but they had the alpacca, from whose hair also they wove the fine cloth 
known by that name now, though now, of course, it is woven by machinery instead 
of the rude looms that were used by the Peruvians. Rude as were these looms, 
they were made to produce the finest and most beautiful fabrics, and the cotton 
woven by the Peruvians was wonderful in its silky texture and strength. 

In the different Peruvian cities there was little use for money, but coin was 
stamped into round pieces, and there were quills filled with gold-dust that may 
have been used for money. There were no tailors, or shoe-makers, weavers or 
other artisans, who kept shops and worked for the rest of the community, for 
every man knew how to make his own shoes, weave his own cloth and fashion it 
into garments, and in this way the spare time of the people was used. 

The families did not live mixed up together, as was often the case in Indian com- 
munities, but each man had one'wife only and lived with her and his children in a 
separate house. The people had amusements, and these, too, were very much like 
those of civilized communities. Besides the feasts and religious ceremonies, they 
were fond of poetry and dramatic compositions, and though they had no written 
literature, they had poetry and drama of a high grade of excellence, considering the 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



911 



fact of their isolation from the world, and all the ideas they had of either were those 
they formed without outside aid. 

In our own day it has become quite the fashion to belittle what the Peruvians 
had done in the way of civilization, and speak slightingly of their cities, their roads, 
and even their laws, but I think you will agree that they were the Greeks ot the 
world of Ancient America, and that in their way they were quite as remarkable as 
the Greeks of Europe, and Asia Minor, and for the same reason, because they were 
placed in a situation where they could develop themselves, and what they did was not 
straightway undone by their savage foes. Perhaps they were the descendants of 
those cliff-dwellers who had disappeared from the earth long before the first sight 




LIMA PERU. 

was had by white men of the ruins of their towns, and it may be they were the same 
race that built the strange eyries upon the inaccessible rocks in the canyons of the 
Southwest. In times long before the coming of the Spaniards they built the temples 
whose ruins are still found in Peru. 

In their early days the Peruvians had been the enemies of the surrounding tribes, 
but little by little they had conquered their enemies, made them give up their savage 
habits and their worship of unclean beasts, like those worshipped in Mexico, and 
compelled them to accept their laws and their ways of living. The conquered people 
were made to speak the language of their conquerors, and as there was nothing in 
the way of written literature to cause them to remember their past, they soon forgot 
that they were not of the same tribe as the Children of the Sun, as the Peruvians 
called themselves, and became truly of the same nation. 

The Incas, or rulers, were just, and were thus able to wield a large influence, and 



<)I2 



SPANISH AMERICA. 




< 
> 



SPANISH AMERICA. 913 

they were regarded as the representative of the sun-god, and their persons were 
considered sacred. It is said that the Incas had no temptation to be wicked or cruel. 
They were so revered that everybody tried their utmost to please them. They 
were allowed to marry as many wives as they wanted, and all of their necessaries 
and luxuries were provided by the people, and they could only take their lawful 
third, and could not sell anything if they had more than they needed, so there 
were really no excuses for any sort of conduct but just and righteous behavior. 
The Incas were not chosen by the people, so there was no chance for rivalry in 
the office. They were all taken from a single clan, and the office was hereditary 
from father to son. 

These, then, were the people who were to feel all the miseries of a Spanish 
conquest, and their civilization was to perish from the face of the earth under 
the tyranny of cruel European masters. Little dreaming of the harm that the 
white strangers meant to work in their land, the gentle natives of Peru showed 
the Spaniards the gold and silver in their temples, and even gave them large 
quantities of the precious metal to carry away with them. 

When Charles V., who was then the king of Spain, saw this treasure and 
heard the wonderful tales that Pizarro and his comrades had to tell, he thought 
that at last the mines of Golconda were his, and he gladly enough agreed to aid the 
adventurers. He did more. He en-nobled Pizarro, created his companions hidalgos, 
while he gave only an inferior title to the companion of Cortes in the venture. 

With a force of nearly two hundred men, some horses and artillery, Pizarro 
again landed in Peru, and one of his first acts was to plunder the town where he had 
first experienced the kindness of the natives, and to melt down the gold he found 
and divide it. On the march toward the city of the Inca, he would not allow his 
soldiers to commit any robberies, greatly to their disgust, for he wanted to strike a 
blow at the Inca before the ruler had any idea of his plans. 

The name of this Inca was Atahualpa, and he was encamped at a certain place 
in the mountains with his army, for he had been at war with some rival claimants to 
the title. He invited the Spaniards to visit him in his camp, and they climbed the 
steep passes of the mountains so narrow and dangerous that a mis-step would have 
been fatal to them, and at last came near the place where the Inca was. They 
stopped at an Indian town and planned what they should do next. 

Pizarro had decided to capture the Inca, somewhat as Cortes had taken Monte- 
zuma, and he sent word to Atahualpa that he was in the Indian town, and asked him 
to make a visit to him there. Atahualpa replied that he would come to visit the 
Spaniard's the next day, but this answer did not suit Pizarro who had hidtlen all of 
his men but a few, with orders that when he waved his scarf they should discharge 
their firearms and cross-bows and rush upon the Indians. Pizarro, therefore, again 
sent messengers to the Inca, saying that he had provided an entertainment for him 
and would be greatly disappointed if he failed to come. Leaving, therefore, the 
main body of his army, Atahualpa came with only an unarmed guard of several hun- 
dred Indians to enjoy Pizarro's "entertainment." 

When he was safely within the place with his followers, one of the Spaniard 
Catholic priests came out before him, and began to harrangue him about religion 
and offered him a Bible and a crucifix. The Inca said that the only god was the Sun, 
pointing to the place where it was sinking in the crimson west, and cast the Bible and 
the crucifix aside, whereupon Pizarro waved his scarf as the signal, and the Spaniards 
rushed out and began to cut down the unarmed Indians. 



914 



SPANISH AMERCIA. 



The Peruvians fought bravely around the person of their Inca, but their struggle 
was in vain, and he was captured. It is said that in this fight,.which lasted for several 
hours, though hundreds of the Indians were killed, only one Spaniard was injured, 
and that was one of the Pizarros, who received a wound in dragging Atahualpa from 
his car. There were four of the Pizarro brothers now in Peru, and three of the 
brothers were in places of honor under their brother, Prancisco. Perdinand Ue 
Soto, the man destined to discover the Mississippi river, was an officer of the expe- 
dition also, and of his exploits in North America, I have already told you something. 

The Spaniards learned, after the capture of Atahualpa, that he was not the 
rightful Inca, but was striving against his brother for the power. He was a clever 
fellow, and in his conversations with Pizarro showed such wit and intelligence that 




THE CITY OF DURANCO, MEXICO. 

the Spaniards were astonished. For reasons of his own, Pizarro suggested to his 
captive that it might be well for him to come to terms with his brother. After the 
treacherous capture of .\tahualpa the Spaniards had attacked his camp ancLdestroyed 
it, and had sent out a force of soldiers who had captured the true Inca and his 
mother, and they were being brought to his camp. 

Hearing of this, and that the Spaniards would probably compel him to come to 
terms with his brother, the true Inca, Atahualpa sent out a trusty messenger who 
caused him to be killed. .Atahualpa, though he was held a prisoner, was allowed to 
have about him his own slaves and attendants, and was treated with every outward 
show of respect, for Pizarro hardly knew what he should finally do with him. When 
he heard of the murder that Atahualpa had caused to be committed, he had a good 
excuse for putting him out of the way, though he did not allow his prisoner to suspect 
what he intt^nded. 

Atahualpa grew tired of being a captive, and one day offered that if the Spaniards 



SPANISH AMERICA. 915 

would set him free he would have the room where he was then held filled with gold 
to the height that he could reach upon the wall. The space to be filled as recorded 
in a contract which the Spaniards caused to be drawn up then and there, was twenty- 
two feet long, sixteen feet wide and nine feet high. It was not thought at first that 
it would be possible for the captured Inca to raise this amount of gold, and Pizarro 
sent out expeditions to examine the country and see if there was that much gold to 
be had. They were also to urge the people to hasten with the treasure. The faithful 
Indians tore the gokl from the walls of their temples, and it was piled in the room 
until it was filled. One-fifth of the treasure was set apart for the King of Spain, and 
the rest, nearly eighteen millions of dollars in our money, was divided equally among 
the Spaniards. 

Almagro,the companion of Pizarro in the venture of the discovery and conquest 
of Peru, came about this time to the country with three ships and one hundred and 
fifty men. They were in time to share the spoils, and were, as you may imagine, 
greatly pleased and excited at receiving such a large sum of money without any 
effort. All the time that the treasure was being carried to the camp of the Spaniards, 
the scouts that Pizarro had posted in various places, told the commander of the 
assembling of large bodies of Indian warriors, evidently with the intention of attack- 
ing the Spanish camp for the release of Atahualpa, who now that his brother was out 
of the way, might have a better claim to being the Inca, though it was probably the 
fact that the Indians had discovered the nature of the raid of the strangers, and 
realized that they must fight or become their subjects. 

At all events, Atahualpa became such a troublesome charge, and required so 
many of the Spanish soldiers to guard him, that Pizarro was inclined to kill him at 
once. Ferdinand De .Soto said that it would be a cowardly thing to do, since he had 
committed no crime, and was captured by treachery. He also said that he would 
take a body of Spaniards and go out and see what the assembling of the Indians 
meant. 

Pizarro was glad enough to get rid of De Soto, and therefore gave him permis- 
sion to go, and hardly was he safely out of the camp, than he called a "court" to try 
Atahualpa for his crimes, the chief one charged being that he was secretly urging the 
Indians to rise against the Spaniards. About fifty of the Spaniards protested against 
the unfairness of the proceeding, but since the priest who had tried in vain to convert 
Atahualpa upon the occasion of his first interview with the Spaniards was in favor of 
it, he and Pizarro carried the day. 

The Inca was condemned to death, and in the public square of the town where 
he had given the strangers a welcome and appointed a place for their entertainment, 
Atahualpa was strangled with a bow-string on the 2Qth day of August, 1533. A few 
days after this brutal murder, De Soto came back, with the report that the news 
brought in by the scouts was utterly false, and there was no assembling of the Indians 
at all. He was angry enough when he heard what had been done in his absence, and 
reproached Pizarro, who threw the blame upon the priest, and that worthy basely 
denied that he had anything whatever to do with the deed. 

Pizarro now determined to march at once upon Cuzco, of whose riches he had 
heard much, but there were difficulties in the way. Before Atahualpa had been cap- 
tured, he had made such headway against the reigning Inca that he had captured 
Cuzco, the capital, and Huito, another important city. He had several brave generals 
in the field who would do nothing to oppose the Spaniards as long as their master 



9i6 



SPANISH AMERICA. 




o 



SPANISH AMERICA. Q17 

was in their hands, but when they heard of his cruel death they took the field against 
the invaders. One of the brothers of Atahualpa followed the Spaniards when they 
left their camp and began the march toward Cuzco, and harassed them all that he 
could. 

At one time he captured eight Spaniards, among whom was a man who had pro- 
tested against the death-sentence of Atahualpa, and another who had been in favor 
of it. They released the man who had been the friend of their murdered chieftain, 
and allowed him to return to his friends, but they took the other to the abandoned 
camp of the Spaniards and strangled him upon the very spot where Atahualpa lost 
his life. Soon after this the brother of the dead Inca died, and an Indian chieftaim 
or general by the name of Quiz-quiz, led the Inca hosts. 

Thinking that he would have a better chance with the people by pretending that 
he was fighting in the cause of the rightful Inca who had been murdered by the 
orders of Atahualpa, Pizarro declared that he had executed his captive in the interest 
of right, and declared in favor of a young brother of the rightful Inca. The lad 
died soon after, but the Spaniards chose Manco Inca, the next brother in the line of 
succession, and continued to advance toward the capital. There were often deadly 
dangers and difficulties in their way, and at different points where the royal road 
crossed mountain gorges, the .Spaniards found that Quiz-quiz had broken down the 
bridges and placed every possible obstacle in their way. Once they were attacked in 
a narrow pass near Cuzco, late in the afternoon. 

There were so many of the Indians, and they were in such good position to 
annoy, that having lost several of their men and horses they were obliged to fall back. 
In the night they were surrounded by the enemy, and the Indians would probably 
have killed every one the next day, but at break of dawn the beleaguered Spaniards 
heard the note of a trumpet echoing among the rocks, and knew that help was com- 
ing. It was Almagro, who had come from his camp far away to the seaward, for a 
swift runner, sent by De Soto, had brought the news of the danger in which his 
master and the Spaniards were placed. His help came at the right moment, and the 
Spaniards were saved. Manco Inca came soon afterward to the Spanish camp and 
delivered himself into the hands of Pizarro, who agreed to seat him upon the throne 
of his ancestors. Quiz-quiz and his soldiers fled and hid themselves, and the Span- 
iards entered the Inca city. 

At first the people of Cuzco were filled with joy at the defeat of the generals of 
Atahualpa and the triumph of the .Spaniards and their rightful Inca, for Manco was 
the rightful heir to the government, but their joy did not last long. The city was 
large and splendid, and after Manco had been crowned by the priests of the Incas 
with all the ancient ceremonies, the four hundred and eighty .Spaniards in the 
place began to show their real character, and that in their thirst for gold no 
crime was too great for them to commit. 

We must not forget that many of the men who joined these Spanish expedi- 
tions were just such characters as those that made California such a rough and 
turbulent country in the days of the gold excitement. They were the offscourings 
of society, and the few honest men among them had no influence in controlling 
them. There were pardoned convicts from the Spanish jails, and the riff-raff of 
the large .Spanish cities, and we must always remember this when we recall the 
acts that were committed in the West Indies, Mexico and Peru, that make us 
blush for manhood and Christianity. 



9i8 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



The Spaniards in Cu/xo robbed first the magnificent temple of the sun, where 
there were as many golden ornaments as are described in the old fairy stories as 
being in the possession of the queen of elf-land, but this did not content them. 










< 



Every temple was robbed, the tombs were broken open and searched for gold, 
and private houses were invaded and searched for the same purpose. W hen they 
had collected all the. gold they could by these means they did not give up the 
search. They put men and women to the most dreadful tortures to make them 



SPANISH AMERICA. 919 

confess where they had hidden gold or jewels, and when they found that they 
had really secured it all, they began to turn the people out of the houses and 
take possession of them. 

The great temple was converted into a monastery, public buildings, such as 
palaces and assembly houses, were used as churches and quarters for the soldiers 
and those who wanted any private residence seized upon it and held it. Spanish 
rule was proclaimed, together with that of the new Inca Manco. Ouiz-quiz had 
in the meantime gathered a new army and marched with it to attack the Spaniards 
in Cuzco. Manco and the Spaniards went out against him and defeated him, but he 
was not discouraged. He again gave them battle, and was again defeated. 

Then he went back to Quito, where he was killed in a revolt of his own soldiers. 
Quiz-quiz was a brave patriot and a good soldier, and I like to think that at least one 
general stood out against the Spaniards, and was not frightened by their glittering 
armor and their horses, which in Peru, as elsewhere in the New World, struck terror 
to the natives, who thought them monsters. 

The capture of Quito by the Spaniards took place soon afterward, and Almagro 
was the chief instrument in its overthrow. A little while after the capture of this 
second important city, the governor of Guatemala having heard of the riches of Peru 
determined to have a share of them in spite of the fact that the King of Spain, his 
master, had given all the rights of plunder and conquest in that unhappy country to 
Pizarro and his companions. The Spaniards had in the two years since they had 
been in Peru established two towns, and from one of these news of the invaders was 
sent to Pizarro. 

This new band of marauders had a hartl time. They climbed the mountains, 
enduring hunger, cold and misery, and when the band sent out by Pizarro to beat 
them out of the country, found them, they were in such a miserable plight that the 
governor, who was himself of the party, offered to return to Gautemala if Pizarro 
would give him the means to do so and the money to pay for the expedition. Most 
of his men joined Almagro, and he and the rest returned home glad to get off with 
their lives. 

Pizarro had believed for some time that Cuzco was too far from the coast to serve 
as the Spanish capital of the country, and he therefore selected a place in a broad 
and fertile valley near the river Rimac, but a few miles from the sea-coast, where a 
city was to be built. He named the place "The City of the Kings," but it gained in 
after-days the name often given to the Rimac, and was known, as it is yet, by the name 
of Lima. Pizarro was an old man, but he entered into the building of his city with 
all the pleasure of a child with a new toy. He planned the streets wider than those 
of the cities of Spain, and laid out the places where the palaces, public buildings and 
cathedrals were to be. He also planned lovely gardens, and when he had settled 
these affairs to his satisfaction he laid out another town between San Miguel, the first 
town founded by the .Spaniards in Peru, and his new capital. He named this place 
Truxillo, in honor of the city in Spain in which he was born. 

In the meantime Pizarro had sent one of his brothers to Spain with the royal 
fifth of all the gold that had been collected, and this was such an immense sum that 
the king, Charles, in the joy of his heart, made Pizarro a marquis and granted him 
all the territory north of a certain parallel of latitude, as his own. The location of 
this particular parallel was not known by the Spaniards, and Almagro claimed it was 
was in one place, while Pizarro declared that it was in another, and Almagro was 
disposed to quarrel. 



Q20 



SPANISH AMERICA, 




•J 

■A 



SPANISH AMERICA. 921 

There was the country of the Auracanians to the south, which was without a 
doubt in the territory of Ahnagro, and Pizarro persuaded his partner, who was dis- 
posed to be jealous and quarrelsome, to go and conquer it, telling him that no doubt 
he would find there as much gold as there had been found in Peru. Almagro took 
five hundred men and set out, and Pizarro returned to Lima to say farewell to De 
Soto, who was about to return to Spain, to discover, if possible, the rich cities which 
he thought existed in North America. 

The Indians by this time had grown so heartily weary of the cruelties and oppres- 
sions of their new masters that they determined to make one last effort to rid 
themselves and be free. Manco Inca had been treated so badly that he was eager to 
throw off the yoke of the white men, and when he heard that Almagro had gone to 
explore Chili, he escaped from the Spaniards who held him a virtual prisoner in Cuzco, 
and making his camp in a valley near by, called upon the Peruvians to rally round 
him and drive the invaders from their land, or die in the attempt. 

He related all the wrongs that the Spaniards had heaped upon them without the 
least shadow of excuse, and urged them to perish rather than to submit to slavery. 
The Peruvians by the thousands rallied about him. and besieged Hernando Pizarro 
and his two younger brothers Juan and Gonzalo, in Cuzco. There was a strong fort- 
ress upon a steep hill towering over Cuzco, and this was the place where the Spaniards 
under Hernando were when the attack was made by the Inca and his followers. 

The Spaniards thought that they had not enough men to hold the place, and 
determined upon the advice of Juan Pizarro, a skillful soldier, to abandon it and 
gathered in a strong place in the center of the city. As soon as they left this fortress 
the Inca and his army entered it, and from its walls harassed the little band of Span- 
iards night and day. They would not give up, though the cannon of the Spaniards 
hurled shot among them, and laid them low by the hundreds, and though their arrows 
and missiles had little effect upon the metal armor. Their arrows wrapped with 
burning tow, were shot among the roofs of the city and for awhile the entire city was 
in a blaze. 

The Spaniards determined that they must dislodge the Indians from the fortress, 
and upon their dreaded war-horses and on foot, charged the place. There were three 
towers to the fortress, and after hard fighting the Spaniards who were skilled in 
assaulting such places, carried them by storm. Manco and many of his men fled, but 
still the Spaniards could not carry the third tower, which was held by an Indian hero 
by the name of Calmide, with only a handful of followers. One by one these were 
struck down, and when Calmide saw that the day was lost and that he was almost 
alone, he would not yield himself to the hated white men, but wrapped his cloak about 
him, sprang over the cliff and was dashed to death against its rocky sides. 

Several of the Spaniards, among whom was Juan Pizarro, were i-cilled at the 
assault of the fortress, but the Inca's army was so disheartened that for a time noth- 
ing more was done. To further discourage them the cruel Hernando Pizarro cut off 
the hands of every Indian he took prisoner, and even the women were given no 
quarter. The Inca was compelled to allow most of his men to go to their homes to 
sow their fields, fearing that otherwise famine would be added to the horrors of war. 
He and a few faithful followers established themselves in the Valley of the Yucay in 
a strong fortress, and there Hernando Pizarro marched against him with his men. 
The Spaniards were defeated after a defense most remarkable for the heroism of the 
Indians, and were compelled to return to Cuzco. 



Q22 



SPANISH AMERICA. 




SPANISH AMERICA. 923 

Again the Inca and his army besieged the Spaniards in their capital, but hearing 
that Ahnagro had returned from Chili with his men and was advancing to tlieir aid, 
they were obliged to give up and disperse. Francisco Pizarro had defeated the 
Indians who had attacked him at Lima, for the rising against the Spaniards was gen- 
eral, and Manco saw now there was no hope. Still he w^ould not submit to 
the Spaniards, and fleeing to the fastnesses of the mountains he lived as an inde- 
pendent prince for a long time. There were many attempts made to capture him, 
but they all failed. 1 shall soon tell you about the troubles between Pizarro and 
his comrade Almagro. 

While these were in progress, four fugitives from the camp of Almagro fled 
from the troops of Pizarro after their leader had been defeated. They found 
refuge with the noble and generous Manco, and were well treated at his little 
court. One day one of the Spaniards was playing ten-pins with Manco when a dis- 
pute arose about the game. The Spaniard settled the dispute by throwing the ball 
at the head of Manco. His skull was crushed and he was instantly killed. The 
Indians cut the murderer and his friends to pieces. Thus the last of the Incas died, 
but he left four sons, and I shall have something to tell you of them and their 
descendants a little later. 

Almagro had marched across the rugged Cordilleras into Chili, expecting to find 
there rich and prosperous cities like those of the Incas, but instead he found only a 
country cold and barren, covered with snow a part of the year, and inhabited by 
fierce tribes of Indians who fought against him and were not to be conquered without 
much trouble. He did not see any immediate gain in the conquest of the country, 
and therefore resolved to go back to Peru and claim his share in the government. 
Though his approach delivered Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro from the Indians, it 
found them in a very poor plight to fight against the claim of Almagro. 

When he sent to them and asked them to deliver Cuzco to him they asked for a 
little time to think the matter over They expected re-enforcements from their brother 
F"rancisco, and Almagro knowing this, refused to grant «them the time they wanted. 
Yet Almagro deceived them by allowing them to suppose that he had granted them 
a little respite, and attacking them by night captured the two brothers and defeated 
their men. Some of his men w-anted him to kill his captives, but Almagro had some 
fears as to how the King of Sapin would feel should he do so, and refused. He 
advanced towards Lima, and was succcessful in fighting against the forces that Fran- 
cisco Pizarro sent out against him. 

\t length a truce was declared between the two old partners, and the two brothers 
of Pizarro were released. Once out of the clutches of Almagro, they heartily entered 
into the plans of the elder Pizarro for the crushing of Almagro. In the meantime 
Pizarro, who had been forced to send to Panama for help agamst the Indians, had 
succeeded in thoroughly crushing their revolt, and was now at leisure to deal with 
Almagro, and what was more, he had ample force to do so. There was a battle in 
which Almagro was defeated and taken prisoner. He was tried, condemned and 
beheaded. 

After this for sometime there was peace among the Spanish conquerors of Peru, 
and Pizarro devoted himself with all his genius to the government of the country. 
He caused grains and cereals to be brought from Europe and planted, a system of 
irrigation to be applied, and worked the mines so that they began to yield a hand- 
some profit. The dead Almagro had a son who was lodged in Lima, and who became 
the center of plots against the life of the old Pizarro. 



Q24 



SPANISH AMERICA. 




SPANISH AMERICA. 925 

When this lad was about twenty-one years old and Pizarro was more than seventy, 
these plots came to a head. There were in Lima many of the followers of Almagro 
who had lost everything; in the disastrous expedition into Chili. They contrived to 
live in some way, but in great poverty, and they finally brought the young Almagro 
to join with them in a plot to kill Pizarro, when he was to take his place as governor 
of Peru and reward them for their services. 

It was on a Sunday in June, in the year 1541, that Francisco Pizarro had invited 
about a dozen of his friends to take dinner with him at noon. They were all assem- 
bled, and with them were two young pages, the attendants of Pizarro, when about 
fifty of the men of Almagro's faction rushed in upon them. Most of the guests fled, 
but old Pizarro snatched a lance from the wall and fought like a lion. His two little 
pages, too. fought by his side, but there were too many foes against them, and at last 
all three fell dead pierced by many wounds. 

Hernando Pizarro was not there to revenge his brother's death. He had been 
called to Spain to answer for the death of Almagro, and there was thrown into a 
prison where he was kept, but in not very strict confinement, for he married there 
and raised a family. He died years afterward at the age of a hundred, and thus all 
of the Pizarros were in turn robbed of the wealth which they had gained by 
robbery. 

Before going on to tell you the early history of the rest of Spanish America, I 
will pause long enough to relate the story of a real hero, one of the world's great 
men who did for mankind by his goodness so much that he stands out in the darkness 
of the times in which he lived, like a star amid clouds. Do not think that I have 
anything to relate of wars and battles, for the soldier of whom I shall tell you fought 
on nobler fields. He was a soldier of Christ and humanity, and what he did was for 
the good of the race, and not for the enrichment of kings or potentates. 

I have told you something of the dreadful evils of Indian slavery in Mexico and 
the West Indies. As soon as the Spaniards had thoroughly conquered Peru the same 
evil system of slavery was introduced there and the natives were killed by abuse 
and hard work with the same cruelty as in the West Indies. The name of my 
hero was Bartholomew Las Cases, and he was born in Spain. He was a young 
man when Columbus came back to Spain in 1497, carrying with him some Indian 
slaves. 

Las Casas was of a noble family, and his father stood high at court. It may 
have been on this account that Columbus made him a present of an Indian slave, but 
he did so, and in turn the father gave the slave to his son who became greatly inter- 
ested in him and his people, so much so, that in the year 1602 he went out to Hispan- 
iola and settled upon the island. There he became a slaveholder, for he, like the 
other Spaniards, was given a large lot of Indians who were obliged to labor in the 
fields or mines as slaves. Las Casas saw some dreadful things among these slave- 
holders. He saw men, women and children brutally tortured to death for the amuse- 
ment of their masters, and knew that the avowed purpose of the kings of Spain in 
enslaving the Indians, which was that they should be converted to the Catholic 
religion, was not being carried out, for the slave-holders neither cared for the souls 
nor the bodies of the poor helpless creatures. 

There were some Dominican monks on the island, and they were saddened, 
too, by the sufferings of the poor Indians. Las Casas had always treated his 
slaves with great kindness, and the Indians loved him, for they knew that he was 



926 SPANISH AMERICA. 

their friend. Las Casas went to church one Sunday in the year 151 1, when Diego 
Columbus had been a year the governor of the island, and hail done nothing to 
put a stop to the cruelties that were being done. The priest who preached the 
sermon that notable Sunday deserves to be remembered, for his wonls were sown 
in the good soil of the heart of Las Casas. and brought forth rich fruit. His 
name was Father Antonio Montesino, and he and the other dozen Domijiicans 
upon the island had talked together and decided that they would do what they 
could to better the condition of the poor Indians. 

Father Antonio declared that the white men were committing a sin against 
God in abusing their slaves, and preached a terribly eloquent sermon against the 
wickedness he had seen all about him. He tbld the Spanish slave-holders that 
they might as well be Moors or Turks as professed Catholic Christians, for all 
the hope they should have of getting to heaven with their sins hanging over 
them, and that their greed and cruelty was hateful in the sight of God. After 
church that day there was excitement you may be sure. The town of San Domingo 
was in an uproar, and at last a number of the principal citizens went to the brave 
])riest and told him that he would be obliged to take back every word he had said, 
hather Antonio told them he would not recall a word, and that all of his brother 
priests were so heartily in sympathy with him that they would stand l)y him. 

Nevertheless, the citizens said he should either take it back the ne.xt Sunday, or 
all the priests should pack up their goods and be sent away from the island, and with 
that they went away confident that the next Sunday the priest would apologize. 
When the next Sunday came, the church was crowded, to witness the confusion of 
Father Antonio Montesino. Instead of taking a word back, the Dominican preached 
a more terrible sermon than before, and not only threatened the cruel-hearted among 
his hearers with eternal torment, but declared that from that time forth the Domini- 
cans would refuse the offices of the church to any man who countenanced the slave- 
trade in any way, or was cruel to his Indians. 

It had become the custom to swoop down upon the neighboring islands and the 
coast of the main-land and carry off Indians into slavery, and this sermon was meant 
to put a stop to this. The Spaniards were dreadfully angry, but they feared both 
the Pope and the king too much to punish the bold priest in any way. Las Casas 
heard both sermons and in his heart he believed that the priest was right. 1 le knew 
what he had seen himself of the cruelty of the Spaniards. He went home and 
thought much about it. There were some Franciscan I' riars upon the island and the 
slave-holders determined to send one of them to Ferdinand to complain of Father 
Antonio, while the Dominicans sent .Antonio himself to court in the interest of the 
Indians. It is said that .Antonio met the Franciscan and told him so much of the 
evil that he had seen among the slave-holders of Hispaniola, that his rival became 
his friend, and they laid before the king a united plea in favor of the poor Indians. 
Ferdinand at once called a council and they drew up some laws to restrict slavery, 
but these laws were no better than the old, and the evil was as great as ever. 

Las Casas had given up his slaves by this time, for he had searched the scrip- 
tures and found out how wrong it was to oppress the poor and helpless, and when 
the island of Cuba was settled, as I have elsewhere told you and its people were en- 
slaved, he began to preach against the evil at first. Las Casas had hesitated about 
giving up his Indians for they loved him dearly, and he knew that they might fall 
into cruel hands, but his partner was a noble and gentle man and he made his Indians 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



^i;^M^~'^0 



over to him, and went about the island, for he had become a priest long before, and 
preached to the liard-hearted Spaniards the doctrines of love and mercy, but in vain. 
At length he decided he would go to Spain, and see what might be done there. He 
arrived just after Ferdinand was dead, and succeeded in having Charles V. appoint 
a commission to go out and see if his account were true, and with orders to reform 
the abuses. 

Las Casas had suc- 



ceeded in fountlinga 
monastery upon the 
Pearl coast of South 
America sometime 
after this, but as the 
commission to stop 
slave trading did 
nothing, and Spanish 
vessels were contin- 
ually swooping down 
upon the coast of the 
main-land and carry- 
ing away the Indians, 
his members were 
killed in revenge 
while he himself was 
absent in Spain in 
their interest. He 
was disheartened by 
this failure antl for 
seven or eight years 
retired into the Dom- 
inican monastery at 
.San Domingo, writ- 
ing while there the 
sad story of the de- 
struction of the In- 
dians upon the island. 
During these years 
the Spanish settle- 
ments in America 
had grown largely. 
Cortes had captured 
Me.xico about the 
time that Las Casas 
went into the monas- 
tery, and when he 
came out, Alvarado 
was Governor of 
Guatemala. The 
horrors o f cruelty 




-4] 






,? 



928 SPANISH AMERICA. 

had been repeated again and again, and the terrible fate of the Indians upon the 
Isthmus had again aroused the Domincans in their favor. Las Casas went over to 
Spain in the year 1530 to secure the aid of the Emperor and the Pope to forbid 
slavery in the lands on the Pacific coast of South America. He then went to Mexico 
for awhile, and afterward remained for three or four years in Nicaragua,, preventing 
by every means in his power outrages upon the Indians. There was a Dominican 
monastery in Guatemala which had never been occupied but a short time and was 
deserted. Las Casas with three companions went to the deserted monastery and 
lived there for some time studying the language of the Indians until they could con- 
verse in it. While there Las Casas wrote a remarkable work in which he maintained 
that to attempt to convert heathen of any race by force was a sin against God, and 
that only love, gentleness and persuasion could succeed. The Spaniards read this 
work, and though it was never printed, it was widely read in the manuscript, both in 
Spain and the colonies they laughed at Las Casas, and said he was an idle d^reamer. If 
he believed that the doctrine of gentleness would succeeds let him try it upon the 
Indians. Just North of Gautemala was a wild, rugged country, inhabited by fierce 
Indians who worshipped idols and indulged in all the horrid feasts of human victims, 
about which I have told you in speaking of the Aztecs. The Spaniards had fought 
against them so unsuccessfully that they thought that they could not be conquered, 
and called their country the land of war. Las Casas obtained from the Governor of 
Guatemala a solemn promise that for five years no Spaniard should set foot in this 
territory without the consent of Las Casas and his three companions. This done 
these three priests set the story of the beautiful life and death of Christ into simple 
rhyme in the Indian tongue, and after some time secured the friendship of four 
Indian traders. 

These Indians were won b}- the gentleness of the monks, and learned the verses, 
and what was more, believed the story they told. When the four traders could tell 
the sweet and simple story in their own tongue, and were able to answer the ques- 
tions likely to be put to them, they w»re sent to the pueblo of the fierce tribe with 
the gaudy trifles that they were accustomed to barter there. After they had finished 
their trade with the natives who were their friends and relations, the traders called 
for the drums and pipes upon which they were able to play, and chanted to the 
wondering natives the story of the divine Babe of Bethlehem. For several days 
the trader's repeated their performance and when they had answered every question 
in regard to tiie story they told, they drew pictures of Las Casas, and his friends told 
the Indians that though these were Spaniards they were very different from the 
Spaniards of Mexico and those who had sought to conquer them. They were not 
warriors, aud they cared nothing for gold, they had no wives, but treated all women 
with respect, they cared nothing for property but spent their lives in doing good. 
The savages were so astonished at hearing such things of the Spaniards whom they 
regarded as beasts of prey, that the chief of the pueblo sent his brother to find out 
whether the Indian traders were telling the truth, and if he found them to be as they 
were described, he was to invite one of them to return to the pueblo with him. He 
did so, and the priest who knew the language best went back with iiim to the pueblo 
and preache^l to such good purpose that in six months most of the chiefs had been 
converted, a little church had been built, and human sacrifices had been prohibited 
by the council of the tribe. 

Las Casas and another of the monks then ventured to the pueblo, and their com- 



SPANISH AMERCIA. 



929 




AVENUE OF PALMS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



930 SPANISH AMERICA. 

ing caused the greatest excitement. The savage priests were especially bitter against 
the white strangers, for they saw their influence in the tribes gradually being 
destroyed, and that the people would become gentle and peaceable. They harangued 
the people and told them to kill and eat the white strangers. They caused the church 
to be burned, but as the head chief and most of the other chiefs had been converted, 
there was no rebellion, and the missionaries were allowed to stay. They worked 
faithfully among the savages, and in another year Las Casas had the joy of seeing 
the conversion of many of the tribes who threw away their old idols and promised 
never again to make war unless their country was invaded. They acknowledged the 
King of Spain as their ruler, and had the word of Las Casas. whom they tenderly 
loved, that no Spaniard should come into their country without their permission. 
Las Casas secured from the governor of Guatemala a promise that his assurances to 
the Indians should be respected, and henceforth the "Land of War" became the land 
of peace, and from among the converted Indians went out Indian missionaries who 
did a vast deal of good work among their red brethren. 

Thus did Las Casas prove his theory, and teach the world a lesson it has never 
forgotten. He crossed the ocean fourteen times in the interests of mercy and gentle- 
ness to the Indians, and at last both pope and emperor were won over and passed 
law's that gradually did away with Indian slavery in Spanish America. These laws 
were called the New Laws, and provided that only the conquerors and their children 
should have alloted slaves from among Indians, and although these laws were after- 
ward changed and allowed the grand-children of the conqueror to hold the Indians in 
a sort of slavery, the lives of the people in the New World, on account of the hardship 
to which they were subject, and the violence of the times, did not last a great while, 
and after a few years the Indians became the property of the king, who provided for 
them to live in communities and their rights were watched over by officers of the 
crown who also collected certain ta.xes from them. 

The bringing of the New Laws into Peru has something to do with the story of 
the last of the Pizarro brothers, Gonzalo, the handsomest of them all, and as brave 
as any of the others, and I will tell you how he met his fate. After the murder of 
I'rancisco Pizarro, the men who had made the plot killed his secretary and jjlundered 
his capital; they then stole all the sails and rudders of the ships in the harbor so that 
news of their doings might not reach Panama, and placing the young Amalgro at their 
head gathered a force of the old friends of his father, and started on the road to 
Cuzco. They took possession of the town and began to manufacture arms and gun- 
powder, for the}' heard that an officer sent by the king was coming against them. 
This officer came on, and was joined by a large number of the Spaniards who believed 
that the arm of the king was strong enough to reach them even in Peru, and had no 
desire to be executed as traitors. The young Almagro gave them battle, but was 
defeated, captured and executed, together with those of all the murderers of Pizarro 
who could be found. 

In the meantime Gonzalo Pizarro had been absent exploring the forests about 
the Amazon river, where he was compelled to suffer disaster and disappointment, 
and was somewhat inclined to the view that he should succeed to the government 
of his brother since he had shared the trials and dangers of the conquest. The 
king's officer persuaded him to yield to his authority, and Gonzalo went away to a 
plantation which he had in the province of Charcas, where he also had many Indian 
slaves. About this time Charles V. sent out a man to proclaim his new laws to the 



SPANISH AMERICA. 931 

people of Peru. The name of this man was Vela, and as complaints had reached 
the king in regard to the officer who had conquered young Almagro, he had orders 
to investigate his conduct. 

Vela sent word to the king's officer to give up the government, and was so kind 
to the natives as he advanced into the country toward Peru, that the Spaniards who 
knew his mission were sadly frightened. Gonzalo Pizarro was especially angry, and 
as many of the Spaniards who were slave-owners wrote to him and asked him to lead 
them against Vela, he hastened to Cuzco and had himself proclaimed governor of 
Peru. I shall not tell you of the quarrels between Vela and Gonzalo, who tried to 
rally the Spaniards around him. Suffice it to say that there was confusion all over 
Peru. 

Some of the Spaniards favored Vela, who was rash, violent and unwise, and some 
of them favored Gonzalo, but finally there was a battle in which so many of the 
troops of Gonzalo went over to the enemy that he was defeated and captured along 
with one of his most famous generals. Vela went back to Spain, where he paid 
for his mistakes in the service of the king by an imprisonment of seven years, and a 
crafty and cruel inquisitor had come out to take his place and reduce Peru to disorder. 
He put the last of the Pizarro brothers to death, along with his famous general, Car- 
bajal, a man eighty-four years old, and amused himself in the manner then in common 
with the Spanish inquisitors. 

Here he tore out the tongue of a man who had spoken against the emperor, 
there he flogged one who had been thought to favor the Pizarros. He tortured so 
many in such fiendish ways that he would probably have been murdered had he not 
secretly made his way to the coast, published the new laws, and then set sail for 
Spain, leaving the country in even greater confusion than he had found it. There 
were at the time about eight thousand Spaniards in Peru, and they were not, by 
any means, easy to govern. The king did not relish the idea that Peru, instead 
of continually pouring wealth out for him should cost him anything, and it was a 
problem how it should be governed so that it would pay the best, and should be held 
the most securely. 

He had tried giving the government of the new colony over to adventurers, to 
officers, lawyers, (for one of his officers was a famous Spanish lawyer,) and to inquisi- 
tors; he now made up his mind to send out a nobleman, one who should have a high- 
sounding title and long descent, for the Spaniards, even the most fierce and unruly, 
had a respect for such. He chose Don Andre Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of 
Canete. He had name enough and lineage enough, for he was of the royal house of 
Castile, and beside being old enough to be above the quarrels and ambitions of more 
adventurous and younger men, he was a good soldier and stern disciplinarian. He 
was clever, was this Marquis, and one of the first laws that he passed when he came 
into Peru and had been invested with the authority with solemn pomp, was to pro- 
hibit any Spaniard from leaving his own estate without permission froni the 
authorities. 

Next he turned out all the officers in power and appointed new ones. Then he 
disbanded all of the soldiers in the country, and had all the guns and ammunition 
seized and brought to him. He then organized for himself a guard of four hundred 
men with firearms, and w-hen all these things were done he sent out invitations to all 
the principal settlers of the country, taking care to name those on both sides who had 
been concerned in the civil wars. They came joyfully enough, thinking that they 
were to be allotted new divisions of slaves. 



932 SPANISH AMERICA. 

When Mendoza had them in his power, he quietly took away their arms, put them 
on board ships and sent them to Panama, Chili or Spain, with strict orders to remain 
away from Peru if they valued their lives. Those who were left that were inclined to 
be restless, the wily Marquis sent out on difficult and dangerous explorations, and 
thus he reduced the country to order in a very short space of time. He had brought 
his wife and family out with him, and he selected a body of men as personal guard, 
and set up a sort of court in Lima. The Marquis was eager to win over the native 
population among whom hatred for the Spaniards had grown as they became better 
acquainted with them. 

To this end he tried to win over the eldest son of Manco Inca. for Manco had 
been killed, as I have told you, and his son reigned over the remnant of his nation 
in his mountain retreat. He sent messengers to him who pleaded with him to 
exchange his wild lair in the mountains for a comfortable house and a yearly sum of 
money for his support from the Spanish governor. He was finally persuaded to come 
to Lima and swear allegiance to the King of Spain, but his brothers would not go 
with him, and remained in safety in the retreat they had chosen. It is said that the 
Inca when he signed the document renouncing his right to rule over Peru, took up 
the fringe of the table-cloth which covered the table where he was sitting, and said 
sadly: "All this cloth was mine, and they have given me only a thread of the fringe 
for my sustenance." He brooded over the miseries of his fallen race from that time 
forth, and soon died of a broken heart. The good and wise Mendoza ruled Peru for 
five years, and then he died, and another was sent to govern the country. 

After a time a cruel Spaniard by the name of Toledo came to rule over Peru. 
He could not understand the generous policy of the good Mendoza toward the 
Indians, and made up his mind that the Spanish rule in Peru would not be absolutely 
safe as long as the Indian so loved the descendants of the: Incas and had faith in 
them. They had about them the evidences of the past glories of their race, and 
Toledo thought that they naturally compared them with their present miseries. One 
of the Incas descendants lived in a palace near Cuzco, and had married a Spanish 
lady. He had a baby son, and when the child was christened, Toledo was present as 
a guest. There were two other guests present in disguise who had cause to rue that 
ceremony. They were the two sons of Manco Inca who had refused to submit to 
Spain, and who in the wild fastness of the mountains worshipped the Sun as their 
fathers had done, and were secretly considered by the Indians as their rightful 
rulers. One of these was a mere lad it is true, but both were brave and loved their 
kindred too well to be absent from the babtismal ceremony of one of the great Inca 
race. When the festival was over the two Incas returned to their mountain home, 
but there were spies among the guests who had told Toledo that they had been there 
and he sent messengers after them to try and persuade them to venture into his 
power. These messengers were two monks and a half-breed Indian, and they were 
well received by the Inca. It happened that the elder Inca fell ill, anfl the Indians 
who formed his court begged of the priest to pray their God to make him well. The 
priest baptized the sick man and prayed over him, but he, nevertheless, died, and the 
Indians were so enraged that they killed the priests and the half-breed. They rea- 
lized too late that this would be an excuse for one Spanish governor to make war 
against them, but their country was a hard one to invade, and this may have had 
something to do with their bravery; at all events they prepared to defend themselves. 
Soon the Spaniards came out against them, and though they fought heroically they 



SPANISH AMERICA. q:,3 

were defeated and the boy, ' Inca and all his court were captured. The boy had 
nothing whatever to do with the death of the messengers, and it was well-known to 
Toledo, but he declared that the child must be executed. The priests were given 
several days to convert him, and the lad was baptized by the name of Diego. Then 
all the Indians from far and near assembled to witness the execution. The little 
fellow was brought forth, dressed in pure white and mounted upon a mule. He held 
a cross in his hand, and a priest walked on either side of him. The boy calmly 
walked up the steps of the scaffold and stood before the vast assemblage. Then an 
Indian of another tribe brought out the huge knife with which the boy's head was to 
be cut off, and at the sight the whole assemblage as with one voice lifted up such a 
long, loud wail of sorrow, that the Spaniards were startled and trembled at what 
might happen if the innocent lad were murdered. The boy himself was calm, and 
made such a beautiful speech to the people and to the priests beside him, that they 
too wept, and finally asked the executioner to wait a little. Then they went to 
Toledo, and throwing themselves upon their knees before him, pleaded with him in 
the name of Christ to spare the life of the poor child. The hard-hearted fiend would 
not do it, and sent an officer to command the execution to go on. The boy meekly 
laid his head upon the block, and the headsman did his awful work, while a wild cry 
of grief went up from the Indians, and the bells of all the churches in Cuzco were 
tolled. The lad's body was buried in solemn pomp by the priests, but Toledo caused 
his head to be set on a pole in the public square of the city. One night Toledo was 
restless, and arising from his bed, looked out of his window; the moon was shining 
brightly, and its rays fell upon the ghastly head of the young Inca set aloft in the 
square. Toledo had seen it often for the square was all in plain view from the win- 
dow, but now he saw by the light of the moon a sight which touched even his stony 
heart. 

The great square was filled with a multitude of people. Indians he could see, 
and these were all kneeling silently with their dusky faces turned toward the head of 
the Inca, with an expres=;ion of devotion and sorrow. They were compelled to hide 
their grief during the day, for fear of incurring the wrath of their masters, but when 
the solemn night came, and those masters were sound asleep, the poor faithful In- 
dians were free to silently weep over their noble dead, and the woes of their race. 
Toledo caused the head to be taken down the next day and buried with the body. 

Not content with killing the Inca, Toledo began a merciless persecution of half- 
breeds of Inca blood. They were banished, imprisoned and persecuted, and every 
memorial of the Inca rule that could be removed was destroyed by this merciless 
Spaniard. He oppressed the natives in every way that he could think of, and at last 
went home to Spain, confident that King Philip would approve everything he had 
done. Philip had indeed enjoyed the large sums of money that had been wrung 
from Peru, and so long as he was supplied did not ask any questions, but when Toledo 
came smiling into his presence he is said to have turned scornfully away telling him 
to be gone, that he was not sent to Peru to kill kings, but to serve them. 

Spain's rule in Peru, as elsewhere, was ruinous from the beginning of the days of 
Philip. The priests had charge of the education of the people, such as it was. and 
the Inquisition with all its horrors which did such deadly work in .Spain and the Neth- 
erlands. The Indians, it is true, were not allowed to suffer under it, but half-castes 
and Spaniards died by the hundreds under its tortures. I will not tell you all the 
events of the various rules of the different governors of Peru, for I do not think 
you would be interested in them. 



934 



SPWISII AMERICA. 




I... ..m i.Lij.;Ll limL. 4**..iaf I-- ^i- 



,.^4;!auk tl ..^....l, l:' ,lil.LiiJ..^ 




SPANISH AMERICA. 935 

From the very first no person of Spanish or Indian blood born in the country 
was allowed to be the governing power, and those who were sent out fom Spain were 
not paid anything, but were supposed to get their salaries from the country, and send 
much home to Spain beside. To do this they robbed the people of all classes the 
most shamelessly, and though the people were industrious, they could not gain any 
wealth, for the greedy governors were to be satisfied. Several new crops from Europe 
were introduced, but the Indians; unused to hard labor, died by the millions, and 
finally there were not enough in the country to do the work in the mines and fields. 
They had long been wiped out in the islands, and negroes from Africa had been 
stolen from their homes since the days of the second governor of Hispaniola, and 
sold in the islands as slaves. 

Negroes were brought to South America, and the most dreadful punishment was 
provided for Indians who sheltered in their villages runaway negro slaves. They 
were not allowed to n-;ix with the Indians at all. The Indians by this time had sunk 
again into pitiable slavery. All the men were dragged away to work in the mines, 
the villages were taxed, and the priests and governor conspired to oppress the poor 
natives and kill them by drudgery and hardship. In the year 1664 there was such an 
outcry made over the indignities to which the}' were obliged to submit, that laws were 
passed for their protection. 

In the year 1628 a governor by the name of Chincon was sent out from Spain to 
take charge of affairs in Peru. When he first arrived his wife was taken very ill with 
a fever, and a Jesuit gave her a decoction made from bark which he had received 
from an Indian. This decoction cured the fever, and its fame went throughout the 
world. From the name of the lady who was thus rescued from death, this medicinal 
bark received the name Chincona, and has done much for the cure of fevers ever 
since. You, no doubt, are familiar with it under the name of quinine, or Peruvian 
bark, and know that it has since become a precious article of export from -South 
America, and has done much to soothe the sufferings of millions of fever-vexed 
people. It is the only good thing that came out of Peru in that century, and I am 
glad to be able to mention that one good thing did come from all the many evil things 
of that evil time. 

Two hundred years after Toledo was the governor of Peru, there were still living 
the descendants of Inca Manco. Nine-tenths of the population had been killed by 
the merciless exactions of the Spaniards, and the rest were in such miserable plight 
that they and the half-breed population were goaded to fury. There was at this time 
a gallant descendant of the Inca, who had been educated in all that the country 
afforded of education, for there had been a college established in Peru for the educa- 
tion of noble Indians, and he was a graduate of it. 

He had an estate and caused it to be worked with so much skill that he became 
well-to-do, and was the protector of his countrymen. He was an eloquent and able 
man, and he tried by every means in his power to compel the Spaniards to observe 
the laws made for the protection of the Indians, but they would not do so. Then 
he raised an army to fight them. There were Indians from all over the country, and 
half-breeds also, who joined him, and there was a bloody revolution. The Inca was 
gentle and humane, and treated his prisoners with the greatest consideration, and it 
was well know that he was not fighting against the King of .Spain, but against the 
cruelty of the lawless Spanish overseers. 

Nevertheless, the governor of Peru sent a large army against him, and when the 



936 SPANISH AMERICA. 

intelligent Inca proposed that there should be no further fiorhting on the condition 
that the reforms for which the Indians clamored were granted; he refused, and told 
him instead how he meant to punish him and his followers for their actions. The 
Indians at this time all professed the Catholic religion, and were in one sense as much 
subjects of the kings of Spain as were the Spaniards themselves. They were edu- 
cated and enlightened in some instances, but they were foully treated. 

It was at the time when we had just received our freedom from England, 
and were in the first years of our government as a free people that the heroic 
attempt was made, but it was a failure. The Inca was captured, drawn and quar- 
tered and parts of his body sent all through Peru to frighten the natives into 
submission. His mother, wife and ninety of his relatives and friends were mur- 
dered at the same time, and when the Indians and half-breeds heard what had 
been done, the whole country rose in revolt, and eighty thousand persons lost their 
lives. One of the brothers of the dead Inca led the army of the Indians, and 
the Spaniards finally proposed to treat with him if he would surrender and cease 
fighting. He believed them, and surrendered. He, too, ,vas barbarously murdered 
with all his relatives and friends, and the only remaining descendant of the Inca. a 
little boy too young to be murdered, was sent to Spain to pass his life in a Spanish 
dungeon. 

This horrid cruelty happened only a hundred years ago, and the Indians of Peru 
were almost entirely e.xterminated.but the cruelty with which the Spaniards punished 
them, caused public sentiment in Peru against Spain to rise to such a height that in 
the course of time the Spaniards were expelled and the country became independent. 
Thus the Inca did not die in vain. Soon after the revolt was crushed, a governor 
was sent out who told the king in plain words that the trouble was caused entirely by 
the cruelty and greed of the Spaniards. He at once set to work, and as far as he 
could do so, established every reform which the martyred Inca had advocated, and 
the Indians became really free for the first time in the history of the country since 
the Spanish conquest, though the New Laws had for a time done much for them. 

Early in the eighteenth century a young Irishman came to Lima; went to South 
America to "make his fortune." He had many trials and made little money, but 
when Peru was at war with Chili Indians, in 178S, he proved to be such a clever 
fighter that he was made captain-general of the army. The name of their Irishman 
was Higgins, but when he was made captain he called himself O'Higgins, as that had 
a more aristocratic sound, for you know the early Irish kings were all O's or Macs. 
He made money and sent much of it home to Ireland to be distributed among his 
poor relations, and when he died in 1801, he was a full-fledged Spanish Marquis, and 
governor of Peru. 

He left a son, Bernardo, and of him I shall have something more to tell you. 
This was the time when revolutionary ideas were spreading all over the world. The 
people of the United States had gained their independence, and the French with 
Napoleon as their leader had hurled the Bourbon princes from their hereditary 
throne, and were creating havoc with the old monarchies of Europe. In Peru there 
were many people who read the long record of shame which the .Spanish rule fur- 
nished their country, and who determined in their hearts to no longer be slaves. No 
matter what their patriotism and their qualifications for the office of governor they 
were obliged to allow foreigners to rule them and rob them, for it was the law of the 
king of Spain. That country had by this time sunk so low under its weak and wick- 



SPANISH AMERICA. q^j 

ed kings, that merely to be ruled by it was deep disgrace, or so at least those Peruvi- 
an patriots thought. Even among the ladies of the city of Lima the ideas of 
independence were cherished and encouraged. Secret clubs were formed at their 
houses where men met to consider plans for the overthrow of tyranny and finally a 
bright young lawyer became the head of these secret societies, and for several years 
there were plans put forth and the liberal sentiment grew and flourished. 

No opportunity for resistance to .Spain came until the year 1814, and then Napo- 
leon invaded Spain, made the king prisoner, and set up Joseph Bonaparte as the 
ruler of the old kingdom. The South American colonists declared that they would 
not obey Joseph, and they woukl form a government of their own. Chili proclaimed 
an independent government, but the Spanish governor sent an army into Chili, 
defeated the new government and set up Spanish rule again. 

About the same time Ruenos Ayres set up a republic and sent a force to Peru to 
help the patriots there throw off the yoke of Spain. The patriots were defeated, 
and many of them were condemned to death, but another army was sent from Buenos 
Ayres to their aid, and the city of Cuzco declaretl for the patriots. The Spaniards 
conducted the war with their usual relentless cruelty, but the native-born population 
of Peru, Spaniards, half-breeds and Indians were as one man for liberty; they had 
little skill in war,. however and at first were defeated at every point. It was about 
ten years after the first attempts at liberty by the Peruvians, that a gallant officer by 
the name of .San Martin, came home from Europe where he had been educated, 
and in the Andes trained a small body of the men of Buenos Ayres for the purpose 
of liberating Peru and Chili. 

Bernardo O'Higgins joined him there and helped him in his labors, and after 
several years of hard fighting they had nearly succeeded in both efforts, when Bolivar, 
a man who had fought for independence in the northern provinces of South America, 
appeared upon the scene. O'Higgins had been made President of Chili and -San 
Martin retired from the Peruvian army. Bolivar completed what they had so well 
begun, and Spain was compelled to part with her .South American provinces, and 
after Napoleon was no longer in power and the war in Europe was over, large bodies 
of soldiers were sent into South America to crush the patriots, and Peru was not 
independent until the year 1829. 

I have not space to follow here the course of the Peruvian Republic, and I doubt 
whether you would have the interest to follow it. There have been rebellions and 
troubles without number, for the whole course of the Spanish government in South 
America had been calculated to render the people incapable of self-government. They 
had been priest-ridden for three centuries, and were ignorant, superstitious, and conse- 
quently as violent in their passions as all ignorant people usually are. They have 
had war with one another and among themselves times without number, but in spite 
of everything are more prosperous now than they were under the rule of Spain. All 
the time they are learning the lessons that will be useful to them in the future, and 
will, no doubt, sometime be great States. 

I have followed the fortunes of Peru, for my story led me naturally to do so, and 
it is now fitting that we turn back to that Republic upon the borders of our own 
country, and learn something of her story. 

After the conquest by Cortes, here as in South America, the priests were given 
charge of the Indians with orders to convert them, and they proceeded to do so by 
baptizing them at the rate of several thousand a day, the poor savages having little 



938 SPANISH AMERICA. 

idea of the meaning of the ceremony. I have no doubt, that many of them thought 
it was an evil sort of spell that the white men were laying upon them, for the exam- 
ple that the Spaniards set them of Christianity was more savage than their own 
paganism had been. Nevertheless, baptized as they were in droves, and ignorant of 
the true meaning of Christian doctrines, if they were suspected of worshipping their 
idols or of disobeying the Spaniards in anything that they were commanded to 
accept as facts, they were punished by the Inquisition with all its terrors. 

The slavery of the Inclians in Mexico had such terrible results, that the popula 
tion which is supposed at the time of the coming of Cortes to have been about a 
fourth as large as that of the whole of the United States at the present time, soon 
shrunk to a few million. I have told you that in South America all of the oftices of 
the government were given to Europeans, and no native person could hold high 
offices. The whole of the Spanish possessions in the new world were under charge 
of a Council of the Indies, chosen by the king from among the high officials of the 
colonies, or from the great families of Spain. No matter w-hat this council decided, 
the king always agreed, for its purpose was to wring as much gold from the Spanish 
colonies as possible. 

All of the governors of Mexico, that were chosen by this council, were recjuired 
to be born in Old Spain, and were forbidden to hold land or to marry in the New 
World. All the lower offices such as clerkships and the government of the provinces 
of the colonies were openly sold in Spain to the highest bidder, and as the purchas- 
ers had the power to grow immensely rich by robbing the poor Indians, these offices 
always brought a good price. 

For three hundred years no foreigners were allowed to travel in Mexico without 
the written permission of the representative of the king, and the Mexicans were for- 
bidden under the pain of punishment from having anything whatever to do with 
foreigners The Indians and the native born Mexicans were forbidden to carry arms, 
and the laws were such that they were at the mercy of their governors. Any attempt 
at liberty was crushed out with great brutality, and it was long before the unhappy 
people \Vere able to make an effort that was in any way successful to throw off the 
tyranny with which they were oppressed. 

The king taxed them, the church taxed them, and the petty governors taxed 
them. They could not buy a peck of vegetables in the market without paying a tax 
upon them, and worst of all, the Indians were kept in the most dense ignorance, for 
knowledge, you know, is the seed of liberty. I must tell you some of the many ways 
tile Jesuits and the king taxed the Mexican people, so that you may understand 
what a farce both religion and justice were in Mexico for three hundred years. The 
king owned one-fifth of all the gold and silver that was dug from the mines, and the 
Mexicans were not allowed to buy salt, tobacco, or gunpowder from any private 
traders, but the king sold all that was used in Mexico and charged the highest prices 
for them. 

All the offices of the church, such as that of bishop, inquisitor and the like, w^re 
sold to the highest bidder, and the king had the money from the sale. He stamped 
a tax upon paper, glass, and other things, and every Indian was made to pay a certain 
sum a year for the privilege of being allowed to live at all The church had a hand 
in the taxes, too, and shared the profit with the king, or rather sent, to the king what 
it thought his rightful share, and kept the rest, and he knew little about the wealth 
it gathered. Every Mexican could buy for a certain sum of money, a pardon before- 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



Q39 




940 SPANISH AMERICA, 

t 

hand for all crimes, and the Inquisition could not arrest him if he had one of the 
paid for pardons from the Pope, which were sold by the priests at a stated price. 
He could buy a release of his soul from purgatory while he was alive, or his friends 
could buy one for him after his death. He could buy a pardon which allowed him to 
eat the forbidden food during Lent, but more shamefulthan all, he could buy a par- 
don beforehand to rob whomsoever he could, and the goods taken could not be 
returned to their rightful owners and could be sold or held by the robber. 

Each person was allowed to buy fifty such pardons in a year, but no more, and 
you may imagine that the poor Indians were the ones who were the victims. The 
Spaniards bought from the Pope the power to steal their goods and the products of 
their labor, and for a long time after the Indians were lawfully free from slavery, they 
were thus enslaved by the workings of these pardons. The'state of morals that was 
encouraged by the church may well be imagined. Every crime, even murder itself, 
could be pardoned before it was committed, upon the payment of a sum of money to 
the church. 

There is little wonder that the Indians became degraded under such a lorm of 
religion. The}' sacrificed human victims in the old times upon their altars, in order 
that their gods might send them fair weather, good crops and victory over their 
enemy, but they had never paid in advance for sins they meant to commit, and I 
think the idolatry and wickedness of Spain and the church was greater than that of 
the Aztecs in the days of Cortes. Beside all the other taxes, the priests collected a 
tenth of what was left to the Mexicans of their crops and materials for clothing. 
The Spaniards in the country, numbering at the time of the revolt of the Mexicans 
about half a million, were "privileged," and were not obliged to pay the taxes. The 
priests, too, were "privileged," and it was only the native Mexicans of pure or mixed 
blood that felt the whole weight of the wicked tyranny of the King and the 
Pope. 

The Mexicans had absolutely no voice in the making of their laws, were not 
allowed to trade or manufacture, were compelled to avoid foreigners, and it is a 
wonder that they ever learned enough of liberty to rebel against the odious system; 
but they did at last, After a long struggle, which was begun by a native Mexican 
priest, a noble arid learned man, Mexico gained independence from Spain. It began 
its efforts for freedom about the time that Napoleon unseated the Spanish King and 
set up his brother Joseph as a full-fledged monarch, but it was nearly ten years before 
it was accomplished. The people were not fit to govern themselves, for they were 
ignorant of the principles of government, and those Mexicans who were at the head 
of the movement decided that for the time a monarchy was the best form of rule for 
the country. 

A man by the name of Iturbide made himself the king under the name of 
Augustin I. The poliitical leaders of Mexico had little objection to a king, but they 
did object to the manner in which Iturbide made himself king, for he was not the 
choice of the Mexicans. He simply got a force of his friends together, seized the 
government and made himself ruler. He was not allowed to play the Napoleon long, 
for he was defeated by the people in battle and shot as a traitor. The man who led the 
forces against Iturbide was Santa .Anna, and though he was a fairly good soldier he 
was a poor governor. 

Nevertheless, he governed Mexico for nearly thirty years, and under him the 
country was in a sadder plight than ever, if that were possible. He was ignorant, 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



941 



superstitious, and under the thumb of the priests, and did so many things that were 
not for the good of the country, that at last the people, among whom the republican 
sentiment had grown greatly in that time, determined to get rid of him. He had 
driven back the hosts of Spain, it is true, when they tried to again seize Mexico, and 
had repelled the French, but he was cruel and hot-headed. 

He lost the great territory of Southern California and those Spanish possessions 
to which claim had always been made on account of the discoveries and explorations 
of Cortes and Coronado, and was, therefore, out of favor even with those who had 




THE DEATH OF MAXIMILIAN. 



been his friends. During many of the years when he had been an officer of the 
Republic, a brave and noble-minded Indian of the old Aztec blood, who was born in 
the hut of a shepherd, and had made his own way up to the place where he was one 
of the best lawyers in the country, and one thfe most wise and able of the provincial 
governors, was a favorite with the people. 

He had spent several years in the United States, whither he had been driven by 
the jealousy of Santa Anna, and had good ideas of how a Republic should be con- 
ducted. This enlightened man, Benito Jaurez, after a long fight and many difficulties 



942 SPANISH AMERICA. 

and romantic adventures, at last freed Mexico from the evils of the administration 
of Santa Anna, and the Mexicans think of him with much the same love with which 
we think of our Washington. He put down the priests, who had been such'an evil 
force in the government of the country, and who for three hundred j'ears had 
blighted all the good there was in the life and character of the Mexican people, and 
made many reforms. 

When the United States was busy putting down the Civil War in the South, 
Napoleon III, supported by England and Spain, sent out an Austrian prince by the 
name of Maximilian, to be the king of the Mexicans. The Mexicans were not in a 
position to refuse to take him, though they did keep themselves in arms against him, 
and he was only enabled to govern at all by the aid of the French troops. The 
Great Powers of Europe were not pleased to think that the larger part of the North 
American continent should have a Republican form of government. They sighed 
for the good old times when tyranny and oppression ruled the Spanish possessions, 
and thought, perhaps, that it was not a good idea for Englishmen and Frenchmen to 
have before them the sight of successful Republicanism. Again they thought that 
the United States was about to be split up into several fragments and many people in 
Europe who were fond of royalty even prophesied that these fragments would in 
time become monarchies, divided by petty jealousies as are the monarchies of 
Europe, and were taking time by the forelock to give Spain a hold upon the conti- 
nent. They knew that Spain was so weak that the other powers might readily join 
and crush her when they saw fit, and then they would divide the spoil. 

When the United States was at leisure after the Civil war, it had about a million 
well-trained and veteran soldiers at command. It had been a principle of our 
government since the days of Monroe, one of our early Presidents, that European 
interference in the affairs of this continent would not be tolerated by the United 
States, and that when any of the countries on this side of the ocean had any matters 
to settle, they should settle it without the aid of European arms. This meddling of 
the French Emperor, was not to be overlooked, and the United States Government 
sent him a sharp message telling him to take his soldiers home again. The French 
did not care to have a war with the United States, and so regiment by regiment, upon 
one excuse or another, the French soldiers were called home from Mexico, and poor 
Maximilian, and his wife Carlotta were left alone in Mexico, with only a few faithful 
guards to stand between them and the enraged people. The royalists were few, and 
had grown fewer since the coming of their foreign king, but they did make a sort of 
stand against the Republicans; but it was of no use. Maximilian was dethroned, 
captured, and as had been the habit in dealing with unpopular public men 
in that country for several years, a habit that is still followed there, he was shot. 
His wife became insane, and went from the palace of Mexico, to the padded cell of 
a lunatic asylum in Austria. Thus ended the last attempt at monarchy in Mexico. 

Benito Juarez, the Aztec ruler of Mexico was again chosen President of the Re- 
public, after the killing of Maximilian, and three years later there was the most bit- 
ter dispute among three candidates for the office, Juarez was one of these, and to 
settle the dispute, they all took up arms. There was much fighting among them for 
several months, and then Juarez died, and the other two decided to let the country 
judge between them, which they might have done at first had they been as anxious 
for peace and good government as they were for office. Tejada, one of the contest- 
ants was elected, and held the office for four years, then another revolt sprang up. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 943 

It was headed by a man by the name of Diaz, and while the President and his 
friends were figliting Diaz and his party, another election came around. Tojada 
was declared elected, but Diaz said he was not, and after much quarreling and some 
hard fighting, Tejada was driven out, and Diaz ordered a new election. The peo- 
ple made the best of the circumstances, for Diaz was actually in power, and chose 
liim as their President. P!e ruled the country very ably for three years, then Gon- 
zales was elected President. The Mexicans had become so accustomed to rebelling 
against somebody, or something, that it had become quite chronic with them, but 
strangely enough they neglected to rebel on this occasion and for the whole term of 
the presidency of Gonzales, there were few serious troubles. The priests did make 
some difficulties, just as they had done since the first days of the struggle for liberty, 
but when Diaz was again elected in i8S8 matters gradually settled down to peace 
and order. In spite of all the revolutions and disasters of the last sixty years, Mex- 
ico is making some advances in wealth and education. The people are beginning to 
mix freely with those of the United States. Railroads, newspapers and telegraphs 
are doing their work of enlightenment and civilization, and in time Mexico will no 
doubt be one of the great and progressive Republics of the world, and will soon for- 
get the miseries of her sad past. 

Peru and Mexico were the greatest of the Spanish possessions in the New World,, 
both in extent of territory and riches, but there were others, and The .Story of the 
World would not be complete without a brief mention of their place in the tale of 
Spanish America, for they, too, have had a struggle for their liberty, and are destined 
to play their part in the history of the Western Continent. Navigators had sailed 
to the eastern coast of South America, and had not only stolen slaves there for the 
planters of the West Indies, but had established colonies. 

Pinzon, one of the companions of Columbus, accompanied by Vespucci, had dis- 
covered the mouth of the Amazon river, and explored the coast as far south as the 
River Plata, but as this coast by the decree of the Pope belonged mainly to Portugal, 
no attempt was made by Spain at settlement. The Argentine Republic had been 
colonized, as in due time had the whole northern coast, and Brazil had become a 
possession of the Portuguese before the first English colonies v>rere firmly established 
in the New World. 

In nearly all the Spanish colonies the story of the Indian is the same as it was in 
Peru and Mexico, and I will not pause to repeat its sad details. There is another 
early hero of the Spanish discoveries, of whom I wish to tell you. I have already 
mentioned him, and what he did, but more briefly than his merits warrant, for he was 
a mariner beside whom the voyages of Columbus are as child's play, and what he did 
for the world of science in proving that the Western land was indeed a Continent, 
made a great change in men's thoughts and ideas. 

Ferdinand Magellan was born in Portugal, that ancient Louisiana, of which I 
have told you, but which, in his time, was a kingdom small in extent, and playing no 
part in history except in the story of discovery and exploration. The Portuguese 
Prince Henry was one of the greatest geographers of his time, and it was his work 
that stimulated much of the interest in discovery and exploration in the fourteenth 
century. 

Magellan was one of a noble house, as noble in nature as in lineage, and a proud 
fact for his countrymen, has nothing recorded against his character unworthy of a 
true hero. This, too, in a time when men were cruel and fierce, and when a premium 



944 



SPANISH AMERICA. 






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SPANISH AMERICA. 945 

V as put 'Jpon wickedness bj^ Popes and kings. I have read what one of our greatest 
historians said about Magellan, and will tell it to 30U, for it is a key to the nature of 
the man: "Difficulty and danger fit to baffle the keenest mind and daunt the strongest 
heart, only incited this man to effort." 

When Magellan was a little boy he was sent to the Court or the King of Por- 
tugal, like many of the other noble youths of his day, and was brought up in the 
king's household. In the year 1505 he went to India and there spent seven years in 
the navy of Portugal, sailing over those strange seas, and visiting those islands rich 
in spices and luxuries for which Europeans at the time, paid such a high price. 

It is said that he was in the Indian ocean with Sequira, and made one of the 
crew of the ship that made the first voyage that ever was ventured beyo nd the Island 
of Ceylon. While there, his strength and courage were useful in aiding his com- 
mander against a murderous attack from the Malays, and, almost single-handed, he 
saved one of the captains by the name of Serrano from being killed, and this ever 
after made them true and tender friends. It is said that in one of the after- voyages 
of Serrano he accomplished the first trip that was ever made to the spice islands. 

There Serrano took a large cargo of nutmegs and spices, and after a course of 
exciting experiences, his ship was wrecked upon a lonely island that was a resort for 
Malay pirates. Luckily the Portuguese sailors were not at first seen by the Malays, 
and had an opportunity to hide among the rocks, but after a little the pirates saw the 
pieces of floating wreckage andi^came down to the place in one of their ships and 
went ashore in their boats to gather in the spoil from the wreck, not having the 
faintest idea that the crew had escaped. They left their boats alone and began to 
search about when the Portuguese crept from their hiding, seized the Malay boats, 
made for the ship and escaped. 

Serrano then went back to the Moluccas and remained, while Magellan in the 
course of time made his way back to Spain. He helped in the Moorish wars for 
some years, and then as the king did not seem inclined to favor him, he settled down 
to study navigation. He had the idea that the Pacific ocean, which had been dis- 
covered by Balboa, might he entered from the Atlantic by sailing around the southern 
extremity of South America, but most of the geographers of his time thought the 
Pacific only a great gulf, and the South American Continent a peninsula jutting out 
from Eastern Asia. 

Magellan tried to interest the King of Portugal, but he could not. That mon- 
arch treated him with coldness and disdain, and he went to Spain to offer his services 
to the young king, Charles V. He told him that he thought he could reach the 
East Indies by the route around South America, and thus open up a new path for the 
commerce upon the Pacific Coast of South America. 

Charles was pleased with the idea, and after a time gave Magellan five leaky old 
ships for his attempt, thinking, perhaps, that he would certainly be lost at sea, and it 
was better that he should lose old ships than new ones. Magellan married a fair 
young Spanish lady while he was waiting for these ships, and his little son was six 
months old when he kissed her farewell and sailed away upon that wonderful voyage 
which has not its equal in the world's great story, for it was made at a time when the 
Atlantic ocean south of the Plata river, and the whole Pacific was a sea of darkness, 
and it was like undertaking a voyage to the moon. 

The Spaniards who sailed with Magellan in his ships were jealous of him, and 
even before they left port had whispered it about that they meant to kill him and 



946 SPANISH AMERICA. 

return if he did anything that they did not like. The poor young wife heard of this 
cruel report, and sent out a ship with a message to her husband, but he told her to be 
of good cheer, for he feared nothing and would do the work which he had begun. 
Down toward the Coast of Africa the five ships sailed, and there they were becalmed 
for nearly a month, then fierce storms raged over them and they were almost swal- 
lowed up by the sea. 

Food and water became scarce, and the discontented Spaniards began to mutter, 
but there were thirty-seven Portuguese in the e.xpedition, and one faithful captain, 
the brother of that .Serrano whom Magellan had saved from death in the Indies long 
before. One of the unruly captains boarded the flag-ship of the stern old navigator, 
and began to talk insultingly to him, when he was promptly collared and placed in 
irons, and there was no more insolence for that time. The five ships crossed over to 
the Coast of Brazil, where they arrived after they had been three months out, and 
coasted southward. 

You know, perhaps, that the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere is the 
autumn of the Southern, and when the expedition of Magellan reached the coast of 
Patagonia, it was beset by terrific winter storms. All along, the hardships of the 
voyage had been dreadful, and when Magellan anchored his ships in one of the bays 
on this wild coast, with the intention of passing the Atlantic winter there, the sullen 
crews were very much displeased. The food was becoming scarce, and they thought 
that they ought to return to Spain. 

The commanders of most of the vessels thought* the voyage was a failure, and 
that Magellan had thus far not found the strait, because there was none. Magellan 
declared that he would never return until he had found the strait, and bade his cap- 
tains trust to him, and calm their fears. Then the treacherous captains sowed the 
seeds of mutiny among the crew. They said that Magellan desired to serve the 
Portuguese king by losing the Spanish fleet, and finally three of the captains took 
matters in their own hands, and when the ship upon which Magellan had his quarters 
came near them, they told the captain-general to keep his distance, that they were no 
longer under his orders. Then they sent word to him to come on board, that they 
wanted to confer with him. 

Magellan replied by sending them orders to come to him at once in his flag-ship. 
This they refused to do, and knowing that most of the crew of one of the mutineers' 
ships were faithful, Magellan sent one of his officers on board with a summons to 
come to the captain-general. When the rebellious captain refused the officer stabbed 
him, threw him into the sea, and a number of men whom Magellan had ordered from 
his own ship, boarded the vessel with drawn cutlasses, and called upon the crew to 
surrender. 

They did so, ami Magellan placing his wife's brother in charge of it, now block- 
aded the two other rebellious vessels, and opened fire upon them. One of them soon 
ran up tokens of surrender and the other was taken by force. Thus the mutiny was 
crushed. A little later one of the vessels was wrecked, and when the ice broke and 
the other four could venture out of the harbor, they set sail, and amid violent storms, 
sailed on to the southward, exploring the turnings of the coast, and upon the lookout 
for a passage to the Pacific. 

At length they came to what seemed to be a strait. Then many of the crews 
wanted to turn back, and were all the more eager when Magellan declared that he 
was certain this was the looked-for passage. On he went, but one of the ships lagged 



SPANISH AMERICA. 947 

behind, and when it was out of sight of the others turned about and set out to sail 
back to Spain, where it arrived in six months, telling a story that was for awhile 
believed, about the other ships having perished in the sea. On and on Magellan and 
his three ships sailed, and at last they knew by the broad e.xpanse before them that 
they had passed through the strait and were upon the Pacific. 

Then they began to sail northward along the coast, and in January, a year and 
three months after they left Spain, came to an island, for they had by this time struck 
away from the coast and were sailing still westerly for the Molucca islands. They 
found no food or water upon the island and again set out, for there was nothing else to 
be done. They had eaten everything eatable that they had carried with them on the 
"ship, even to pieces of hide and leather, which they soaked in seawater to make them 
soft. They had suffered much from a disease called scurvy, which is brought about 
by eating salt foods and drinking stale water, and their teeth and hair fell out, and 
there were many who died. 

Those who were left were rejoiced one day to see far away upon the western 
horizon the faint outline of land, and upon the sixteenth day of March they left 
their little vessel and went ashore. They found that at last they had reached an 
inhabited island that was in communication with the rest of the world, for they 
found there traders from China and Sumatra. The natives were friendly and gave 
them plenty of fresh fruit and other food, and there they rested for some time. 
They soon found that the people of the islands were as thievish as crows, and they 
named them and their island the Ladrones, or "robbers," and that name* they still 
hold. 

The Ladrones were north of the latitude of the Moluccas, and Magellan knew 
now that his object was attained, and that he might sail safely home by the way that 
Vasca de Gama had found around the Cape of Good Hope, and that he then would 
have really sailed around the globe, and that honor had never been vouchsafed to 
another. His heart was, no doubt, glad within him, and as the Portuguese were as 
devout Catholics as were the Spaniards, he may have thought that a practical way of 
showing his gratitude to the God who had delivered him from so many dangers was 
to convert these heathens of the Ladrones. He therefore told them the story of the 
cross, and entreated them to be baptized in the Catholic faith. 

They evidently thought that the new religion was some sort of "medicine," and 
that since it enabled the white men to do so many things which they could not accom- 
plish, they would try it at all events. They therefore made a huge bonfire of their 
idols, accepted the new faith, their king and many of his warriors were baptized, and 
they set a wooden cross upon a high hill as a token to God that they believed in the 
doctrines of the church. The king of the Ladrones had long been at war with the 
king of one of the neighboring Philippine islands, and having such implicit faith in 
his new religion to work wonders, and in his white guests as invincible, the savage 
king pleaded with Magellan to go out in his ships against his enemies. 

This was a crusade against the heathen, in the estimation of Magellan, and he 
was perfectly willing to undertake it. He therefore set out with his ships and men, 
but he was attacked when once on shore of the hostile island by an overwhelming 
number. Many of his men were slain, and in diverting the attention of the savages 
while the others retreated to their boats, Magellan remained too long on shore. 
Long before, when he was a young man and had fought against the Moors. Magellan 
received a lance thrust in the knee, which lamed him for life, and on account of this 



948 SPANISH AMERICA. 

lameness, perhaps, he was not enabled to run fast enough to escape from the savages, 
when his men were in safety. 

He was overtaken by them, wounded in many places by their spears, and left for 
dead upon the shore, while his men sadly made their way back to the Ladrones. 
The chief was exceedingly angry over the defeat of the white men, but he concealed 
it, and invited thirty of the most prominent of the Spaniards to a banquet and mur- 
dered them all. The remnant of the little band when they learned of the deed, 
quickly spread their sails and hastened away from the fatal islands, and the last thing 
they saw as they went out of the harbor, was the natives cutting down the cross which 
they had set up, and burning it as they had before burned their idols. 

The brother of Magellan's wife and Captain Serrano were murdered at the 
savage feast, and the remaining Spaniards made their way to Borneo. Then they 
went on to the Moluccas, where they found that Magellan's friend Serrano was dead. 
Here one of their ships was proven utterly un-seaworthy, and they took everything of 
value out of it, and burned it. Then, as one of the other ships was not very strong, 
it was agreed that it should be thoroughly repaired, take advantage of the trade- 
winds and make for Panama, while the other should go on at once by the way of the 
Cape of Good Hope, and return to Spain. 

There were one hundred men still remaining of the'two hundred and eighty that 
had sailed away from Spain, and on the eighteenth of December, two years and two 
months from the time Magellan sailed away from Spain, forty-seven of these were 
put on board the ship for Spain, and the others on board the one for Panama. The 
ship that was bound directly for .Spain rounded the Cape of Good 1 lope, and entered 
the Atlantic in May, while the one that was to go by the way of Panama, was for 
awhile lost on the wide Pacific, and after the crew had endured untold miseries, and 
had nearly all died, it succeeded in getting back to the Moluccas, and of the tifty-four 
men with which she had set out on the return only four lived to see Spain again. 

The equator was crossed by the other ship in June, but as the vessel was leaking 
badly, and the provisions were all gone, the captain determined to put in at the Por- 
tuguese Cape Verde Islands. He did not tell any one there of the long voyage he 
had made, but one of the sailors when he was drunk told the secret of the discovery 
of the passage through the Straits of Magellan and the adventures through which 
they had passed, and the Portuguese arrested thirteen of the ship's crew that were 
on shore, accusing them of having transgressed the rights of the Portuguese in their 
explorations. The others spread their sails and made all haste to get away, and on 
the 6th ot .September. 1523. thirty-four months after they left Spain, their vessel, VkU- 
tered by storms and almost a wreck, sailed into the river Guadalquiver, and the 
eighteen gaunt, ragged, half-starved men, landed and told to the wondering people 
who surrounded them the story of their long voyage, their sufferings and disasters, 
and that they had sailed entirely round the globe. 

This was the most wonderful voyage that was ever made upon f)ur earth, for the 
men who made it ventured into unknown waters in frail vessels, and without maps or 
charts to guide their course, and were obliged to struggle against every difficully and 
danger known to seamen. True, Sir Francis Drake did sail around the world later, 
and Frobisher made some wonderful voyages, but they had some knowledge of the 
route, and in their time there had been much improvement made in ship-building. 

\'^itus Pehring, the man who discovered that Asia was aContinent entirely separate 
from North America, in the days of Peter the Great of Russia, also made some won- 



SPANISH AMERICA. 049 

derful voyages, as did Baffin, the discoverer of Baffin's Bay, and Davis, the discoverer 
of Davis Strait, but none of them had to overcome the difficulties that beset Magellan, 
and their voyages, when compared to his, were both short and easy. Cape Morn was 
not discovered for some time after this voyage of Magellan. It was in 1578 that a 
Dutchman with a name that suggests anything but great deeds, but rather noise both 
vocal and instrumental, Schouten van Horn, sailed down beyond Magellan's Strait 
and Terra del Fuega, and sighted the cape which was called Cape Horn in his 
honor. 

The Spanish and Portuguese hati a long quarrel about the ownership of the 
Philippine islands, and the Moluccas, and though they were really within the bounds 
that the pope had set for Portugal, Spain would not give them up. The Moluccas 
were leased to Portugal by Charles V. for a large sum of money, and in some way the 
lease was allowed to be construed as perpetual, and Spain lost those islands, but it 
held on to the Philippines, and they received their name in honor of the Spanish 
king, Philip II. 

The Spaniards lost their East Indian possessions in the days of their war with 
the Netherlands, and Portugal, too, lost all hers, for at the time when Philip II. was 
king of Spain, there was no heir to the Portuguese crown, and he made himself the 
king of the country, and it did not regain its independence until 1640, and by that 
time Spain had thoroughly ruined it and the Dutch had taken possession of all its 
foreign islands that were worth the taking. 

The Portugese had early colonized Brazil, and when the succession failed in the 
Portugese royal line, the Dutch attempted to take possession of it. They suc- 
ceeded in making themselves the masters of a fort in the country but were finally 
driven out. After all of the other countries of South America haciestablished repub- 
lics, Brazil remained an empire, ruled over by descendants of the Portugese house of 
Braganza, but in the year 1889 it established a republic also. The emperor at the 
time was Dom Pedro, an enlightened and progressive man who had done much in 
his long reign to foster the Republican sentiment among his people. He had visited 
the United States and studied its institutions and admired them very much. He 
gave up his throne peacefully and went back to Europe. 

I have not told you about the exploits of the Spaniards on the eastern coast of 
North America, for these exploits came to nothing, but we must not forget that the 
"land of Easter." the State of Florida, long remained a possession of Spain and was 
not a part of the United States until some years after the' war for our independence. 
You will remember that after Ponce de Leon made his failure in the attempt to colo- 
nize the country, the Spaniards did nothing with Florida until Ferdinand De Soto 
came over from Spain and made his march through the country and discovered the 
Mississippi. A Spaniard had indeed founded a settlement at the mouth of the James 
river, near where Jamestown was afterward founded, as early as the year 1528. He 
brought with him from Hispaniola six hundred men and women, and a hundred 
horses, but he died of a fever soon after he landed in America, and his people fell to 
quarrelling among themselves. They had some negro slaves with them, and these 
slaves rose against their masters antl murdered some of them. The Indians killed 
many others and at last the rest embarked to Hisixiniola, but most of them were 
shipwrecked. A few of them lived to get back to the island, an<l among them was 
Father Antonio Montesino, that noble Dominican jjriest, who did all that he could 
to make the Spaniards in Hispaniola give up their Indian slaves. It is said that he 



950 SPANISH AMERICA. 

went to Venezuela soon after this, and there lost his life at the hands of the 
savages. 

The French King. Francis, began to send ships across the Atlantic, and would 
not heed the protests of the Spaniards. He thought that he had as good a right to 
take all that he could find as they, and told their king of his intention to do so. He 
sent a bold navigator by the name of Verrazani, to explore the eastern coast, and 
when Charles V. heard of this proceeding, he was greatly disquieted. It was about 
the time the French were feeling the first miseries of the dreadful persecutions 
against the Huguenots, that Admiral Coligny determinded to send some of his per- 
secuted countrymen across the ocean to build up homes for themselves in the wilder- 
ness of the new world. He sent a brave and able man by the name of Jean Ribaut, 
with a party of thirty men to found a settlement. These men coasted along the 
eastern shores of Florida, to the mouth of the St. John's river, and then further on 
to the coast of what is now the State of South Carolina. There they landed, and the 
thirty men set to work to build a fort while Ribaut went back to France for his colony. 
For awhile the Frenchmen lived on good terms with the Indians who supplied them 
with food and all the other necessities of life, but soon the Indians tired of giving, 
and then the Frenchmen began to beg of them. Finally the men rebelled against 
their commander, killed him, patched up a leaky old craft that had been left with 
them, and set sail for France. They had hardly any food to carry with them, and 
before half of their voyage was done, they were without supplies, and starving. To 
supply their necessities they killed one of their companions and ate him, and had 
just finished this horrid ration, and were about casting lots for the next man who was 
to be made into meat for the benefit of the crew, when they were picked up by an 
English vessel and carried over to London. 

Ten years after this Ribaut, who had been busy in the war between the Huge- 
nots and the Guises of France, found time to send his protestant colony to America. 
The company was very large and there were plenty of soldiers and the usual sprink- 
ling of gentlemen who expected to pick gold from the beds of the streams, and a few 
mechanics, but not a single farmer, for this was to be a colony of gold-diggers. The 
new expedition landed near the mouth of the St. John's River and built a fort, which 
in honor of King Charles IX, was called Fort Caroline. It was not long before this 
company of adventurers got into trouble among themselves and with the Indians, 
and finding no gold on land, they determined to look for it on the high seas; that is 
they made up their minds to turn pirate and prey on the Spanish ships that were 
constantly crossing the ocean from the- West Indies and Mexico. A part of them 
therefore stole two little vessels belonging to the colony and went forth, but they 
were obliged to go on shore of one of the Spanish islands for water, and after they 
had earned the right to be punished as pirates by capturing a small Spanish ship, 
they were arrested on the island where they went for water, and were carried to 
Cuba where they bought the authorities over by giving them a full account of the 
settlement at Fort Caroline. 

Philip II, was then in the mood to play the' dog in the manger with the rest of 
the world. He had not the slightest use for Florida, for there was no gold there, 
and he did not care a whit for it after he found out that fact. He was not inclined, 
however, to let the French have it, though he did not want it himself, and he there- 
fore sent a man to drive them out. This man is usually called Menendez, but he 
wrote his name Pedro Menendez de Aviles; he was a most bigoted Catholic. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 951 

a brave soldier, but a man who has come down to history as having no regard 
■ for truth at all when it pleased him to tell a falsehood, a cruel, blood-thirsty villian 
altogether. It seems that Menendez had persuaded Philip to let him go out to 
Florida, and convert the Indians; probably he wanted to engage in the slave trade, 
and that was his excuse, but at all events the news that the F^rench Protestants had 
built a fort on Spanish soil stirred Philip to deep anger. He hated the Protestants 
with all his narrow soul, and was fighting them in the Netherlands the most of his 
life. In Spain he crushed out all tendency to Protestanism so that to this day Spain is 
almost as intensely Catholic, as superstitious and ignorant as she was in his time, and 
he told Menendez to go and cut off the French in Florida without mercy, though at 
the time France and Spain were at peace. Philip knew this act would not bring 
any trouble upon him from France, for he was a favorite with Catherine de Medici 
and Charles IX, and it is said that he had participated in the dreadful massacre of 
Bartholomew of which 1 have told you in the story of France. 

Menendez took eleven ships and a thousand fighting men and sailed away from 
Cadiz in the summer of 1565 on the "crusade" against the heretics. Ribault had 
not yet returned from France himself, and his colony was in a sad way. 
Those who had not taken to piracy were slowly starving to death. The In- 
dians were unfriendly and would sell them no food, and harassed them so persistently 
that they hardly dared venture out of their fort. They had been visited by the 
English slave-trader. Sir John Hawkins, who offered to take them back to Europe, 
but they knew Ribaut would soon come to their relief and they refused to go. In 
August, Ribault did indeed come with seven ships and three hundred men. He 
brought tools, provisions, clothing, arms, ammunition, and every needful thing, and 
the colonists began to cheer up with belief that now their colony would prosper. 
They set to work with a right good will, but in about two weeks after the coming of 
Ribault, they saw one morning five Spanish ships coming into their harbor. This was 
the fleet of Menendez, the other ships had been wrecked and these were all he had 
left. Menendez thought it hardly prudent to attack the French. He contented him- 
self with ordering them away, and threatening them with punishment; then sailed 
away down the coast to the place where the city of St. Augustine now stands. There 
he halted and set five hundred negro slaves to work to throw up a bank of earth as 
the beginning of the intrenchments of his camp. One of the French ships had been 
sent out to watch the movements of the Spaniards, and it came back with the report 
that these entrenchments were being made. It was then decided to leave a small 
number of picked men at Fort Caroline, to hold the place, while Ribault, who was a 
most skillful general, was to take the others and sail down the coast, pounce upon the 
Spaniards before their earthworks were finished, and drive them out of the 
country. 

If this plan had succeeded it might have made the French the masters of 
Florida, and the whole course of history in the New World might have been changed. 
They would have built up there a numerous and powerful colony with which England 
would have found it much harder to struggle, than with the feeble settlements in 
Canada and the Ohio valley. There were a great many things that might have 
happened in history, if it had not been for wind and weather, as you have, no doubt, 
noticed, and the wind and weather now interfered, and in favor of the Spaniards. 
When the French were in sight of the Spanish camp, and no doubt already congratu- 
lating themselves that they would make short work of the enemy, the wind began to 



952 SPANISH AMERICA. 

blow fiercely, and they were driven far out to sea. The gale continued to blow, and 
the heart of Menendez was filled with fierce joy. He knew tliat the F"rench com- 
mander must have left some men at the fort, and now they were at his mercy, for 
their ships and the larger part of their soldiers were far out to sea, and there was no 
telling when they would get back again. He quickly set out, and marching through 
the tangled swamps and forests that lay between him and the French, guided by the 
Indians who knew the way well, ant! who cut a path with their hatchets as they ad- 
vanced, until he was in sight of the unsuspecting people at Fort Caroline. The 
surprise was complete, and the few men in the fort could not have held the place 
against the whole of Menendez' force, if they had known he was coming. In a little 
while the place was taken. Some of the Frenchmen succeeded in making their way 
into the wilderness, and afterward wandered about near the shore, looking for a 
friendly ship to take them home, until they were picked up at last and carried back 
to France. One hundred and forty-two men, women ami children in the fort, were 
killed in cold blood, and a few were saved. Menendcz tried to excuse his softness of 
heart in sparing any, when he wrote an account of what he had done, to the king, 
and Philip told him he had done well to kill the Protestants, but not so well in sparing 
anv, however, he should send those who were saved, back to Spain, and he would 
make galley-slaves of them. 

The ships of gallant Jean Ribault were tossed hither and thither by the winds and 
waves, and were finally wrecked on the Florida coast about a dozen miles south of 
the Spanish camp at St. Augustine. .Most of the crews and troops were saved, and 
in two bodies, one far in advance of the other, worked their way back through the 
country toward Fort Caroline. Late in the month, the first party came to a little arm 
of the sea, which they had no means of crossing. Menendez had been on the watch 
for them in every direction, and sent seventy men to hide in the bushes, when he 
heard that the Ilugenots were near this place. He then sent a boat out, and per- 
suaded three or four French officers to come across. He told them about the capture 
and destruction of F'ort Caroline and the murder of the garrison, and told them that 
the best thing they could do would be to lay down their arms and trust themselves to 
his mercy assuring them that he would deal honorably with them. The French had 
no provisions, and therefore surrendered, and were brought across the arm of the 
sea in parties of ten. As each party landed, the men were marched around a sand- 
hill near by, with their hands tied behind their backs, and when the whole of the 
detachment was over, the Spaniards, from their concealment, issued forth and killed 
every one of them. 

Two days afterward, Ribault and three hundred and fifty men, came to the same 
inlet. There the Spaniards met them, told them that their friends had surrendered 
and received good treatment at their hands, gave them food, and persuaded them to 
lay down their arms and trust themselves to the tender mercies of Menendez. They 
might as well have trusted to a blood-thirsty tiger. Two hundred of the Frenchmen 
thought as much. They said they would rather die of starvation in the woods, or 
fall by the arrows of the Indians, less savage than Menendez, but they would not 
trust themselves to him. Ribault and a hundred and fifty men surrendered, but the 
other two hundred slipped away into the woods, and some of them after many hard- 
ships were saved. Five of the men who surrendered were allowed to live, for they 
were probably Catholics, but all the others were killed in cold blood. One poor 
sailor who had been left for dead and was dreadfully woupded, succeeded, with pain 



SPANISH AMERICA. 953 

and difficulty, in crawling away from the fatal spot and reaching the sea-shore at some 
distance from St. Augustine. He was in time pTcked up and carried back to France, 
where he told of the dreadful deed that had been done. The character of the Span- 
ish king was so well known that his work was to be plainly seen in this horrid mur- 
der. Catherine de Medicis and Charles paid no attention to the massacre of their 
subjects in the New World, and perhaps thought that since they were heretics, they 
were well rid of them. 

There were those in France, the relatives and friends of the murdered ones, who 
felt bitterly toward the Spanish on account of this cruel deed. There was also in 
France at the time, a nobleman of Gascony named Dominique de Gourges. He was 
not a Hugenot, but he was a brave man, and like all brave men hated cruel and cow- 
ardly deeds like those Menendez. He hated Spain, too, with good reason. He had 
been a soldier, and had fought in Italy in those disputes for territory that were so 
endless in those days. In one of his campaigns, he was taken prisoner by the Span- 
iards, and they made him work in the galleys. I suppose of course that you know 
what I mean when I say galleys, but for fear that you do not, will tell you that in 
those days the Spaniards, Genoese and other maritime people did not use sails alto- 
gether in their war vessels. Indeed sails were not used at all by any of the old navi- 
gators, and instead oared'vessels with banks of oars one above another, like those I 
have told you about in the story of Rome, wefe common in the fourteenth century. 
It was the practice to condemn men who had committed crimes against the State or 
against the community in which they lived to labor at the oars of these vessels, and a 
very wretched life they had ot it. They were chained to their benches, and if any- 
thing should happen to the ship, which was not at all uncommon in a naval battle, 
they were doomed to a watery grave. In Spain, and some other countries, prisoners 
taken in war were sent to this hard service, and were not only compelled to endure 
the labor and indignity of such a life, but were brutally abused. Spaniards were then 
the most cruel ot all civilized people, and even to-day their prisons are foul places, a 
disgrace to humanity. They had the example of cruelty set for them by Philip, and 
the Inquisition and it is no wonder that they have followed it. I should be afraid to 
tell you how many Spaniards were murdered by Torquemeda, the Inquisitor, but it 
must have been at least ten thousand. In our own times there has been an excava- 
tion made upon the site of the place where the secret tortures of the Inquisition 
took place, and there have been found remains of calcined bones of human beings 
forming a layer several feet in thickness. Perhaps as many people were killed in 
.Spain during the Inquisition as suffered for their faith in all parts of the world 
together at that time. 

Dominique de Gourges was moved to deep anger when he learned what had 
been the fate of his countrymen in Florida, and determined to avenge them, though 
it took all his fortune and his life beside. He said nothing to Catherine de Medicis 
or the king concerning his intentions, but sold his lands and everything he owned, 
borrowed some money of his friends, to whom he probably revealed his plans and 
secured their consent that he should use their money for the purpose, and fitted out 
three small ships and enlisted two hundred men. Of course he could not take such a 
company away from France without causing suspicion, if his destination was not 
made public, so he secured a commission from the king to kidnap negroes from the 
coast of Africa. In August of the year 1657, he left France and sailed toward Africa. 
All the fall and winter he cruised about, until the Spaniards, and maybe his own 



954 SPANISH AMERICA. 

countrymen had forgotten all about him. and he and his commission had slipped from 
the minds of the high officials, then he turned his ships towards Cuba. When he was 
half wa}- across the Atlantic, he told his men what he intended, and they 
were willing to follow him and do what they could to avenge the death of their 
countrymen. 

I suspect that De Gourges had chosen men that were friends and relatives of 
the murdered ones, in order to be sure of their sympathy, and knew that he could 
count upon their help. At all events the three French ships sailed across the ocean 
in the spring of 1858, and came to anchor a little way from St. Augustine, and be- 
tween that place, which was then only a Spanish fort, and the ruins of Fort Caroline. 
The Indians were rejoiced to see them, for they had grown tired of their Spanish 
neighbors. It is said that at first they admired Menendez exceedingly for the man- 
ner in which he had disposed of his enemies, but after awhile his strong hand was laid 
heavily on them. 

He was determined to convert them whether they would or no, and treated them 
with such injustice and cruelty that they hated him. His men plundered their fields, 
and were not at all scrupulous about their behavior, and there was such hatred for 
them among the Indians, that when they learned that De Gourges had come with the 
intention of exterminating the Spaniards, they flocked to him in such numbers that 
he determined to surprise the Spanish garrison, and try to take it by assault. His 
coming had been kept a profound secret by the Indians, and the Spaniards had no 
idea that there was a Frenchman on that side of the ocean. They were not afraid 
of the Indians, for they knew that the naked savages would not presume to attack 
four hundred well drilled and armed men behind the walls of their fort. They had 
grown so careless of danger that they did not keep watch in the day time, and it is 
said that they were attacked at mid-day, just as they had finished their dinner. The 
surprise was a complete success, and not one man of the four hundred escaped the 
swords of the Frenchmen and the tomahawks of the Indians except fifteen whom De 
Gourges spared. 

When Menendez had massacred the French under Ribault, some of the soldiers 
who escaped by flight to the woods, said that he hanged several of the poor fellows 
he had deluded into a surrender to a single tree, and over them placed a board upon 
which was scrawled, "Not as to Frenchmen, but as to heretics." There the bodies of 
the Frenchmen hung until their fleshless skeletons fell to the ground. The board 
was still nailed to the tree, and the ghastly evidences of the foul murder were not 
hard to find. Menendez was not in the fort, unluckily, or he would have met the fate 
which he so richly deserved. 

De Gourges took the fifteen prisoners to the very tree upon which the Huguenots 
had been hanged, strung them up in a row, and over them placed a board upon which 
he caused to be printed in large letters in I""rench and Spanish, "Not as to Spaniards, 
but as to liars and murderers." Having done his work of revenge pretty thoroughly, 
De Gourges destroyed the fort, and calmly returned to France. What afterward 
became of him I can not tell you, but I know that Spain took no notice of the deed, 
for she was not in a position to fight France. Philip had brought the country to ruin, 
and had fought until the fighting resources of the country were at an end. Menendez 
came back to Florida, and spent the rest of his life in his pious work of converting 
the Indians by the cross when he could, and by the sword when the cross failed, which 
was not seldom. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 955 

Spain made a few settlements in Florida, but her strength for colonization was 
gone. Her own fields and hillsides, once so fruitful from the care and tillage, of the 
Arab farmers were barren wastes, for her peasants, like her nobles, were idle and 
ignorant, and had not the spirit of enterprise that led the English to emigrate to the 
New World. Even the impulse to become conquerors and live by their swords upon 
the spoil wrested from others had worn itself out, and Spain was compelled to cede 
Florida to England in the year 1763, after having been obliged to narrow her 
boundaries on the eastern coast of the United States, where she at first claimed the 
entire Continent, to the little peninsula that now bears the name of Florida. 

England held the territory for about twenty years, when as she had no especial 
use for it, and the soil was poor and barren, she gave it back to Spain in the way of 
a treaty trade, and as was the custom, and is still the custom of England in such bar- 
gains, she gained the best of the transaction. During the second war with England, 
the Spaniards in Florida were altogether too willing to allow the English to use their 
harbors and towns as bases of supplies, and they fell into trouble with Jackson, who 
virtually conquered the territory, but was obliged to give it back to Spain. In the 
Everglades, vast swamps of Florida, was a lair of the Seminole Indians, which served 
them for shelter when every other refuge failed. Encouraged, it was thought, by the 
Spaniards, the Seminoles waged a most cruel war with the whites in the States adjoin- 
ing Florida. Andrew Jackson was one of the best Indian fighters in America, and he 
was sent to subdue them. He did so, chasing them into their retreat, and for the 
second time being obliged to give it back to Spain. In the year 1821 the Government 
of the United States determined that it was to her best interest to own Florida, as the 
purchase of Louisiana left no other but English speaking people in the whole of North 
America, to the borders of Mexico, except the Spaniards in Florida. 1 don't think Spain 
wasvery willing to part with Florida, but as Jackson had seized parts of it, and held them, 
and as there was no obstacle to our Government taking possession of Florida when- 
ever it felt so disposed, Spain made a virtue of necessity, and sold it to our Govern- 
ment, and Andrew Jackson was sent to receive it from the hands of the Spaniards. 
Thus Spain lost her foothold upon the Atlantic coast of North America, and in a few 
years, also upon the Pacific coast, but there her impress upon the people was such, 
that it will be ages before the traces of her dominion have disappeared. 

Now that I have shown you briefly the fortunes of Spain in her later colonies, I 
will go back for a little space to those fair islands which Columbus and the compan- 
ions of his adventures discovered, and where before the death of the great navigator 
the bloody hand of Spain was laid heavily upon the poor Indians. It was no doubt 
the hope and belief of Columbus that King Ferdinand would grant to his descendants 
the justice which he had been unwilling to show toward him. From the very first 
Columbus had a powerful enemy at court in the person of the Bishop of Burgos, a 
man by the name of Fonseca, who had much influence with the narrow-minded kmg. 
Perhaps Columbus reasoned that as long as Fonseca lived and was in such favor with 
the king, there was little hope for his own claims to be granted the reward due them, 
but he had seen before that the favor of kings does not last forever. He died, how- 
ever, before the Bishop lost any of his influence. If you should ask me why the 
Bishop hated Columbus when the discoverer was such a true and faithful son of the 
Church, I cannot tell you. Perhaps it was because when he appeared at court with 
his project of finding land beyond the western ocean, Fonseca had ridiculed the 
whole idea, as the vain imaginings of a dreamer, and even intimated that he was not 



956 SPANISH AMERICA. 

at all sure that it was exactly respectful to the wisdom of the Church, for Columbus 
to declare that the world was round, when the Church for ages had assumed that it 
was flat. 

You knew that Galileo was tried for heresy because he said the earth moved, 
and it was the doctrine in those days "that what the Pope said was true, whether it 
was true or not," but of course their belief was not expressed in such words. Colum- 
bus proved that he was right and tliat Fonseca was wrong, and the narrow-minded 
Bishop never forgave him for it, and did everything possible to take away the credit 
from Columbus. It seems that Fonseca hated all great and good men, with the spite 
of a narrow and envious nature. He hated Las Casas and many other of the great 
men of old Spain, and hindered in every way possible their plans. 

P'erdinand was not disposed to grant any honocs to the family of Columbus, and 
would not even allow Diego, the son of the discoverer, the government of those is- 
lands which had been granted to Columbus and his heirs forever, until he felt certain 
that he would have trouble among his own Spanish councilors if he did not do so. 
He did finally allow this tardy justice to Diego, and small satisfaction did the son of 
Columbus gain from his rule over the turbulent and quarrelsome Spanish subjects. 
I am afraid that Diego was nearly as greedy for gold as were most of the Spaniards 
of his time, and that he did not concern himself about the miseries that were visited 
upon the Indians. Certainly, before he died, the Indians had grown scarce in the 
islands, and already there were large numbers of negroes imported to work in the 
fields and the mines. 

The slavery of the negroes was no less a crime, according to our way of think- 
ing, than was that of the Indians, but they could stand hard work and poor fare 
better, and though they were deprived of their liberty, they were not so untamable 
and did not brood so much over their sorrows. They were naturally of a more 
cheerful disposition, and did not irritate their masters so much by sullcnness and re- 
sistence. I think perhaps that this very sullenness, for which we cannot blame them 
in the least, was one of the causes why the Indians were so brutally treated by the 
Spaniards, and that the negroes survived the hard work and abuse of their masters, 
because they were inclined to make light of their misfortunes, and take what pleas- 
ure they could out of life in spite of its toil and pain. 

When Diego Columbus died, he left a son and a daughter to inherit his wealth in 
the Indies. The son, whose name was Louis, after a long dispute with the king of 
Spain, and a law-suit against the crown for his rights in the New World, was forced 
to the conclusion that he would never be able to secure what was due him, and that 
the best thing to be done was to take what he could get from the king in the way of 
justice. He therefore transferred his claim to the Government of the West Indies, 
to the Emperor Charles \'., who though he had so much territory was greedy for 
more, and accepted in its place, the dukedom of Veragua in Spain, and the Islam! of 
Jamaica in the West Indies, receiving also with the latter gift, the title of Marquis de 
la Vega. He did not live long to enjoy the title, and when he died, the last male 
member of the family of Columbus, in a direct line, was no more. His sister Isabella 
was the sole heiress of the titles and possessions of the family, and she gave the 
island of Jamaica, the single insignificant territory of her family in the Indies, to the 
Braganza family, a great Portuguese house. I will now try to tell you how the 
Spaniards lost the West Indies, as they had lost the northern and western possessions 
of their empire in the new world in later days. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 957 

The whole history of the Spanish Conquest in the New World, as you now prob- 
ably understand from what I have told you, was really a war against the entire 
human race. They made war on the Indians in the name of religion, and in that 
name too, made war upon their own kindred in Spain through the terrible inquisition. 
They warred against every nation that attempted to colonize the New World, or 
trade there, until they found that the could not do it safely. With no right what- 
ever they claimed the New World because the head of the Christian church, 
who was called Pope of Rome by the whole Christian world at the time, gave into 
the hands of the Spaniards everything tliey chose beyond an imaginary line drawn in 
mid-ocean, and to the Portuguese all that was on the other side of it. The Pope had 
no more moral or legal right to give the territory ot America away than had anybody 
else, but he was to receive a certain share of the profit, and he wantetl to choose the 
possessors to suit himself. 

I have told you that the French were not willing to abide by the decision of the 
Pope, and the English were certainly more unwilling, for they declared that the 
whole of the North American continent was certainly theirs by right of discovery, 
and the Spaniards could only claim those coasts and islands that they had discovered 
and occupied. They said, and perhaps justly too, that if Columbus had not discovered 
the land beyond the western waters, it would only have been a short time before 
some one else would have done so. 

They might justly have claimed that if discovery alone gave the right of occupa- 
tion, that Cabral, the Portuguese mariner, who was blown across the Atlantic in at- 
tempting to make a voyage, was the discoverer of the South American continent, and 
that Lief Erickson, and his descendants in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and England 
had the right to North America, for he not only discovered it, but some of his 
companions wrote an account of the country, but of course that was not known at the 
time. 

In the course of their cruising about in the ocean, the Spaniards, as I have told 
you before, were driven by wind and weather on strange coasts, and some of their 
most fortunate discoveries were made in that way. They were indebted to a storm 
that drove them ashore near Darien for the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, as I have 
already related, and in the course of a certain voyage, they were driven by the winds 
to a point in the ocean from which they sighted the island of Saint Christopher. For 
nearly a hundred and fifty years, they made no attempt whatever to settle upon the 
island, but they did not propose to let anybody else do so. The English sent out a 
colony in the year 1629, which settled upon the island, and though that settlement 
in itself was of so little importance that it is not usually mentioned in the histories, it 
led to something of greater importance. 

The Spanish were in the habit of treating people of every nation whose ships 
they encountered in the waters of the New World, as their deadly enemies, and their 
barbarous cruelty was wreaked upon them without mercy. When they learned that 
the English had founded a settlement upon the Island of Saint Christopner, they 
sent word to the Spanish king, and told him about it. At the time the Dutch had 
seized upon Brazil, for their own, and the king pretended that he was fitting out an 
expedition to drive them out, but he was really getting ships and men together to 
send to Saint Christopher. Toledo was put in charge of the fleet, and sailed away to 
the island. The French, too, had made a settlement upon the island, and had agreed 
with the English as to the boundaries of their respective colonies. There was no war 



958 SPANISH AMERICA. 

at the time between Spain and England, but that made no difference. The Spanish 
swooped down upon the island settlement, and being wholly surprised, the colonists 
had neither the time nor the material to defend themselves. The Spaniards did some 
of the most savage and cruel things to the settlers. They burned their houses, their 
crops and possessions, killed all of the cattle they could find, selected six hundred of 
the most able-bodied men and carried them away to work in the chain-gangs in their 
mines in San Domingo and Mexico, and ordered the women and children who had 
escaped their swords, to leave the place and never return to it upon pain of death. 
Charles Stuart was on the throne of England at the time, and he had enough to do 
to struggle with his rebellious people at home, without taking up their cause abroad. 

Eight years after this dreadful massacre, the Spaniards made a raid upon the 
Tortugas Islands. You will remember when those islands were discovered and by 
whom, for I have told you about it, and in all the years since the sailing of Ponce de 
Leon those islands had remained uncolonized, until a few Englishmen settled there 
and founded a colony in the early days of English colonization of North America. 
The Spaniards put every man, woman and child that they found upon the Tortugas 
to death. 

This could not be passed over as was the raid of Saint Christopher, for there 
was a man in England by the name of Cromwell, upon whom the outrage made a 
deep impression There was no excuse for it, because there was a treaty of friend- 
ship with Spain that had been made by England for the express purpose of protect- 
ing her ships and colonies in the New World, and which was made in the year 1630. 
The Spaniards would however pay no attention to any such treaty, and continued to 
treat the French and English w^hom they found in the New World as their most 
bitter enemies, and were not content with revenge, but desired to exterminate them 
entirely. 

Some time after the massacre of the Tortugas, they did the same thing upon the 
island of Santa Cruz. An English priest of the Catholic church by the name of 
Gage, spent several years in the Spanish possessions in Mexico and in the Indies, 
and what he saw there roused him to anger with the cruelty and injustice of the 
Spaniards. He knew, too, that in spite of their show of strength and ability to keep 
the whole work! away from America, they were really very weak, and could be 
driven from their possessions in the West Indies very easily. He returned to 
England and wrote a book upon the subject and this book Cromwell read. 

Cromwell was not the man to sit quietly down and allow the Spaniards to murder 
Englishmen in the New World. He knew that the weakness of Charles .Stuart had 
caused the name of England to sink so low down that the great nations of the world 
felt privileged to abuse Englishmen; and he was just the man to convince them that 
the thing could not be safely done. He humbled the Dutch, and now made up his 
niintl to humble the Spaniards. He fitted out an expedition to teach the haughty 
and cruel Spaniards a lesson they never forgot. In one of the ships the priest Gage, 
no longer a priest but a soldier, now sailed to the New World to help plant the 
British flag securely in the West Indies. 

Stout old Admiral Penn, the father of the gentle Quaker preacher, who in after 
days founded the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, was of the expedition, and 
many other brave Englishmen, whose descendants live to-day upon American soil. 
They were completely successful in taking Jamaica away from the Spanish, and 
founding there an English colony under a charter that gave them all the rights of 
persons born in England. 



SPANISH AMERICA. 959 

You have, no doubt heard of " The Buccaneers of the Spanish Main." and per- 
haps have an idea that they were wild, fierce pirates who sailed about the seas in their 
"long, low rakish crafts," pouncing down upon ships of every nation, and plundering 
them, while they hanged or killetl the crew, then retreated in safety to some island 
shelter to divide their ill-gotten gains. You are much mistaken if you have any such 
idea. These buccaneers were, some of them wild and violent enough, and no doubt 
committed many willful outrages, but there were among them some noble names of 
England, and the ships that were fitted out for the purpose of "buccaneering" were 
designed only to prey upon the Spanish commerce, and make good some of the losses 
of the English in the New World. These buccaneers often stopped the 
Spanish treasure-ships on their way over to Spain, and many fierce fights they had 
with the Spanish seamen. They carried off booty from them, and from the more 
unprotected of the Spanish settlements upon the West Indies Islands. 

A large number of these buccaneers established themselves upon the Tortugas 
Islands, and divided themselves into three classes. One of these classes followed 
piracy upon the seas, another staid at home and cultivated the soil, raising large crops 
of corn and the like, and a third class hunted the wild cattle which abounded upon 
many of the West Indies Islands, and .killed them for their skins and flesh. These 
cattle hunters were the real buccaneers, though the pirates have more often received 
the name. They were so-called, because they made a frame work of green boughs, 
which they called a'- boucan," and upon this laid the meat which they roasted for 
food, by placing a slow fire beneath it. Thus they half dried, half cooked the car- 
cases that they used for food, and from their "boucans" were called "buccaneers." 
The cattle which they hunted, were not natives of the West Indies, for as I have told 
you before, neither horses nor cattle were natives of the New World. They were 
brought to the islands by the Spaniards, and were abandoned and allowed to run 
wild over the forests and meadows, and increased so fast that there were in time 
great herds of them. 

The sea-going buccaneers were wont to dart out from some secluded bay in tne 
islands in a long boat rowed by crews of from fifteen to thirty men. They were all 
well armed, and did not hesitate to attack even large merchant ships. Their crafts 
were called "flei-boteros" and that word has been gradually changed until now we 
have it as filibuster, which as you know means to make an unlawful expedition against 
another country, or to obstruct in some manner the rightful course of procedure in 
our legislative assemblies. * 

Many of these filibusterers and buccaneers were French, and they crossed over 
from Tortugas, where they had their plantations, and invading the Spanish Island of 
San Domingo, established their camp there in the woods. They killed the wild 
cattle there for their hides, and when the cattle were all gone, or were so scarce and 
shy that it was hard work to hunt them, they boldly cleared the land that 
suited them best, and began to plant in it the crops that gave them the best returns 
for their labor. 

Spain was in sad decay at this time. The mines of the West Indies had been 
exhausted, and the Spaniards had deserted San Domingo in such large numbers to 
engage in enterprises elsewhere, that there were very few pure blooded Spaniards 
upon the island. There were many half-breeds of negro and Spanish blood, but they 
were lazy and not fitted in any way to cope with the rising power of the French upoa 
the island. 



96o SPANISH AMERICA. 

To be sure the Spaniards made raids upor. the French plantations and burned 
their houses, killed their negroes and destroyed their crops, but the}' had no troops 
nor forts to jjrevent the return of the French and thej' persisted in coming back and 
finally in such strength that the Sjjaniards saw that in time they would be masters of 
the island. Nevertheless they harried them all they could, until at last the 
French decided that they would lake the whole island to themselves and drive out 
the Spaniards. 

The I'^rench had bought slaves in large numbers, and unlike the Sjjaniards, they 
did not nii.K with them at first, and for a long time there were the most severe laws 
against the mi.xture of the French and negro races. The slaves that were held by 
the French were treated with such dreadful cruelty, that more than once there were 
uprisings of the oppressed blacks, secretl)' encouraged by the Spaniards, that kept the 
French part of the island in such turmoil, that the French had neither the time nor 
the opportunity to carry out their scheme of taking the whole country away from the 
Spaniards. I want to tell you about San Domingo particularly, because I want you 
to see how the Spaniards, by bringing negroes from Africa to 1 lispaniola, in the days 
of Diego Columbus, in time were the workers of their own downfall in the West 
Indies, by the losing of the island to the descendants of those poor .Africans whom 
they treated with such inhuman cruelty. When the mines of the West Indies were 
exhausted, the S[)aniards weakened their power there, so that one by one the islands 
were seized by other powers. As soon as the Government of San Domingo began to 
cost the Spaniards something, instead of being a source of income, they cared no- 
thing for it, and made no attempt to develop its resources. When the Peace of 
R\swick was made in 1697, Spain agreed to allow France to keep all the conquests 
made from her and a large portion of the Island of San Domingo was therefore 
given into the possession of the French, and governors were sent out from France to 
rule the colonies of planters. 

As time went on, the laws about the marriage of the French with the blacks were 
not observed, and there grew up a large population of mixed French and negro 
blood. These people were in a very peculiar position. Though they could, ami did 
gain enormous wealth, were educated abroad in the schools of Paris, and were 
received in the society of the French capital on account of their wealth and their 
personal charms, for it is said that the Creoles of the West Indies are many of them 
noted for their beauty and accomplishments, they had not the rights of the white 
citizens. They could not be sold as slaves, as could the mixed race of the Southern 
States of our own country before the war. but they were not the equal of the whites 
in the matter of government and under the laws, and this galled them all the more 
because there were many educated and refined persons among them. 

Just before the French Revolution occurred, many of the Creoles thought that 
their time for liberty had come, and they sent a deputation to the French Assembly 
to ask for their rights as French citizens. The assembly promised them that their 
wrongs should be righted. Meanwhile in the Island of San Domingo, the French 
had formed Republican Assemblies of their own, and when a mulatto appeared be- 
fore one of these and asked that the rights of the mixed "colored" population be 
respected, he was promptly hanged by the Assembly as a traitor to the laws. The 
people who were of mixed blood called themselves "colored," but the negroes were 
called "blacks," and the negroes were not thought by them to be worthy of 
liberty. 



SPANISH AMERICA. q6i 

In the course of time a law was made in France which caused San Domingo to 
be considered part of the State of France, to be governed by the same laws that were 
in force there, and it was decreed that all property holders in the French part of the 
island, who had resided in a certain parish two years or more were French citizens, 
with the full rights of citizenship. This was considered by the mulattoes to mean 
themselves, and they were very much rejoiced. The whites were determined not to 
allow them any privileges, however, and arraying themselves under the banner of 
France, the mulattoes called an Assembly, and confident that they were within the law, 
and acting as the government had given them power, they refused to submit to the 
whites even when menaced by their soldiers, 

At last the Assembly of mulattoes determined to go to France and tell to the 
Assembly how the whites on the island had denied them the rights guaranteed 
them by the king. They did so and were at once thrown into French dungeons as 
traitors. In the year 1791, however, the National Assembly of France did decree 
that the mulattoes should be allowed the right to sit in the Assembly if they were 
born of free parents, and the whites solemnly swore that they would die before they 
would permit the decree to be carried out. The whole island was at once thrown 
into confusion. 

The negroes of the island mutinied and declared that they too, would have their 
rights. They gathered in armed bands in various parts of the islands, and the mu- 
lattoes asked the whites to give them arms to protect themselves against the brutal 
and enraged negroes. There was an awful period of bloodshed for many months 
afterward. The negroes murdered the whites with the most awful torments where- 
ever they could find them, and the whites murdered both them and the mulattoes 
without mercy. The whole black population of the island, from the remote planta- 
tions, and the towns and cities seeing that they could expect no mercy from their 
former masters, rose in revolt, and carrying banners upon which were inscribed the 
arms of the king of France, perpetrated some of the most dreadful outrages. 

The French government finally took a hand in subduing the revolted negroes. 
It declared that free colored people were citizens, but that the negroes must return 
to the plantations and keep the peace. The mulattoes then separated themselves 
from the blacks, and took sides with the government which had sent six thousand 
troops to the island. The conflict now was between the government with the 
mulattoes on their side, and the negroes. The government was victorious with the 
help of the mulattoes, and the negroes were then brought to order. 

About this time the war of 1793 broke out between France and England, 
and the Island of San Domingo was again in turmoil. The French Commissioner 
upon the island fell into tlifficulty with the whites, and asked the aid of the three 
thousand revolted negroes to bring them to order. The deeds that these negroes 
committed were so horrible that the commissioner himself was frightened and ran 
away. The whites saw that there was little chance of the 'sland remaining in good 
order, and so many of them had been murdered, that a large number of those whom 
were left got together all their worldly goods that they could take away with them 
and left for Louisiana and France. 

Those who could not get away, as they saw the negroes every day were growing 
more blood-thirsty, appealed to the English Governor at Jamaica to aid them. The 
British consented, and when this became known to two French Commissioners who 



q62 SPANISH AMERICA. 

still remained upon the island, they did away with slavery and offered food, clothing 
and arms to all the blacks who would join them and help beat off the British. Many 
of the blacks answered this call, and when they were well fitted out with clothing 
and arms, deserted, and among the fastnesses of the mountains formed themselves 
into a Republic. 

When it was learned upon the island that the King of France had been executed 
and that royalty was no more, the French inhabitants took sides with their country- 
men, but the leaders of the blacks went over to the Spaniards and were made gen- 
erals in the Spanish Army. England united with Spain against the French, and the 
unhappy French planters of the \\ est Indies, were under a cross-fire as it were. 

The English and .Spaniards then agreed to divide the island between them. One of 
the famous leaders of the blacks, by the name of Touissant, was fighting against the 
French, but when he learned that many of the blacks were as bitterly opposed to the 
English as they were to Spain, and that it would be easy to take what the English had 
gained from them, he went over to the French. When peace was tleclared in 1795, 
the French were given back their part of the island, and Touissant who had done 
good service to the b'rench, was left at the head of a large army of blacks, and two 
years later he was made C"ieneral-in-chief of all the French forces upon the island. 
Some time before this, Touissant had tacked " L'Overture" to his name. The mean- 
ing of this title is " the opener," and he said he would be the means of opening the 
door of a better future to the blacks of San Domingo. Another war with the Eng- 
lish resulted in the joining of the forces of I'rance and Spain against the British, 
which gave the entire island to the French. This treaty led to the abandonment of 
-San Domingo by Spain, and the bones of Columbus were taken from the cathedral 
there, and carried to Havana, in Cuba, where they were buried in solemn state. 

The star of Touissant E'Overture rose rapidly from the beginning of the year 
1795, and though after the island was delivered into the hands of the French, there 
were commissioners .sent out to govern it. Touissant being at the head of the army, 
was the real ruler of the island, and the l)lacks looked up to him as a sort of god. I ie 
compelled them all to return to the ])lantations where they had worked before the 
wars, and gave protectit)n to the white planters who ventured back to the island. Touis- 
sant had remained in power three years, and the Spanish Government had not for- 
mally given over to the commissioner of France the Spanish dominion of the island. 
Touissant warned the Spanish Governor of his intentions, and then at the head of a 
large army marched against him, and after some show of resistance, received the 
.Spanish territory of the West Indies in the name of the Republic of France. He 
then declared the island independent, and himself supreme chief. It was he who 
really established the black republic of Hayti, and for more than forty years of the 
most horrible bloodshed and crime, the Island of San Domingo was torn with war. 
It was governed in this period bj- some of the most bloody-minded human monsters 
that ignorance and superstition could breed, and at last, in the year 1844, the western 
part of the island was separated by a revolution from the negro republic, and the 
Hispaniola of to-day is governed by separate rulers. The eastern end is known as 
Hayti, and the western as San Domingo. 

The people of Jamaica, enjoying their rights as British subjects, complained 
most bitterly at the ruinous taxes which the "Merry Monarch" insisted on collecting 
from them, and at last insinuated that since he had no right to do so, they would not 
pay it. This angered the selfish king so much, that in the year 1665 he took away 



SPANISH AMERICA. Q63 

from the people of Jamaica the charter of their government, and ruled them at his 
pleasure A few years after this calamity there was another dreadful disaster in 
Jamaica, but this wcs the work of the elements, and not of the king. An earthquake 
destroyed Port Royal, and created the greatest havoc 

In those days the French and English could not mix much better than oil arid 
water for you will remember that since the days of the fighting Duke of Normandy 
and his plundering raid into England, there had been more or less bitternessbetween 
the Enc^lish and French, and a war was usually dragging on between the French and 
English, about lands or money or some such thing. The French invaded the island 
and^burned the English settlements and put many people to the sword. 

The blacks had largely increased on all the West Indies islands, and beside the 
pure necrroes there were mixtures of French and negroes, and Spanish and negroes, 
that were called "colored" people. These at various times created much trouble for 
the Europeans in the island, and often revolted and treated their masters with awful 
cruelty torturing them to death and burning their property. These revolted negroes 
were called Maroons, and marooning became the terror of the West Indies. 

I have not space to follow all. of the turnings and incidents by which the 
French and English gained a foothold in the West Indies, and have only told you the 
story of Jamaica, in order that you may have a fair idea of how it was accomplished; 
for by the early part of the eighteenth century, all of the smaller of the West Indies 
Islands and some of the larger were in the hands of the French and the English. 
There were no longer any great fortunes to be dug from the mines of the islands, 
for what gold there had been there was dug out by the Spaniards and the mines were 
exhausted, and agriculture is now the source of wealth of the Indies 



Now that you have read this story of the world, I hope you have been able to 
see the divine hand in human history, leading nations along through darkness, storms 
and dan.-ers toward the light of civilization, that is designed to shine over the whole 
world Men have arisen as instruments of that divine will, and as such have played 
their parts and have disappeared for ever. There have been at the highest points of 
the story of nations as at the lowest, men who have borne the brunt of war and dis- 
cord because it was appointed to them to guide the masses in the direction of truth. 
Thus Napoleon, though ambitious of honor and glory, a tyrant, and a man without 
those tender feelings of mercy and justice that make man truly great, though his 
personal plans failed, was destined to set in motion the whole of Europe, and through 
seas of blood and weeping, to lead them to the place where they could see that ib- 
ertv was something more than a name. Thus, too, our own Washington, though but 
a man wUh the failings common to the race, was chosen to lead the infant Republic 
of America, through night to light, and to stand to all the ages as a pattern of 
patriot and statesman. Lincoln, the emancipator, the son of poverty and toil, the 
humble farmer, born in a back-woods cabin, was in himself the emblem of the nation, 
honorable, patient, high-souled and courageous, his qualities were those of a nation 
bred in toil and danger, but strong in the power of righteousness and integrity. It 
may be in the course of centuries, the names of those whom we now revere as the 
world's heroes will be forgotton, and the nations of the far-off future if they know 
at all of their deeds, will look upon them as the legends of the world of to-day. Yet, 



q64 SPANISH AMERICA. 

nevertheless, what thej' did, will remain forever, for the influence of great and good 
deeds, never perishes. The humble man or w^oman in the world, who is great in 
truth, righteousness, patriotism and honor, may thus be sure that his own power over 
the world, shall never fade and pass entire)}' away, but shall re-echo in the great and 
good, however humble, in all the future ages. 

Let me tell you again, and yet again, O youth, and you that have left youth be- 
hinti in the path of life, there is no strength to a nation like the strength of 
self-reliance, self-knowledge, and self-control. A nation is a collection of individuals 
and as those individuals are, so will the nation be, for the whole is the sum of its 
parts. So far has the civilized world progressed toward liberty, that to-day, the mis- 
takes of a nation are not the mistakes of a king, queen, councilor or a.ssembly, but 
they are the mistakes of individuals voiced in their representatives. So are the 
achievements of nations the achievement of individuals, and their righteousness that 
of the masses. To say that in the last hundred years the world has advanced faster 
towards the true greatness of nations and individuals, than it has in any five hun- 
dred years of its previous history, is to say something that is trite. We are 
beginning to profit by the mistakes of the past, and that after all is the secret of true 
progress. Wa should read history with reverence, for it is full of heart-break, agony, 
striving and often of failure, of those who have earnestly desired the good of their 
fellow men, though not knowing the best means of achieving it. We should search 
diligently for the seed of good in the bad, but imitate only that which is worthy. 
No doubt you have noticed that where individuals have sacrificed the truth and the 
right for their own selfish ends, they have reaped no ease of mind, no true happiness 
nor lasting fame. 

As a parting word, let me exhort you to make the temple of liberty your own 
heart and there keep the fires of patriotism forever burning. Let your charity be 
world-wide, and your sympathy be heaven-broad. Remember that of one blood are 
all the men of earth created, and that you have received from the ignorance, dark- 
ness and brutality of the remote past, the struggles of dim unwritten centuries, the 
blood-shed of the Dark Ages, the battle-fields of modern times, that heritage which 
you should cherish above every earthly possession. Remember, too, that there is 
not a material comfort you enjoy but which has behind it the history of centuries of 
endeavor. The very house in which you live is inherited, plan and idea, from the 
dim past, the implements of work, and even the games with which leisure is amused 
are not things of to-day or yesterday. Hven steam and electricity, with ail that they 
have done in our own times for the advance of civilization, are world-old forces, 
dimly recognized, experimented with, tested, and finally applied to the uses of the 
present. 

We are fond of relating what we have achieved in the last century in the way of 
improvement, and surely much credit is due us. yet when we remember what those 
nations of old, unaided by the accumulated wisdom and experience that has been 
our inheritance accomplished, we are mute, and in our own hearts ask ourselves 
whether man to-day is very tliffcrent after all from the man of the past, and whether 
with all the mechanical aids that we have, our impression upon the world will he less 
perishable than that of the the Pyramid Builders, the Cliff Dwellers, and those myster- 
ious old races of Ireland and .Southern Europe, I hope that I have opened the 
doors of the treasure-house of history sufficiently for you to be able to see what 
treasures are to be found within it. Enter then, and revel in the wisdom and 
achievement of the past. There is no study more profitable, fascinating and con- 
ducive to all that is truly great in character than the study of history, and if you have 
received in this Story of the World an impulse to delve deeper into the past, and 
make its wisdom your own, I shall rejoice that these pages have not been written 
in vain. 



3 i .".U 



